FG denies UN report alleging it paid ‘huge ransom’ for the release of Dapchi girls
The Federal Government has denied a UN report which alleged that it paid ransom for the release of the Dapchi girls.
Over 100 girls were kidnapped from the Dapchi school by a Boko Haram faction in February this year with about 105 of them later released by the terrorists. One of them, Leah Sharibu, who refused to denounce her Christian faith, is still with the abductors.
The UN in a report recently released and submitted to the UN Security Council on Boko Haram and related terrorist organisations, accused the Federal government of paying money for the government.
The report said such ransom was providing oxygen for the insurgency around the Lake Chad region. The UN report is titled “22nd Report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team”, related to Resolution 2368 (2017) regarding “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – ISIL – (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities.”
“In Nigeria, 111 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi were kidnapped on 18 February 2018 and released by ISWAP on 21 March 2018 in exchange for a large ransom payment,” the report stated.
However reacting to the allegation, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in a statement released yesterday, challenged anyone who has any evidence of payment to publish such.
”It is not enough to say that Nigeria paid a ransom, little or huge. There must be a conclusive evidence to support such claim. Without that, the claim remains what it is: a mere conjecture,”
Bashir Ahmad✔@BashirAhmaad
Federal Government did not pay any money to free the Dapchi girls. Anyone with any evidence of payment should publish such, Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed says.
