Niger State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, on Friday said negotiations were at the final stage to secure release of the victims.
But Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the atmosphere was still unclear as some prominent leaders of Fulani bandits thought to be behind the kidnap have distanced themselves from it.
“The first point of suspicion was that the raid was carried out by some of the Fulani boys operating around the area, but by now we are able to establish that the raid was probably not carried out by our (Fulani) boys,” one source involved in the search and rescue efforts told Daily Trust Saturday last night.