Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu says the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to secure the release of kidnapped victims in Kebbi and Niger states.
He said this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday. He was reacting to concerns raised over the absence of visible proof of confrontation between security forces and kidnappers during the rescue operations.
He said, “From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody.”
He explained that contact with kidnappers can happen in different ways. It may involve force or persuasion, and the public should not expect every detail of such operations to be made public.
He warned people not to assume there was no military action just because no bodies or images of arrests were seen. “If you have not seen the corpses of abductors or them being handcuffed from the forest, that does not mean there was no serious exchange of battle,” he said.
He added that kidnappers often flee when they sense stronger firepower.
According to him, security agencies are not expected to reveal their strategies. “The ways and manners of the military, how they rescue victims, cannot and will not be made public,” he said.
He stressed that the most important thing is the safe return of victims. “What we know is that they went, they brought back those who were ferried into the forest, and that is what matters,” he said.
Lawmakers probe Kebbi school attack
The recent kidnappings in Kebbi and Niger have raised fresh concerns about the country’s security systems and response measures.
Adaramodu said the Senate has set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the attack on a girls’ secondary school in Kebbi State. He said the Senate was briefed that soldiers posted to guard the school reportedly left their duty post shortly before the attackers arrived.
He said, “We were made to understand, especially from the government of the state, that the soldiers guarding that place left, and minutes later those people struck and kidnapped our children.”
He also said the committee will look into the death of Brigadier General Musa Uba, who was involved in operations against banditry.
Adaramodu said the National Assembly will keep pushing for accountability, while also supporting the armed forces as they fight insecurity nationwide.
