NIGERIA: ONSA Debunks El-Rufai’s Allegation Of Government Payments To Bandits

By Ameenat Hamzat, Lagos, Nigeria 

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has strongly refuted claims made by former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, alleging that the government pays or offers incentives to bandits.

In a statement issued on Monday by Zakari Mijinyawa on behalf of the ONSA, the office described El-Rufai’s remarks, made during a television interview on Sunday, as “false and baseless.”

The statement reads: “At no time has the ONSA, or any arm of government under this administration, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals. On the contrary, we have consistently warned Nigerians against paying ransom.”

The ONSA stressed that the federal government has adopted a dual approach in tackling insecurity, combining decisive military operations with community engagement initiatives.

It said this strategy has brought relative peace to once-volatile areas of Kaduna State such as Igabi, Birnin Gwari, and Giwa.

Highlighting recent security successes, the statement noted that several notorious bandit leaders, including Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow Janburos, Buhari, and Boka, have been eliminated by security forces, while leaders of the Ansaru terror group were recently apprehended.

The ONSA further noted : “These successes came at a cost, as some of our brave officers paid the supreme price. For a former governor to deny these sacrifices on national television is both unfair and deeply insulting to the memories of our security personnel.”

The office urged El-Rufai and other political figures to refrain from dragging national security institutions into partisan politics, stressing that the fight against banditry is “a collective struggle, not a platform for political point-scoring.”