Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, has refuted claims the federal government paid ransom to secure the release of abducted students and other victims in Kebbi and Niger state.
Adaramodu spoke on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
On November 23, President Bola Tinubu announced that all the 38 worshippers abducted in Eruku, Kwara state, have been rescued.
The worshippers were abducted on November 18 when bandits attacked a branch of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the area.
On Tuesday, the 24 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi state, regained freedom.
On November 17, bandits attacked the school and the students after killing an official and injuring a security guard.
Adaramodu said members of the national assembly remain convinced that security agencies did not engage in monetary exchanges with the abductors.
“From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody,” he said.
He added that interactions with abductors during rescue missions could take different forms.
“If there is any contact with the bandits, there are several types of contacts; contacts can be negative or positive. It can be through force or persuasion,” he said.
He argued that the absence of graphic evidence of confrontation should not lead the public to conclude that security operatives did not engage criminals.
“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.
“When abductors realise that superior power is coming, they can abandon their victims and flee.”
The lawmaker noted that security agencies are not obligated to disclose how they conduct operations.
“The ways and manners of the military, how they rescue victims, cannot and will not be made public,” he said.
“As a security agency, they will not tell us how many bullets they shot or how many guns they lost.”
Adaramodu noted that the primary concern of lawmakers is the safe rescue of victims.
“The job we gave them is to rescue the victims — our girls, our parents, our worshippers,” he said.
“What we know is that they went, they brought back those who were ferried into the forest, and that is what matters.”
Adaramodu said the senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the recent abductions in Kebbi and Niger states.
He said briefings suggested that soldiers deployed to protect the school in Kebbi left their duty post shortly before the attack.
“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,” the senate spokesperson said.
He added that the committee will also probe the circumstances surrounding the death of Musa Uba, a brigadier general involved in anti-banditry operations.
He said the national assembly would continue to push for accountability while supporting the security agencies in the fight against insecurity.
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