The Presidency, on Sunday, advanced reasons locations of terrorists cannot be bombed by the military, saying due consideration must be given to hostages in captivity of the criminals.
Reacting to the threat by the terrorists to kidnap President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidency in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, observed that the use of propaganda and violence by terrorists is not new.
It maintained that the Nigerian security forces are neither clueless nor helpless but just cannot display their strategies to deal with the threats in public.
The statement read: “Terrorist activity using propaganda and the use of violence to force governments to accept or submit to political demands is not new all over world. The country’s security and defense forces are not clueless or helpless. They have their plans and ways of doing things which they will not display in the media.
“The dilemmas in dealing with the specific case of train terrorists are manifold: punitive action like the popular call for carpet bombing of the known locations may assuage the desire of an angry public for revenge, but what about the hostages? They have committed no offense. All they did was to board a train.
“It suffices to say that the security forces are not relenting. They are acutely aware of their duties, responsibilities and what the nation expects of them. Whenever they embark upon those actions, they expect that the public should provide them with the needed support. Terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought by all actors- the military, the civilian population and the communication service providers. This is the only way safe havens of terrorists are eliminated in every part of the world.”
Earlier, the terrorists, who kidnapped the passengers of Kaduna-Abuja train, had vowed to abduct President Buhari and governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai if their demands are not met soon.
Source : Nigerian Trubune
