Yemi Obafemi
The Senate has dismissed growing speculation that ransom was paid to secure the release of recently abducted victims, insisting that the Federal Government maintained its policy of non-negotiation with criminals.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, the Senate spokesman said the public should not mistake the absence of graphic evidence for a lack of military engagement in the rescue mission.
“From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody,” he said, adding that interactions with abductors can take different forms, including force or strategic persuasion.
He argued that rescue operations are often misunderstood by the public because the military does not openly reveal field tactics or combat outcomes.
“If you have not seen the corpses of abductors or them being handcuffed from the forest, that does not mean there was no serious exchange of battle.
“When abductors realise that superior power is coming, they can abandon their victims and flee,” he stressed.
The spokesman also defended the armed forces’ practice of withholding operational details, saying disclosing such information could compromise future missions.
“As a security agency, they will not tell us how many bullets they shot or how many guns they lost,” he said.
He maintained that results, not methods, should be the focus.
“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.”
