Obasanjo condemns ransom payment, urges Buhari to deal heavily with bandits

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday condemned the payment of ransom to kidnappers by the Nigerian government, urging President Muhammadu Buhari, the C-In-C to deal heavily with kidnappers, bandits, and other perpetrators of violent crimes in the country. Dr. Obasanjo stated that payment of ransom to kidnappers or bandits is folly.

The former President hosting members of the Tiv Professionals Group (TPG) led by Professor Zacharys Gundu, at his residence in the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, also appealed to political leaders in Nigeria to work towards to emergence of a new federation in 2023, expressing the fear that Nigeria may slide into ground dissolution if the 2023 election fails to produce a credible president.

Dr. Obasanjo had declared: “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. He is a 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.”

Former President Obasanjo advocated that 2023 must mark a watershed for Nigeria.

Obasanjo cautioned: “The year 2023 should give us the beginning of the emergence of a new federation. Feeling that the rot continues, then we are going to be sliding back to a ground dissolution. God forbid.”

The former President scolded people beating drums of war and disintegration in Nigeria; saying they do not think about the interest of the minority ethnic groups.

He was of the view that the minority ethnic groups face oppression and extermination should Nigeria be allowed to break as being agitated by some people.

Dr. Obasanjo, however, advocated that a leader must govern Nigeria from the context of its diversity rather than from primordial ethnic impulse.

According to him, “I believe that if we will get it right in Nigeria, any leader must look at Nigeria with the prism of the diversity of Nigeria. For as long as you look at Nigeria with the prism of your ethnic group, then you are not going anywhere, either your ethnic group or religious group.

“But is there hope? There is hope.”

Professor Gundu had complained to Dr. Obasanjo that people are being maimed in their sleep and on their ancestral land. He emphasized that influential Nigerians have to rise to the occasion to stem the tide of killings in the land. He lamented that Nigeria appears to be losing the battle against the bandits and other perpetrators of insecurity in the country. He proceeded to demand compensation for victims of killings and destruction in Tiv land. He further advocated the proscription of armed Fulani groups, including ban on nomadic pastoralism.

Professor Gundu had, accordingly, declared: “Nigeria seems to be losing the battle against insecurity.

“There are different shades of instability in the country. Nigeria is truly bleeding to death. There is even a population fault line that could lead to the ‘Lebanon Trap’.

“All patriots must stand together; but if others have to be enslaved before the country can survive, we will prefer, as Tiv people, to take our destiny in our hands.”