ACF opposes ransom payment to bandits, backs negotiation
- Ransom should not be paid to bandits according to ACF
- The organisation lamented that millions have been wasted on the criminals
- However, ACF said it supports active negotiation with the bandits
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The idea of ransom payment to kidnappers does not sit down well with apex northern socio-cultural body, the Arewa Consultative Forum.
In a statement by the national publicity secretary of the Forum, Mr Emmanuel Yawe, in Kaduna, the body said it only supports negotiation and not ransom, The Cable reports.
Source: Twitter
The Forum said this following the Greenfield University students saga in which the criminals are demanding for hefty sum of money, Punch added.
The statement read in part:
“We thank God for saving their lives and rejoice with their families both immediate and extended.
“Our only regret is that millions of Naira were alleged to have been paid to the bandits before they granted freedom to the kidnapped students."
Meanwhile, the group urged the bandits holding other innocent people to set them free without further delay.
It added:
“Whatever may be the grievances of the kidnappers against society, spilling innocent blood will not be a solution."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Executive Director of the Peering Advocacy And Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), Ezenwa Nwagwu, has said the Nigerian military is struggling to contain insurgents and bandits in the country due to patronage and cronyism in the recruitment process into security agencies.
Nwagwu made the comment during an exclusive interview with Legit.ng recently in Abuja. The activist noted that the training process in the military has been altered so as to be weaker in force, content, or value.
His words:
“The problem with our security is far and wide. The first thing is, since the coming back of democracy, we have used patronage and cronyism for recruitment into the military. Generals, when they are leaving, replace themselves with their children.
In another report, the Benue government, on Thursday, May 6 approved the establishment of vigilante groups to combat the high rate of insecurity in the state.
Governor Samuel Ortom disclosed this when he briefed journalists attached to his office on the outcome of the expanded stakeholders’ meeting held at the new banquet hall of the Government House, Makurdi
Ortom said renewed attacks on the people by armed herdsmen had overstretched security agencies, stressing that his government had decided to enforce the law to establish vigilante groups.
Source: Legit.ng
