Jennifer Ugwueke
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have demanded an outrageous amount of money for the release of four aid workers and one security guard.
According to Daily Trust, the terrorists demanded $500,000 (N194 million) to release the abductees. Reports have been made known that the captives are seen in a video released by the terrorists appealing to the federal government and their organisations to come to their immediate aid. The captives reportedly includes the staff of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Action Against Hunger, Rich International, and International Rescue Committee, and private security guard.
The organisations under the aegis of People’s Parliament pledged to sustain its total support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the service chiefs in the war against insurgency in the northeast region. In a communique signed by George Gondo and Adamu Bagudu, the organisation’s chairman and secretary respectively, the organisation said President Buhari and the service chiefs have shown without doubt capacity, willpower and the expertise to rid the country of terrorism, banditry and other crimes. Addressing journalists in Abuja, a member of the organisation, Gabriel Agibi on Wednesday, June 24, said the president and his service chiefs would need the total support of all Nigerians to deliver absolute peace across the country.
The People’s Parliament also appealed to state governors and stakeholders to play their own part, as all hands must be on deck to defeat the remnants of the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.
The organisation said it overwhelmingly passed a vote of confidence on President Buhari and his security architecture to defeat the insurgency ravaging Nigeria. Further advising the already decimated Islamic fighters to surrender now they have the chance, the organisation called on security agencies charged with investigations and intelligence
gathering to step up their game.
The communique in its recommendation urged the agencies to provide actionable intelligence to troops so as to complement what the military is doing at the battlefield.