EDEx President Olusegun Obasanjo said that former President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari paid ransoms to bandits but they perpetually lived in denial of it.
Obasanjo said he didn’t believe in paying ransom to bandits as it encouraged them to continue the dastardly act.
He spoke on Wednesday, May 5 when he hosted a Tiv professional group in his Abeokuta Hilltop residence.
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 (Goodluck) Jonathan (administration). They paid ransom, but they denied it.”
ED
