The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has disclosed that the bandits holding pupils and teachers abducted from schools in Oyo State threatened to kill the captives if security forces advanced on their location.
Musa said this in an interview with News Central, shared on Wednesday ahead of its broadcast on the NC Exclusive programme on Friday.
He explained that the kidnappers were using the children as leverage to secure the release of their commanders in military custody.
The minister’s comments come nearly eight weeks after gunmen abducted 39 pupils and seven teachers from Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, and two other schools in Esinle, in the Oriire Local Government Area of the state, on May 15.
Speaking further on measures to curb banditry and kidnapping, Musa backed the death penalty for perpetrators, saying weak laws had emboldened criminals.