FG paid ransom to secure release of kidnapped Kaduna students, says High ranking military officer

• He noted that the release wouldn’t be possible unless ransom was paid by the federal government to the abductors

A former Commandant of the Defence Intelligence College, Commodore Kunle Olawunmi (Rtd) has weighed in on the deepening security crisis that pervades the nation.

Olawumi particularly spoke on the abduction of over 137 students abducted by gunmen at the Kuriga School on March 7 and their subsequent release.

Since their release on Sunday, Nigerians have begun to ask questions on how the abducted persons regained their freedom, with many wanting to know if a military operation was conducted and the abductors neutralised to get the schoolchildren out or if the government paid ransom to the bandits holding the kids to secure their release.

Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, had on Sunday claimed no ransom was paid to rescue the student from their captors.

Speaking on the matter in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, March 25, the ex-military officer said the federal government paid ransom.

He noted that the release wouldn’t be possible unless ransom was paid by the federal government to the abductors.

“Ransom was paid, let me just answer that one. Let them take me on or debunk it,” he said.

Recall Government spokesman Abdulaziz Abdulaziz disclosed on Sunday that it “took a lot of backchannel engagement” to release the students abducted on March 7 in Kuriga, a dusty town in Kaduna state – the first mass kidnapping in Nigeria since 2021.

“[All] of them were released and all of them were fine,” he said, giving the official number of freed students at 137 – much lower than the figure of 286 students and one staff member in most media reports. He claimed the media reports were wrong, but did not give further details.