The Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adeshina has said that the Federal Government would inform Nigerians if and when there is any ransom payment for the release of 317 students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara state.
Adeshina made this known, while responding to questions on what the federal government was doing to ensure the release of the schoolgirls, on a Channels Television programme on Monday.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari will do what is “necessary to be done without compromising the sovereignty of the country”.
He reiterated that the system put in place by the Federal Government would indicate If ransom was paid or not.
He revealed that “If there was payment, it would be disclosed. That is what I’m saying, and if there was payment, it will not be my duty, because I speak for the president.”
“The president will not be the one to pay the ransom,. The agencies that would pay the ransom have spokesmen, who can confirm or deny if ransoms were paid.”
When asked on the what techniques the government was deploying to ensure the release of the abducted girls, Adeshina said “Each card is on the table; each situation is taken according to its own peculiarities. There are situations in which there will be dialogue; there are situations in which there will be negotiations.”
He was further asked “how soon the release of the schoolgirls is expected, Adeshina said “at the shortest possible time”.
Adesina also said it is important for Nigerians to understand that security is everybody’s business.
He said “It would be very wrong to say security is the sole prerogative of the president. We have the mindset that everything about security is the duty of the president; that can only be wrong. To say that is the sole responsibility, sole business, sole prerogative would be very wrong. Everybody is part of the security architecture.”
