23rd February, 2021
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has blasted the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed over his comments on school kidnapping.
Mohammed during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘News Night’ had said that school kidnapping takes place in the US and other developed countries.
Mohammed had said this while reacting to the kidnap of students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State by bandits.
He had said, “Even in the most developed countries of this world, school kidnapping takes place. Last year, in the US, we all witnessed three of four school kidnappings, and that is in probably one of the most developed countries in the world.
“The thing about terrorism is that the terrorists don’t live by your own rules and they are especially interested in soft targets. They know that what is going to get global attention is kidnapping school children.
“We must be careful; we can’t turn all our schools into barracks. What is important is intelligence gathering, surveillance rather than the physical presence of the soldiers or policemen.
“We are dealing with people who don’t think like me and you, we are dealing with people who don’t have any rules of engagement, we are dealing with people whose motivation is completely different from mine and yours. And anywhere in the world, this is how terrorists operate but the most important thing is to learn from what is happening and adapt.”
Ezekwesili had reacted to Mohammed’s statement by describing his explanation as soulless.
The Bring Back our Girls activist took to her Twitter page to say Mohammed’s words should not be heard from anyone in Public Leadership.
She wrote: “Imagine. Yet another soulless statement that should not be heard from anyone in Public Leadership. The cries of #ChibokGirls and parents, #LeahSharibu and parents #KagaraStudents and parents are judging this statement daily. Daily. ✍🏾”