20th February, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that the Federal Government has paid no ransom to secure the release of the abducted students and staff of Government Science college, Kagara.
The minister made this claim on Saturday when he featured on Channels Television’sSunrise Daily.
Mohammed debunked the report circulating in the social media that the Federal Government had paid a ransom worth N800 million to secure the release of the abducted students..
Mohammed added, “We employ kinetic and non-kinetic (measures), you don’t throwaway invitation to engage but the overall strategy you keep to your chest.”
The minister also said the government won’t tolerate any form of criminality in any form.
“Bandits all over the world work with the psychology of people. Deliberately, they target women and children because this is what will attract a lot of global outcry. That is exactly what bandits do all over the world.
“The government has put in place, all along, various strategies to contain banditry, to fight insurgency, to fight kidnapping. Some of these measures are kinetic, some are not kinetic. We didn’t get here overnight and that is why it is difficult to get out one day.
“Criminality in any form will not be tolerated by government. At the same time, government has a duty to look at the underlining causes of some of these criminalities in other to address them.
“I was in Minna with my colleagues, the Ministers of Interior and Police Affairs, the IG, and the National Security Adviser on Wednesday to get firsthand information on the abduction of these Kagara schoolboys. I can tell you that as of today that the government is on top of the matter.”