Nigeria’s information minister, Lai Mohammed on Saturday said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari did not pay any ransom for the release of the abducted Kankara schoolboys in Katsina State and the Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe State.
Mohammed who stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise pogrammed, also explained that the government is putting various strategies in place to curb the menace
The minister’s comments followed Wednesday’s abduction of students and teachers in a government school in Kagara, Niger State, and the news trending online that the government has paid over N800m to bandits and insurgents in ransome.
He said, “All these stories about ransom, are conspiracy theories.”
“Government has put in place various strategies to contain banditry, insurgency, and kidnapping.
“Some of these measures are kinetic, some are non-kinetic,” Mr. Lai Mohammed said.
The minister, however, ruled out the option of a ransom being paid for their release.
Will a ransom be part of the government’s strategy? the minister said: “No”.
“I can assure you that the government is on top of the matter – but it is not a subject matter for television discussion.
“We didn’t get there overnight, that is why we can’t get out in one day”.
According to the minister, bandits and terrorists work with the psychology of people and they deliberately attack mostly women and children because they believe that is what is going to attract global outcry.
“That is exactly what bandits do all over the world,” he said, adding that “solidarity in any form will not be tolerated by this government”.
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