Kaduna State government has begun negotiations for the release of the recently abducted 287 pupils and teachers in the state.
The pupils were abducted from the Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School, Kuriga 1, in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to investigations carried out by Punch newspapers, a highly influential private negotiator who has been involved in negotiating several abductions with bandits in the past, has been contacted by the state government for the assignment.
A highly placed source in the Kaduna State Government House, who is close to the negotiations but pleaded anonymity due to security reasons, confided in newsmen said the state government had reached out to the bandits through a private negotiator (names withheld) for the release of the pupils and their teachers.
The source said, “The military has begun combing the forests in search of the children kidnapped by the bandits. Security agents have cordoned off the area and they have started searching for the abducted pupils.
“The government is doing all it can for the speedy release of the abducted school pupils.
“The government has established contact and reached out to the bandits for negotiation through a popular bandit negotiator. The negotiator was the one who worked for the return of some of the students abducted some years back.
“He (the negotiator) had negotiated the return of so many abductees in the past. He negotiated the return of those students abducted in Katsina State years back.”
Two other government officials also confirmed the development secretly to newsmen, but insisted on not being identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
They also refused to provide additional information as they insisted that doing so might frustrate the ongoing efforts to secure the victims’ release and put them in harm’s way.
Bandits, on Thursday, shortly after the assembly gathering at around 8.30am, stormed the LEA Primary School, Kuriga, abducted the pupils and some staff members of the schools.
