The Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, has affirmed that the Federal Government did not pay any ransom for the release of individuals recently abducted in Kebbi and Niger States.
Adaramodu stated this on Friday in an interview with Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, addressing concerns over the absence of visible evidence showing clashes between security forces and kidnappers during the recent rescue efforts.
“From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody,” he said on the breakfast show.
“If there is any contact with the bandits, there are several types, negative or positive. It can be through force or persuasion.”
The senator representing Ekiti South senatorial district stated that interactions with kidnappers can take various forms, and the public should not expect security agencies to disclose the specifics of their operations.
He cautioned against concluding that no military action took place merely because there were no visuals or reports of arrests.
“If you have not seen the corpses of abductors or them being handcuffed from the forest, that does not mean there was any serious exchange of battle,” he stated.
“When abductors realise that superior power is coming, they can abandon their victims and flee.”
Adaramodu stated that the military and other security agencies are not obligated to publicly disclose the details of their operational strategies.
“The ways and manners of the military, how they rescue victims, cannot and will not be made public,” he said.
“As a security agency, they will not tell us how many bullets they shot or how many guns they lost.”
He emphasised that the priority of both the Senate and the Federal Government is the safe rescue of victims, not the publication of tactical details.
“The job we gave them is to rescue the victims our girls, our parents, our worshippers,” he said.
“What we know is that they went, they brought back those who were ferried into the forest, and that is what matters.”
