A retired senior officer of the Nigerian Air Force,
Group Captain Sadeeq Shehu, has advised the Federal Government and
authorities in Katsina on the rescue of the schoolboys who have
been missing since two days ago.
He specifically warned against the use of force in the bid to
rescue the boys and recommended negotiation as the first step to
take.
Shehu, who is an adjunct professor at the George Marshall
European Centre for Security Studies in Germany, made the remarks
during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday
Politics.
“As we are going into the rescue operation, I would like to
sympathise with the people that are involved and also to
commiserate with the security officers and at the same time, to
sound a warning, in all honesty, I am not completely comfortable
when I heard that there was an exchange of fire,” he said.
The security expert explained, “In a situation where you have
children that are still with the hostages, and it is not even in a
confined space … this is inside the forest, I think the idea of
exchanging fire with people who are still holding our children
should be properly thought about.
“There could be a lot of risks in that. When you have hostages
with any criminal or any abductor, I think the first issue will be
a negotiation.”
On Friday night, bandits invaded the Government Science
Secondary School in Kankara, a Local Government Area in Katsina
with hundreds of students missing in the process.
VIDEO: The Minister of Defence, Major
General Bashir Magashi, says all the schoolboys will return home in
the next few hours.
Lack Of Training In Nigeria’s Security Architecture
The incident sparked an outrage with calls from various
individuals and groups on the government to step up efforts towards
securing the people and their properties.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
While the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, confirmed that
at least 333 students were missing, the Minister of Defence, Major
General Bashir Magashi, said the boys would be rescued in some few
hours.
More than five hours after the minister made the comments, the
students have yet to return as of press time.
In further reaction to the abduction, Shehu who is also a former
Deputy Head of Security at the African Union Commission in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, decried the response time of the security forces
to arrive at the school.
According to him, it took the security operatives about nine
hours to respond as there was no response until the next
morning.
The security expert insisted that engaging the bandits in a
shootout was a wrong move to make, stressing that such a situation
could expose the abducted students to danger.
explains how to rescue the missing students during his appearance
on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics on December 13,
2020.
“Again, it shows the training we lack in our security
architecture. Every police department should have a negotiator
because we cannot be firing into the bush when we don’t know where
the children are.
“The issue is not throwing blames, but we have to accept that
attacks on schools have become a function not only in Nigeria but
in many other countries around the world,” he said.
Shehu added, “There are lessons to be learned from the
government side, from the school authorities, you need to have the
minimum security and safety standard.”