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From Idu Jude, Abuja
One of the newly released 11captives of the Abuja-Kaduna attacks that took place some weeks ago, Mr. Aminu Othman, has appealed to the Federal Government to accept the demands of the bandits for the possible release of the remaining 51 captives.
Aminu, in an exclusive telephone chat with Saturday Sun, said that this was necessary to avoid stoking up the anger of the terrorists who have vowed to start slaughtering the remaining captives. This follows the Federal Government’s failure to comply with its demands, the bandits said in a recorded message released this early this week.
According to Othman, what informed his plea to the Buhari-led government is to avoid the families of the remaining captives going close to the terrorists for negotiation since that is the only option left according to the statement released by the group.
He urged the Federal Government to hurry up and do everything possible to rescue those left in captivity.
He warned: “The problem here is that terrorists change their demands every now and then. First, they gave government a condition to release their eight children held in government detention as well as other members. Secondly, they came back and gave government another condition. But my problem now is that the remaining 51 captives are in danger of being slaughtered as was communicated through their main negotiator, Sheikh Gumi.
“It is also worthy of note that the terrorists may change their tactics. This is because they have communicated in a new tape and video that since the Federal Government has failed to honour its side of the negotiation, they can now open direct negotiations with the individual families of the captives. But the security implication is a highly risky one because the terrorists cannot be trusted in this regard. How am I sure that those family members may not end up being kidnapped too?”
He expressed worry that the bandits express no fear nor have any human feeling while on operations. “I know that the security agencies can move in against them. But there might be a collateral damage as they use captives as human shield. I can tell you this for free.
They do not mind if a rocket lands on them. This is because they build human shield around themselves. And, do not forget that those people are innocent members of the society. Among them are 10-years-old, seven-years-old, 67-years-old and so on.”
