NSA Ribadu Faults El-Rufai’s Claim on Ransom Payments to Bandits
National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has faulted former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, over claims that the Federal Government pays ransom and offers incentives to bandits.
El-Rufai, in a television interview on Sunday, alleged that ONSA coordinates such payments — a claim Ribadu’s office swiftly dismissed as “baseless, false, and insulting” to the sacrifices of security forces.
In a statement on Monday, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said the government had never adopted ransom payments as a policy under President Bola Tinubu, stressing instead that security forces have recorded successes through sustained operations in Kaduna and other flashpoints.
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The NSA’s spokesman, Zakari Mijinyawa, noted that notorious bandit kingpins like Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow Janburos, Buhari and Boka had either been killed or captured, while leaders of Ansaru who once ran bases in Kaduna were recently apprehended.
“These gains came at a cost, with some of our officers paying the supreme price. For a former governor to deny these sacrifices on national television is unfair and deeply insulting to their memories,” the statement read.
It added that the government’s dual strategy of military offensives and community engagement had brought relative peace to Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa and other parts of Kaduna once ravaged by terror gangs.
Ribadu’s office urged political actors to desist from dragging national security institutions into partisan disputes, warning that the fight against banditry “is a collective struggle, not a platform for political point-scoring.”
By PRNigeria
