 Yes, you're welcome back to the breakfast. We now have Mr Aruan back on the line. Good morning. Can you hear us? Yes, good morning. I can hear you. Great. So we're just asking for, you know, details into, you know, the two attacks we've seen in Kaduna. Please fill us in. Okay. On Tuesday, 28th of April 2021, at around 8.30 p.m., we received a distress call that armed bandits were attacking Greenfield University, located at Kasarami village of Kaduna Abuja Road. Immediately, troops of Operation Tundar Spike and other security operatives were deployed to the location. On getting there, the bandits had escaped. And after such unrest, a staff member of the university was found to have been killed by the bandits, and unspecified number of students were unaccounted for. And immediately, troops and other elements have been working in the general area. This is what we have been doing to this moment. Then yesterday, in the early hours of yesterday being Tuesday, 22nd of April 2021, we also received a distress call from the medical director of Idon General Hospital. The hospital is a Kaduna state government rural hospital. The medical director informed us that two nurses were kidnapped by armed bandits in the said rural hospital. So far, this is the update and security agencies are working in both locations, working very hard to really locate the bandits and subsequently to rescue those in captives. This is the situation as we speak. Okay. What exactly are the efforts that you can share with us now with regards to Greenfield's incident? Are there hot spots that the security agencies in Kaduna state believe that these people may have been taken to? Is there a possibility of negotiating with these kidnappers? Well, certainly, I can tell you that we have locations in mind based on tracking, but I will not be able to go into further details so that we don't undermine what we are doing now. For the issue of negotiation, OPM bandits, the position of Kaduna state government is very clear. We've made our position long before now that we will not in any way contribute in the sustainance of the banditry business of this element. Yeah, I mean, that's what, you know, the governor, Nasser Aurofi has said, you know, consistently, but I mean, what exactly should you or would you say should be the answer then? Because it's not in any way stopping the kidnapping from happening. The fact that the government has said there's not going to be negotiation has not reduced, you know, I don't know if you would agree, has not really reduced the occurrence of these kidnappings in Kaduna state. And so how do residents there feel? And what do they expect every time that a situation like this arises? Well, it is not about agreeing or disagreeing with you. It's about looking at the bigger picture. It's about looking at the general security of the state and also what the state government feel after a total reflection to be the final solution to this problem. I can assure you that we are not sleeping. We are on our feet, working with the military and other security agencies. And we are making success or inroad in what we are doing. In a couple of days, we will be releasing a detailed security situation report of First Quarter of 2021. We will lease out a number of bandits that were killed by ground troops and the police. We will also mention with locations, places where a lot of bandits were neutralized in the course of air interjections. And I also want you to know this, that paying ransom is not the solution to this, is not the solution to this problem. There are states that have made attempt to negotiate with bandits to some extent, they even grant them amnesty. But has that solved the problem? It has not solved the problem. On Tuesday about 35 people were killed by bandits in a particular state that I don't want to mention. On Wednesday, 45 were killed and as yesterday the dot toll is running to 80 plus. So you can see and you can ask the question, where is the efficacy of amnesty or where is the efficacy of granting these bandits amnesty? So for us, our decision is very painful, but when you look at it thoroughly, you will agree with us that is the best solution as far as this issue is concerned. If you look at the situation in our state, in 2020, this armed bandits killed 937 citizens across the state and they also killed 1,972 citizens. So if you are talking about amnesty, why would you not talk about the victims of this bandits tree? So it's a very complicated matter. People can sit elsewhere from a distance and look at the issue as a very light issue. But for some of us who are here, who are deeply involved in the management of this security problem, we can tell you better. All right. Tell me about this, Mr Arawan. Since these attacks occurred in Kaduna State, has any government representative gone to console the family in person? And what's the mood like in Kaduna? Well, first and foremost, what you should know, the nurses that were kidnapped are staff of Kaduna State government. And the students that were also kidnapped at the Greenfield University are citizens of Kaduna State and we have a very good relationship with the founder of the university. So issues like that naturally Kaduna State government exhibit deep empathy to the families whose relations are incaptives. And these are not issues that we can use it to play to the gallery. You should know that we have our own ways of speaking with relatives of victims without coming to the media to play to the gallery. But we are deeply concerned and the bond between government and these families is clearly empathy and the struggle to ensure that those incaptives are freed, ill and healthy. Sometime in March, I think it was two weeks into the month of March, 39 students were taken from the school of first year mechanization, I believe. Is there any updates? I can't hear you. Can you hear me now? Can you come again? Okay, so I'm asking, I think it was on the 12th of March, 39 students were kidnapped from the school of forestry mechanization, also in Kaduna State. Is there any updates on these persons? We are getting into the month of May in about a week. Is there any updates on these students? Have they been released? Is there still contact with them in any way? Well, it is unfortunate situation looking at what happened on the 12th of March. And like you said, out of the 39 students, 10 have been freed. And we are still on that case, exploring all the means that we can as a government working with other critical stakeholders in the security section. This is the only thing that I can tell you. There is no justification for me to give you, to bring you to speak on what government and security agencies are doing militarily and operationally. All right, Mr Arawan, what would you say is the major challenge of a government regarding, you know, totally eliminating all security threats in Kaduna? Well, even though I don't get you well, but I can be able to say that security challenge is not something that developed over time. It's a very challenging one. From a distance, you will assume that it is something that you can solve within a crinkle of an eye. But when you are deeply in this issue, you will understand that it takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of innovation. It takes a lot of austerity beyond what one can imagine. But I want you to know that there are a lot of things that have to be applied. You have to look at the need to have a good number of boots on the ground in view of the vast nature of what, in view of the vast nature of locations where these bandits are located. There are other issues that I don't need to talk about them because there are issues that we are aware of and we are working very hard in order to address them. All right. I think we might be wrapping up in a bit. I want your message from the Kaduna State government to families of those who still have their siblings and loved ones in captivity. What's your message to those 29 others who are still in captivity, those taken from the School of Forestry Mechanization? And what's your message from the Kaduna State government also to the family of the nurses and those who have been taken in the last 48 hours? Well, we shared our things. We are in this together and we are doing our best. And by the special grace of God, our efforts will not go in vain. All right. Samal Arwan, thank you very much for taking our time and speaking with us this morning. We, of course, hope that some of all these things come to an end as quickly as possible. You're welcome. The efforts of the Kaduna State government also play out very well. Yes, thanks again. Thank you. All right. There's absolutely no easy way to explain that people who were taken on the 12th of March are still in captivity. And we're getting into May. There's no way to explain this. We're going to be getting into two months in captivity. As the government says, there's not going to be ransom paid. There's not going to be negotiations and all of that. It would have been great also to find out how the 10 have been released, how they got released. The day dance for the kidnappers was ransom paid. Thank you. It was their negotiation. I mean, these are things that need to be known. Samal Arwan didn't really share a lot with regards that case. But there are things that need to be known. How are those 10 released and what's stopping the remaining 29 from being set free? Is there any communication with the kidnappers at all? Let's move away from security to politics. And we're talking about the 2023 elections in just a minute.