Kankara boys saga not a Nollywood movie — Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government says it is senseless to claim that the abduction and release of over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, was stage-managed.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the claim on Saturday when he spoke on NTA Good Morning Nigeria’ programme.

He said, “What precisely does government want to achieve? Is it to prove the deficiency of the military or what.

“In the case of Dapchi, we had all kinds of bizarre theories.

“You have to be in government to know how many sleepless nights the president, ministers and head of security outfits spent until the matter is resolved.”

Mohammed said many people were disappointed that the Kankara abduction was resolved so fast just like that of Dapchi.

He said, “Many naysayers would have loved the incident to linger and become the igniting rod for their attacks.

“Otherwise, how do we describe the spurious organisation like the Bring Back Our Boys that emerged within a few days of the capture of the students.

“Within a few days of the abduction, the so-called organisation had moved to Katsina.

“When you have a situation like this, naysayers who are bent at bringing down the government will come up with all kinds of theories that do not make sense.

“Dapchi abduction was in 2018, how come two years down the lane, nobody has come out to tell us how it was stage-managed?”

The minister admonished politicians and other interest groups to stop politicising and commercialising issues of security and national tragedy.

“In times of crisis and tragedy, people normally come together to address the issue.

“It is not a time to politicise and even trade or commercialise the misery and tragedy of a nation.

“We can have our differences but when it comes to issues of security, we should come together and fight it,’’ he said.