Bello Matawalle, Governor of Zamfara State, has revealed that the security watchman of the Government Girls Secondary School in the Jangebe area of the state was complicit in the abduction of the 279 schoolgirls last week Friday.
Governor Matawalle disclosed this in an interview on Wednesday.
The governor had last week said Nigerians would be shocked to know those involved in the abduction of the schoolgirls.
When asked to reveal the identities of the masterminds of the abduction during the interview, Governor Matawalle said information at his disposal from the recently released schoolgirls indicated that the school’s security guard aided the bandits in whisking the students away.
He, however, declined to reveal other persons behind the abduction.
“The security agents in the state are aware that when we were trying to rescue these children without paying ransom, other people were behind talking to them that money will be given to them that they shouldn’t release them to the state government,” Governor Matawalle said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“This is a complete sabotage for my government and we have a lot of intelligence on this and I am going to inform the relevant authorities.
“The children have mentioned the watchman of the school, that after releasing them, the bandits were telling them that they should greet the watchman for them, they even mentioned his name that he was the one who gave them the go-ahead to come, he was involved.
“They (the schoolgirls) have said this before the commissioner of police in Zamfara State.
“I assure Nigerians that investigation will be carried out and all the people involved will be known.”
Governor Matawalle also insisted that no ransom was paid for the release of the schoolgirls.
According to him, the state government used the repentant bandits in the state to negotiate with the abductors of the students.
He noted that the abductors handed over the schoolgirls to the ex-bandits, who then handed them over to the security agents.
“There is nothing in exchange for the release; we use those (bandits) that are repented. When we use them, they engage them and I said they should ask them why they did that?
When it (the abduction) happened, I spoke with the security agents and they went together with the repentant bandits to the place where these guys (abductors) promised to bring the children.
“We provide vehicle with all the security –the Army, the Police, the Air Force, and everyone to go along with those guys (repentant bandits) and they (security agents) remained in one of the areas called Bingi. So, the repentant ones brought them to the security agents to convey them from there to the state capital.”
The governor insisted that his Peace Accord with bandits was working, adding that those who rejected the Peace Accord were behind the abduction of the schoolgirls.
The school, which is located in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state, came under siege by bandits at around 1am on February 26.
However, the students regained their freedom on March 2 after spending about four days in captivity.
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