The Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has described those who are in doubt about the Federal Government’s ability to protect Nigerians as mischievous.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Mr Garba also said the administration has the will and has demonstrated unquestionable capacity to protect Nigerians.

“Those who doubt this Government’s resolve are mischievous,” he said, adding that “it is an administration empowered to draw enormous resilience from innate reservoirs of human resources, a network of reliable intelligence sources, and demonstrated expertise in scenario building and mediation”.

Mr Garba said this against the backdrop of the recent abduction and release of the Kankara schoolboys in Katsina State.

According to him, many of those who continue to doubt the ability of the president to protect citizens, have other motives.

He further stated that while many were heartbroken by the abduction and staying hopeful for good news, others who he described as “crass, shameful and despicable”, were profiting from the misfortune.

"Indeed emergency activists thought they could cash in on these schoolboys and their parents’ misfortune devoid of their conscience.

“While patriotic Nigerians prayed for the boys’ quick return, these merchants of fortune were renting crowds, creating certain suspicious hashtags, opening bank accounts for the sole aim of soliciting funds for a cause they thought would linger. What will they do now with the one million T-Shirts they have produced? This is hugely shameful. These scavengers should now be honourable enough to refund the monies they have so far collected for the now futile campaign to discredit their fatherland”.

After the kidnap of the schoolboys last week, #BringBackOurBoys began to trend on social media, in reference to a similar hashtag used after Boko Haram abducted schoolgirls (many of whom remain missing) in Chibok and Dapchi in 2014 and 2018 respectively.

Although the boys have now been recovered, there have been questions around the circumstances of their release.

But Mr Garba attributed their release to the efforts of the military, saying they do not get the much-deserved accolades.

According to him, the boys were all returned safely, without a scratch – a feat he considers very important, explaining that if as much as one life was lost, it would have tainted the rescue mission.

"Those charged with coordinating the boys’ safe return held tight, stayed focused, refusing to succumb to doubts, taunts, and conspiracy theories.

“They eventually got the job done most transparently and brought back the boys,” the statement titled five takeaways from the safe return of 344 Kankara schoolboys, read in part.

“Once more, the Nigerian Military has delivered on the big stage. They had a plan, kept to it, and got the job done without firing a single shot.

“This is important because one casualty, one dead schoolboy, could have traumatized President Buhari and the parents. One dead student would have tainted the rescue mission.

“The President wanted the boys back alive and delivered to their parents. As a compassionate father figure, he would have been pained if one life had been lost in the rescue process. Bravo to the Nigerian Military and our security agencies for a well-coordinated and professionally executed mission to the President’s order reuniting the boys with their parents.

“There are not enough words to thank our gallant men and women in uniform, the military that continues to make sacrifices for many of us to enjoy and express our freedoms in its various forms and shapes”.

Text (excluding headline): Channels TV.

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