BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, says contacts are being made with the captors of the aid workers in Borno state.
Insurgents suspected to be members of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) had attacked a convoy of aid workers in Damasak, Borno state, last week, killing a driver before kidnapping six workers.
In a video obtained by TheCable, one of the victims simply identified as Grace, appealed to the federal government, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the international community to come to her rescue.
Citing the instances of Hawa Liman and some aid workers who were killed in captivity, Grace, who wore a blue hijab in the video, sought intervention.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Shehu said the federal government hopes that “the captors will see reason to not visit hardship or even harm on these innocent individuals”.
He said apart from the aid workers, the engagement also covered the release of Leah Sharibu, a religious leader and “all others”.
“The presidency has been briefed by the responsible government agency about the disturbing video showing our citizens, the humanitarian aid workers held captive,” he said.
“Presidency has been given assurances that contact is being made and the captors are being talked to.
“Besides these aid workers, there are some others about whom this engagement is about – Leah Sharibu, a religious leader and all the others. These discussions have been ongoing even before this time and what this latest incident has done is to bring urgency to the efforts that the secret service is making.
“Government is making contacts, in the hope that the captors will see reason to not visit hardship or even harm on these innocent individuals.”
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