IGP Baba explains why occasionally we deal with kidnappers and outlaws to liberate captives.
According to Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector General of Police, security organizations fighting instability are occasionally compelled to go to great lengths to bargain with bandits or kidnappers to release captives unscathed.
He defended the charges by stating that it would be pointless for the police to use excessive force to look for captured terrorists when they are armed and abducting people.
Alkali Baba provided the justifications because 29 students from FGC Birni Yauri, who were kidnapped some years ago, are still being held captive by Boko Haram together with over 80 other Chibok females.
On Thursday, the IGP made the revelations while participating in the weekly briefings organized by the Presidential Media Team in Abuja.
“See, the issue of abduction is an issue that borders virtually all the security agencies, including the military. It is a crime that, once it is done, you have to address it very tenderly and with every sense of professionalism,” he said.
“If you don’t get them out safely and unharmed, you haven’t done anything,” the saying goes. “Once they’re in the hands of an armed person, you need to do several things; it’s not only about firearms and other things.”
“There are plenty more options available.
Through negotiating, we were able to save many others, of which I will give you as an example. We were able to save all of the Kaduna Forestry students.
For people with whom we interact, there are things that we are doing; it is a new crime and calls for new approaches and methods of putting it out.
“It is being researched.
For instance, educating negotiators and other professionals wasn’t a problem previously, but now we’re looking into it and putting our staff through these courses.
Since we are still working on it, we won’t say that all hope is lost.
A startling discovery was also made by the IGP, who said that some of the Chibok girls who have been placed in foster care and who were found roaming in the wilderness actively try to return to their kidnappers.
“As you are aware, information on the Chibok girls is coming out slowly and one by one,” he stated.
They will occasionally openly state, “Yes, we have come to visit our parents, and we want to go.”
Therefore, they may have integrated, adapted to the environment, received indoctrination, and joined the group that kidnapped them. But as I said, it is an ongoing endeavour, and just last month, you saw a Chibok girl emerge with two or three children and claim she was only there to say hello to her parents and that she now wants to return. We are still working on it, so there is hope.
