Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday declared that governments of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and President Buhari paid ransom to kidnappers but they denied it.
Obasanjo said he did not believe in payment of ransom to kidnappers and banditry, maintaining that it encouraged criminals indulging in the act.
He spoke on Wednesday at his Penthouse residence within Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while playing host to members of the Tiv Professionals’ Group led by Prof. Zacharys Anger Gundu.
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. 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, they paid ransom, but they denied it.”