The Presidency has faulted payment of ransom to secure the release of persons kidnapped by bandits and terrorists, saying such payments worsen the insecurity in the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the regime led by the President Buhari, had fulfilled his campaign promises especially on the economy, security and anti-corruption.
He added, “So, the President has substantially succeeded in all of these elements that you have mentioned including anti-corruption. Even if it is by changing the tone or the moral environment, which is different; now people accept that it is wrong to take bribes when they are offered. Before now, people didn’t have this idea in a lot of places. Corruption was seen as being part of life and one had to be part of it.
“On the kidnappers and all of that, the President, even in his Sallah message, the appeal he was making to fellow citizens was ‘expose them, tell the security agencies where they are.’ Sometimes, you also can sympathise with family members in that highly emotive situation. The first priority for many of them is to get that family back home. And they are willing to pay (ransoms) and they have been paying.”
“These payments, whether anybody likes it or not, will continue to fuel terrorism. We have to learn from the experiences in other lands that when you pay, you are fuelling terrorism; you are fuelling the hijack and kidnap of fellow citizens, and it will go on and on until when people call their bluff.”
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