Why we negotiate with kidnappers, bandits to get hostages freed sometimes – IGP Baba

By Adeleye Kunle

Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has said security agencies tackling insecurity are sometimes forced to stoop low to negotiate with bandits or kidnappers in order to free hostages unhurt.

Justifying the claims, he said it would be an exercise in futility if terrorists who are armed abduct persons and the police go in search of them under captivity using extreme force.

Alkali Baba made the explanations against the backdrop of over 80 Chibok girls still in Boko Haram captivity, including 29 students of FGC Birni Yauri who have not been set free several years after their abduction.

The IGP made the disclosures on Thursday while featuring at the weekly briefings coordinated by the Presidential Media Team in Abuja.

His words, “You see, the issue of kidnapping is an issue that borders almost all the security agents, including the military, it is a crime that once it is committed, you have to thread very softly and with all sense of professionalism.

“If you do not rescue the person, safely, unhurt, you have not achieved anything and once somebody is in the captivity of an armed person, then you need to do a lot of things, it is not all about guns and other things