By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Fifty-nine kidnapped victims rescued by a joint team of military and intelligence forces have been handed over to the Kaduna State Government.
Handing the victims over on Tuesday in his office, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said the federal government remains committed to tackling insecurity and restoring peace across the country and the military and security agencies keep demonstrating this commitment.
He said the hostages were abducted along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, particularly in Rijana community.
According to the NSA, some of the victims had been in captivity for several months before their rescue, which took place between November 2024 to date. He commended the Kaduna State Government for their cooperation and for playing a great role in the rescue mission.
“We must appreciate President Tinubu for facilitating the release of these victims and several others in the past, everyone can see the results of the federal government’s fight against insecurity, and the commitment to ensure Nigeria is peaceful.
“Once again, we are here as a joint operations of all the security forces under the directive of Mr. President to work extra to ensure that we bring peace, security and restore normalcy in our countries. We are restoring order, we are bringing justice, we are bringing back peace to our country, about 59 or so people today, last week another number like that and thousands and thousands and it is ongoing across the country,” he said.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, who was represented by Major General Gold Chibuisi said, “the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and indeed all the military and intelligence security agencies, the police we are fully on board with the National Security Advisor and we will continue to work under his coordination to ensure that the mandate given to us in in furtherance of the intent of the Commander-in-Chief is fully actualised.”
The National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Adviser, Major General Adamu Laka, says some of the victims have been with the bandits for about four months and different periods in between.
“The Nigerian Army, who is the lead in Kaduna to conduct operations within the 1 Division area, they were picked and in the general area of Rijana. Due to the pressure from our security forces, the bandits abandoned them and ran for their lives and we were able to pick most of them from those camps and the others found their way to the major road and to the police checkpoints.”
The representative of the Kaduna State government and Chief of Staff to Governor Uba Sani, Mr. Sani Liman Kila, received the victims from the NSA and commended the effort of Mr. President Bula Ahmed Tinibu, Governor, and security agencies.
