Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Major General Bashir Magashi, has said
\nNigerians are cowards for running away while “minor aggressions” from
\nbandits prevail in the country, blaming residents of Kagara in the Rafi
\nLocal Government Area of Niger State for the recent abduction of
\nsecondary school students in the community.<\/p>\n
Magashi said all Nigerians have a responsibility to ensure there is
\nadequate security within their areas.<\/p>\n
Speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the screening of service
\nchiefs by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Magashi said,
\n\u201cWell, is it not the responsibility of the military alone? It is the
\nresponsibility of everybody to be alert and ensure safety when
\nnecessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be cowards. Sometimes the bandits come with about three
\nrounds of ammunition and when they fire shots everybody will run. In our
\nyounger days, we stand to fight any form of aggression.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should people run away from minor, minor aggressions? We should
\nstand and face them. If these people know that the people have the
\ncompetence and capability to defend themselves, they will run away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister also boasted that all abducted students would be rescued
\nsoon.<\/p>\n
He said the service chiefs would swing into action immediately they are
\nthrough with the screening exercise by the lawmakers and track down the
\nkidnappers to rescue the children.<\/p>\n
Magashi said, ”We have demonstrated our ability to take on the
\nchallenge. We have done it in Katsina; when children were kidnapped.
\nWithin two days, we got them back. Hopefully, this time, we will do the
\nsame (thing) to get these captives back. We are planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not got feedback on the activities going on in Niger State. But
\nI am sure that before the end of the day, we will be given a full brief
\non what is going on in Niger State.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 300 schoolboys who were abducted from Government Science Secondary
\nSchool, Kankara in Katsina State last December were not released until
\nsix days later, contrary to the statement made by the defence minister
\nthat they were released two days later.<\/p>\n
They were kidnapped on the evening of December 11, 2020, and it was not
\nuntil December 17, 2020, that the students regained their freedom.<\/p>\n
The minister also dismissed the clamour from some quarters for Nigerians
\nto be allowed to bear arms to defend themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an issue currently even in the developed country. They are still
\ndebating on whether to continue (to allow people to bear arms) or stop.
\nBut I don\u2019t advise Nigerians to bear firearms for internal use,\u201d he
\nadded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Major General Bashir Magashi, has said Nigerians are cowards for running away while “minor aggressions” from bandits prevail in the country, blaming residents of Kagara in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n