Femi Adesina on school abductions: If there’s ransom payment, Nigerians will be informed

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesperson, says Nigerians will be informed if there’s any ransom payment for the release of 317 students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara state.

Adesina stated this on Monday, when he featured on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.

The presidential spokesperson, while responding to questions on what the federal government is doing to ensure the release of the schoolgirls, said President Muhammadu Buhari will do what is “necessary to be done without compromising the sovereignty of the country”. 

Last Friday, gunmen attacked the school located at Talata-Mafara local government area of Zamfara state, and abducted 317 schoolgirls. 

This is the third abduction of schoolchildren in the northern part of the country in the past three months. 

Responding to the techniques deployed by the federal government to secure the release of schoolchildren, Adesina said the president takes each situation according to its peculiarities. 

“Each card is on the table; each situation is taken according to its own peculiarities. There are situations in which there will be dialogue; there are situations in which there will be negotiations,” he said.

“If ransom was paid, it will tell the country that ransom was paid, and if it is not paid, it would also say so. 

“If there was payment, it would be disclosed. That is what I’m saying, and if there was payment, it will not be my duty, because I speak for the president. 

“The president will not be the one to pay the ransom,. The agencies that would pay the ransom have spokesmen, who can confirm or deny if ransoms were paid.”

When asked about how soon to expect the release of the schoolgirls, he said “at the shortest possible time”.

Adesina also said it is important for Nigerians to understand that security is everybody’s business.

“It would be very wrong to say security is the sole prerogative of the president. We have the mindset that everything about security is the duty of the president; that can only be wrong. To say that is the sole responsibility, sole business, sole prerogative would be very wrong. Everybody is part of the security architecture,” he said.