Former Kaduna state Governor Nasir El-Rugai came under attacks for alleging that the governments were engaging in appeasement of bandits.
According to him, hefty sums were being paid to the bandits to keep the peace.
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and Kaduna State government chided him for making wild claims
He was cautioned against stoking violence in Kaduna.
The North-Central All Progressives Congress (NC-APC) Forum also knocked the former governor
El-Rufai, a former APC leader, now a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), described giving money to bandits as empowering them to prolong their evil actions
He also delved into the 2027 presidential race, claiming that President Tinubu would be third.
In separate statements, ONSA and the Kaduna State Government accused El-Rufai of politicising the security challenge in the country instead of seeing it as a “collective struggle.’’
They dismissed the former governor’s allegation as not only “baseless” but provocative and manipulative.
ONSA said in a statement by its Director of Legal Services, Zakari Mijinyawa: “The allegations by El-Rufai are not only false but also contradict verifiable facts on the ground.”
The statement clarified that neither the ONSA nor any government agency under the Tinubu administration has ever engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals.
