Despite claims by Aminu Masari, Governor of Katsina State, that the release of the abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara local government area of the state was made possible following negotiations by the Miyeti Allah, the group has come out to state that they were not part of the negotiations.Following the abduction of the students on December 11, Masari had said that the state government contacted Miyetti Allah to enter into discussions with the bandits which culmiated in the release of the schoolboys on Thursday, December 17.
But, the statement has generated a lot of comments and outrage as stakeholders, corporate organizations and individuals had condemned the government for involving an ethnic organization in the negotiation.
But, the statement has generated a lot of comments and outrage as stakeholders, corporate organizations and individuals had condemned the government for involving an ethnic organization in the negotiation.
Peoples Democratic Party, Christian Associations Of Nigeria and some concerned Nigerians had berated Masari for the outburst, alleging that the governor’s action in the past typified by negotiations may have nurtured the trend that has gone beyond it now.
Besides, it raises the question as to whether the leadership of Miyetti Allah was assessory to the information of the adoption, and whether the organisation has been assigned special responsibilities by the dtste government, particularly under the emerging urgly trends.
However, in what analysts see as the need to forestall against the likely backlash and to contain the already bad blood it may have vteated, the National Secretary of Miyeti Allah, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, in a statement issued on Saturday, December 19, stated categorically that the group had nothing to do with the negotiations as it did not know the bandits nor endorsed their activities.
In the statement, Ngelzarma said:
“We want to make it categorically clear that Miyeti Allah was not part of the negotiations to free the abducted Katsina students.
“Unless Governor Aminu Masari was discussing with the Katsina State branch of the association, but definitely not with the national leadership.“Even if he did, our national body would have been aware. He did not discuss with Miyeti and our members were not part of the negotiations,” Ngelzarma said.
Also collaborating Ngelzarma’s stance, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abduallahi Bodejo, posited that nobody contacted them or discussed with them over the abduction of the students.“We don’t know the bandits and we don’t want to know them and we don’t have anything to do with them. No member of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, even at local levels, knows the bandits.
However, in what analysts see as the need to forestall against the likely backlash and to contain the already bad blood it may have vteated, the National Secretary of Miyeti Allah, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, in a statement issued on Saturday, December 19, stated categorically that the group had nothing to do with the negotiations as it did not know the bandits nor endorsed their activities.
In the statement, Ngelzarma said:
“We want to make it categorically clear that Miyeti Allah was not part of the negotiations to free the abducted Katsina students.
“Unless Governor Aminu Masari was discussing with the Katsina State branch of the association, but definitely not with the national leadership.“Even if he did, our national body would have been aware. He did not discuss with Miyeti and our members were not part of the negotiations,” Ngelzarma said.
Also collaborating Ngelzarma’s stance, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abduallahi Bodejo, posited that nobody contacted them or discussed with them over the abduction of the students.“We don’t know the bandits and we don’t want to know them and we don’t have anything to do with them. No member of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, even at local levels, knows the bandits.
“The Katsina State government did not engage any of our members in whatever negotiation it had with the bandits”, he stated.
The military had yesterday condemned the statement saying they were instrumental to the release of the boys.