Shehu Reacts to Assumed Stage Abduction and Release

President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, has said repentant bandit helped in negotiations with rescued schoolboys while countering the opinion of stage abduction and release of Government Science School students Kankara, Katsina State.

The spokesman said this on Tuesday in an interview on Channels Television breakfast program, Sunrise Daily. While reacting to opinions that claimed the schoolboys’ abduction was staged, Shehu said it would be heartless for anyone to kidnap innocent children.

He recalled that the released school boy’s accounted they were tortured while in the bush, and such an act can’t be staged.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari reported after the rescue that the incident was aimed at marring his administration, but was grateful the schoolboys returned.

Meanwhile, the schoolboys who lamented their experience revealed thus: ‘We Ate Only Once In Two Days, Defecated In The Same Place We Slept.’
Shehu, who felt sympathy for the boys, said no decent human would subject innocent young boys that way.

“It is just ridiculous. How can anybody do this? Then people must be heartless if they should do this and subject these young people to that.
“You heard the accounts. These young people were kept in the forest. They were fed once on raw potatoes and drips of water for seven days.
“See the suffering they were subject to. I don’t think any decent human being will subject innocent young people to this kind of thing. Nobody should say this please,” he said.

He also debunked claims that ransom was paid to secure the schoolboy’s release, revealing that they were released based on the joint effort of Katsina and the Zamfara State government, who used repentant bandits.
“All of the leading actors involved in the release of the children said no ransom was paid.
The governor of Zamfara State, who had a policy of engagement with the bandits leading to the surrender and renouncement of bandits, used repentant bandits to gain access to those that were in the forest and they had them (schoolboys) released.

“They used repentant bandits to gain access to the bandits in the forest, and they had the children released.”So, to the best of our knowledge, no ransom was paid.”

Recall also that Governor Aminu Bello Masari revealed that no ransom was paid for the student’s release, stating that their freedom was facilitated by the Miyyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN.
They engage in talks with the bandits.