The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, has travelled to his home town in Daura, Katsina State on a four-day private visit.
The President left Aso Villa in Abuja on Friday afternoon for Katsina. He was received at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Airport in Katsina by the state governor, Aminu Masari.
The PUNCH learnt that while in Daura, Buhari will, amongst other engagements, participate in the All Progressives Congress registration and revalidation exercise which the president says is very important for Nigeria’s democracy.
“The President considers this exercise as a very important one for the nation’s democracy and its yearning for good leadership as a requirement of the process of nation-building.
“The President is expected to return to the nation’s capital on Tuesday,” the Presidency said in a statement.
Buhari had traveled to his home town on December 11, 2020. Bandits stormed Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina the same day and abducted over 300 schoolboys who were later released after some six days from the abductors’ cage in a faraway forest in Zamfara State.
The military had claimed victory for the release of the students. The presidency had also praised the military for the rescue of the schoolboys. But both claims by the military and the presidency contradicted Masari’s position that the release of the boys was facilitated by the leadership of Miyetti Allah/MACABAN. These positions further conflicted with the claim by Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, that repentant bandit were contacted for negotiation with the bandits.
But one of the major unknown details around the release of the schoolboys was whether ransom was paid by the Buhari regime or whether captured Boko Haram ringleaders or bandits were freed in exchange for the release of the abducted schoolboys.
The presidency had said no ransom was paid but some of the freed Kankara boys told United States publication, Wall Street Journal, that their captors said they demanded N344m ransom while N30m was paid as an initial ransom.
Source: PUNCH
