The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has dismissed as baseless the claim by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that the Federal Government has been paying ransom or offering inducements to criminals.
In a statement on Monday, the Director of Legal Services in ONSA, Zakari Mijinyawa, said the allegation was false and contrary to verifiable facts.
He explained that neither ONSA nor any agency of government under the present administration had engaged in ransom payments, stressing that Nigerians had repeatedly been warned against such practices.
“From inception, this government adopted a dual strategy of decisive kinetic operations and community engagements aimed at addressing local grievances. The result is evident in areas such as Igabi, Birnin Gwari, and Giwa in Kaduna State that once suffered untold terror but are now experiencing relative peace,” the statement said.
Mijinyawa noted that recent military and security operations had led to the elimination or arrest of several notorious bandits, including Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow Janburos, Buhari and Boka. Leaders of the Ansaru sect, who had earlier established bases in Kaduna, were also captured.
He stressed that these operations, which came at great cost with some security personnel paying the supreme price, were widely reported in the media.
“For a former governor of a state in the person of El-Rufai to deny these sacrifices on national television is both unfair and deeply insulting to the memories of our security personnel,” ONSA added.
The agency cautioned El-Rufai and other political actors against dragging national security institutions into partisan conflicts, saying the fight against banditry is a collective responsibility, not a tool for political point-scoring.
