The spokesperson for the Senate, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, says the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to secure the release of victims kidnapped in Kebbi and Niger States.
Adaramodu made this known on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, while responding to concerns over the absence of visible evidence of confrontations between security operatives and kidnappers during recent rescue operations.
“From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody,” he said.
According to him, communication with criminal groups can take different forms, including the use of force or persuasion. He cautioned Nigerians against assuming that security forces did nothing simply because there were no images of arrests or recovered weapons.
“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 stated. “When abductors realise that superior power is coming, they can abandon their victims and flee.”
Senate to Probe Kebbi School Attack, Death of Brig.-Gen. Musa Uba
Speaking on the recent Kebbi school abduction, Adaramodu confirmed that the Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack, including claims that soldiers assigned to guard the school left their posts shortly before the incident.
“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 said.
The committee will also probe the death of Brigadier General Musa Uba, who was involved in anti-banditry operations before his passing — a development that has raised questions about operational readiness in volatile areas.
Military Tactics Will Not Be Disclosed Publicly
Adaramodu stressed that military tactics and rescue techniques cannot be made public due to security reasons.
“The ways and manners of the military, how they rescue victims, cannot and will not be made public. As a security agency, they will not tell us how many bullets they shot or how many guns they lost,” he explained.
He added that the priority of the security agencies is to rescue victims.
“The job we gave them is to rescue the victims—our girls, our parents, our worshippers. What we know is that they went, they brought back those who were ferried into the forest, and that is what matters.”
