Yemi Adaramodu, the Senate spokesperson has reiterated that the Federal Government did not pay ransom to secure the release of victims recently abducted in Kebbi and Niger States.
Speaking on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Adaramodu addressed public concerns about the lack of footage or evidence showing direct confrontation between security agents and the kidnappers.
“From our side at the National Assembly, we believe the Federal Government did not pay any ransom to anybody,” he said during the programme.
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He explained that engagements with kidnappers are not always straightforward or publicly visible.
“If there is any contact with the bandits, there are several types, negative or positive. It can be through force or persuasion,” he noted.
Adaramodu, who represents Ekiti South, said members of the public often expect dramatic displays of force, but security operations do not always unfold that way, nor are they conducted for public consumption.
He warned against assuming that security forces took no action simply because there were no scenes of shootouts or 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 said, adding that “when abductors realise that superior power is coming, they can abandon their victims and flee.”
According to him, the military and other agencies are not required to disclose operational tactics or details of rescue missions.
“The ways and manners of the military, how they rescue victims, cannot and will not be made public,” he emphasised.
“As a security agency, they will not tell us how many bullets they shot or how many guns they lost.”
Adaramodu stressed that the priority for both the Senate and the Federal Government remains the safe return of victims rather than the publicity surrounding military maneuvers.
“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.”
