Nigeria former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has alleged that the administration of President Buhari and that of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, paid ransom to kidnappers and bandits.
OBJ said this while speaking on Wednesday, 5th May, 2021, at his penthouse residence within the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun state.
The former President was hosting members of Tiv professionals Group (TPG) led by Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu.
He charged the government to develop means of dealing with kidnappers and bandits heavily instead of ransom payment.
He opined that leaders must ensure 2023 birth the emergence of a new federation in Nigeria,
In his words...
“otherwise the country may be sliding into ground dissolution.”
“I do believe that whatever else we do we have to make the year 2023 a watershed for Nigeria. The year 2023 should give us the beginning of emergence of a new federation or feeling that the rot continues, and then, we are going to be sliding back to a ground dissolution. God forbid.”
Obasanjo equally insisted that it requires a “carrot and stick” approach to fight insecurity challenges to a standstill.
He said “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.
“Government has always paid ransom. Not only this government, even during Jonathan (administration). They paid ransom, but they denied it.”
.PNG)
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