The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere on Thursday lauded the “No negotiation and no payment of ransom to kidnappers’ stance of President Bola Tinubu.
Afenifere in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, expressed total support to the President on the decision.
According to Afenifere, “If ransom is paid or bandits are treated with kid gloves in form of pardon, etc, they are being encouraged to continue in their evil ways”
“In this respect, Afenifere strongly supports Mr. President on his ‘No negotiation and no payment of ransom to kidnappers’ stand. There should be no sacred cow as the only person who could not be touched by the arms of the law is the innocent”, it said.
Afenifere added, “If ransom is paid or bandits are treated with kid gloves in form of pardon etc, they are being encouraged to continue in their evil ways”,
The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation stressed that the country’s judicial system needed to be rejigged to ensure that cases bordering on banditry including kidnapping are expeditiously dealt with.
Afenifere maintained further that may be “a special tribunal be created in each state for this purpose as a matter of urgency to meet the expediency of the moment”.
The Pan Yoruba organisation affirmed the capability of President Tinubu to summon the political will to tackle the menace of insecurity across the country including how respective communities can be made to be more involved in the security of their areas.
Afenifere emphasised that this be done forthwith, adding, ” This is why the government needs to summon necessary political will to ensure that bandits and their accomplices are not only reined in, they should be severely dealt with. Such should have no room for kid glove treatment of bandits and kidnappers.
It then congratulated President Tinubu, elders in the north, security agencies including the military as well as Kaduna and Zamfara state governors for the safe retrieval of Kuriga and Sokoto kidnapped students.
