Buhari, Jonathan paid ransom to kidnappers – Obasanjo

 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari paid ransoms to kidnappers, notwithstanding denials by the Presidency and government in that regard.

The federal government had spoken against the payment of ransom, warning governors against encouraging bandits and kidnappers through negotiation.

But speaking when he received members of Tiv Professionals Group (TPG) at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, the former president said not just the government of Buhari but that of former President Goodluck Jonathan negotiated with kidnappers.

“Government has always paid ransom. Not only this government, even during Jonathan (administration). They paid ransom, but they deny it,” he said.

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Daily Trust reports that Obasanjo, however, asked the government to develop a means to deal with kidnappers and bandits as against ransom payment.

The former President equally insisted that fighting insecurity to a standstill requires a “carrot and stick” approach.

“Some people are still reaching out, and hoping that lives can still be saved. But a situation whereby anybody thinks paying ransom is the way out, that person is folly. He is a folly. This is because when you pay ransom, you encourage. But if you are not going to pay ransom, you must have the means to deal heavily with it. You must have the stick to deal with it,” he said.

Obasanjo was said to be instrumental in the Wednesday release of the remaining 27 students abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State.