According to Kadaria Ahmed, media personality, Abdul Labaran, spokesman of the Katsina government, disclosed this in a chat with RadioNow FM.

She quoted Labaran as saying the gunmen have asked the parents to start making preparations for ransom to facilitate the release of the students.

Labaran also reportedly said the gunmen also asked the parent to warn security operatives to stop the surveillance of their hideouts to guarantee the safety of the students.

“Abdul Labaran DG Media for the Katsina govt just told @RadioNow953FM gunmen who abducted Kankara Students have phoned a parent and told him to begin gathering ransom money and asked him to tell the military to desist from air surveillance of their hiding place or else,” Kadaria tweeted.

But the defence headquarters has said the military action will continue despite talks with the suspected bandits by the state government.

When he featured on a Channels Television programme on Monday night, John Eneche, defence spokesman, said the military operation to rescue the kidnapped students is ongoing.

,“You don’t stop whatever efforts you are putting up militarily for what we call the non-kinetic (or) the other approach. No, you don’t stop, all of them go concurrently,” he said.

“For instance, if they (the students) are kept in a place that is known, if you relax, they will slip out. So, all actions are on the table to ensure that we come to a meeting point and the meeting point is to ensure that we don’t get collateral damage in our efforts to get them (the students) out.”

“The troops and other security agencies have been adequately deployed to ensure that they (the students) are rescued alive, that is the most important thing for us. And that is what we have for the general public that there is hope, we need them out alive.”

Gunmen had stormed the school on Friday night and abducted the students.

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Ahmed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the 2019 Future Awards in Lagos that the bill would undermine the freedom of speech as entrenched in the constitution and also gag the press.

NAN reports that the Social Media bill tagged “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019 is sponsored by Sen. Mohammed Musa of All Peoples Congress (APC) representing Niger East Senatorial District.

The originator of the bill, Musa said that the Social Media bill was aimed at guiding the users and not the media practioners in Nigeria.

Ahmed, who moderated the town hall meeting for presidential candidates and their vice during the February 2019 general elections, said that the body of journalists would resist the bill.

“The Social Media Bill is a threat to journalism and democracy because what they claim that the bill wants to guide against is hate speech and fake news which has been taken care of.

“Other laws has taken care of that, we know that fake news and hate speech pose a serious threat to us as journalists, we don’t want it, because it undermines our work.

“However, what we are saying is that there are enough laws that attend to and regulate such which can be applied which can solve the problem.

“We have Cyber Crime Law and also a law against defamation of character which is libel, we have journalists that have faced such laws before so we don’t need another law,” she said.

Ahmed said that journalism and activism were two Siamese twins with the way it operates as the conscience of the society, hence it should not be allowed to be gaged.

“I think this notion that there is a separation between journalism and activism is wrong, because the process of giving out information to people to make informed decision is activism.

“Journalism underpins democracy and without a free press, we cant have a democracy and so, anything that threatens journalism is a threat to all, so it is not the question of activism.

“It is a question of survival because anything we do is dependent on our ability to inform people without anybody trying to lock us up or shut us down.

“This social media bill present a danger to freedom of expression, something that is guaranteed in our constitution. This is not a one persons fight but a collective fight by the body of journalists.

“We recognised that it is important that we protect our rights to report without fear that we will be hounded or harassed, we will do everything to defend our rights,” she said.

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Speaking on Arise Television on Wednesday, Kadaria said it is her job as a citizen to hold the government accountable.

On April 6, the journalist and a group of protesters had marched to the presidential villa in Abuja over the persistent killings by suspected bandits in the state.

Kadaria maintained that the problem in the state cannot be solved through security alone, challenging government to address issues such as poverty and education.

“I’m very happy with the response we got. The instant decision by the federal government to take some key actions has started getting us real results,” she said.

“People on the ground are talking about the fact that a few people who have been kidnapped have been rescued. Armed bandits have been killed. Some have been arrested.

“There is a serious security operation taking place there and we are grateful for that. But beyond the security, we do not feel that the problem of Zamfara can be solved through security alone. First of all, it’s a very murky conflict. It’s been going on for so long that it’s very difficult to unravel the causes.

“It’s important that in the immediate term you provide security. People are able to go about their businesses but long term, there are really some serious issues that need to be tackled and this is why we are very angry with the people who have been in power successively in Zamfara state.

“Absolutely. If the insecurity is about to kickstart again, we will take to the street and that is my job as a citizen and I think that should be the job of every citizen to hold people in authority to account by reminding them that this is what we elected you to do and security is your primary responsibility as government. We can’t take arms and defend ourselves. If we did, there will be chaos.”

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The president gave the challenge at a town hall meeting tagged: ‘The Candidates’ organised by the MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with NTA and DARIA Media in Abuja on Wednesday night.

President Buhari was fielding questions on the allegations that the government’s anti-corruption crusade was skewed against a section of Nigerians, and that members of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) with questionable credentials were being protected by the government.

The Moderator of the programme Kadaria Ahmed, specifically cited the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal, who was relieved of his appointment over allegations of corrupt practices, but was not prosecuted, instead he had been seen campaigning for the president.

However, President Buhari said: “That is not fair criticism of the government. I do not think there is anybody that is being pointed out as corrupt in this dispensation which we looked the other direction.

“I told you why I have to be careful; the public should help us, if there are strong allegations that are backed up with evidences, bank accounts, names of companies floated and contracts awarded.

“Then we will take them before the courts through the EFCC and ICPC; and we have to trust the system and allow them to complete investigation.

“If we just take people in as we did during the military and lock them up, the present democracy a multi party democracy does not approve of that.

“If you accuse any person, you have to provide evidence in court for him to be prosecuted. So, if there is strong allegations, the government may decide to ask people to go, like in the case of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, we asked him to go.

“The matter is already before the EFCC and I believe that a directive has been issued to charge him and all persons who have cases before the EFCC.’’

He reiterated that his administration would not tolerate any form of corrupt practices from any quarters, saying those making allegations should be able to provide evidence why the accused should be prosecuted.

On whether he will accept the outcome of the forthcoming general elections, President Buhari said even though he was optimistic of winning the election, he would gladly accept the results.

The president narrated how he accepted the results of previous elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 even after challenging the results at the relevant courts.

He said: “It won’t be the first time I will lose election..

“I tried 2003 and I was in Court for 13 months, 2007. I was in court for 18 months in 2011 and went up to the Supreme Court. I sat down and said; `God Dey’, and for the fourth time, God and technology helped me.’’

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