After days of working to establish contact with the abductors and subsequent negotiations, the victims were released to a team of police and other security agents around 7am on Saturday.
The victims who were received by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello on Saturday recounted their harrowing experience in the hands of their abductors.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered from reliable sources that the kidnappers, who operate between Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, and Rafi Local Government in Niger State, had demanded the release of six members of their group arrested at different times by security agents.
Four of the six named persons, were identified in different detention facilities in Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
The states in the North West are Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara.
El-Rufai said if the governors did not coalesce into a single force and adopt a common approach, it will be difficult for any of them to tackle the problem.
Until a few years ago, the region was generally peaceful but recent events in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, and to a certain extent Kebbi, the North West is now another major regional theatre of violence, like the North East where Boko Haram terrorists have wreaked havoc for over 11 years.
El-Rufai’s frustrations
Governor El-Rufai who spoke in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Monday picked holes in the decision by some governors to engage in dialogue with the bandits, saying he will not negotiate or forgive any of them.
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Eze Onyekpere, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), gave the advice while speaking during a radio programme on 99.9 KISS FM in Abuja on Wednesday.
The programme, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG), featured journalists and editors who spoke in commemoration of the 2020 international anti-corruption day.
Onyekpere said the federal government is often “reluctant” in tackling officials indicted by corruption investigations, adding that the president must lead by example being the only person with the power to sanction indicted public officials.
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He said: “Through education, prosecution, investing in technology to detect those involved in fraudulent transaction and through taking all necessary steps like the judicial, legislative and administrative step will take Nigeria very close to eradicating corruption in the Nigeria society.”