Daniel Bwala, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on policy communication, says the federal government does not negotiate with terrorists.
Speaking on ‘The Morning Brief’, a Channels Television
programme, Bwala said the complexity of Nigeria’s security situation sometimes
forces governments to make difficult decisions.
“There was a time the federal government was negotiating
(with terrorists), and I think that el-Rufai (the former Kaduna governor) once
talked about a national policy at that time, when they said both states and the
federal government can be in a situation where they will have to negotiate,” he
said.
“Because if your duty is to preserve the life of people, and
citizens of Nigeria are in danger, and negotiation is the only way to save
them, and you have to save them, then you have to do all that you need to do to
save them at that time.
“But President Tinubu came with this zero tolerance on
negotiation because it didn’t fit into this terrorism financing. You see, you
are constructively financing terrorism without knowing it.
“So instead of elements who are sponsoring them by giving
them the money as ransom to collect the people, they also use the ransom money
to buy more weapons.
“So the federal government does not tolerate the idea of
negotiation.”
‘NOT ALL NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVE MONEY’
Speaking on the release of recently abducted schoolchildren
in the northern region, Bwala said several factors can influence the release of
kidnap victims including fear by abductors that holding on to captives could
expose them to greater danger.
“There are lots of factors that can occasion that. One, you
know that there are individuals who call themselves negotiators. When it comes
to negotiation, it’s not in all cases that money is involved,” he said.
“There are cases where the people might feel that if they
don’t release these people, there’s going to be a bigger problem than they can
manage. That can serve as incentive for them to release the people.
“Sometimes people they listen to — they could be these
clerics or anybody they could listen to — can also be a factor.
“At other times, it can also be that the federal government
has sort of encircled them in terms of saying, from the intelligence point of
view, you at least have an idea of where they are, right, but you have a
difficulty of going to bomb there because then you have soft people with them.
“But then you are giving them warning, and they can decide
to turn them over. At other times, on their own, they can choose to do that.”
Bwala added that some families and state governments still
end up paying ransom to theirs abductors.
The presidential aide also insisted that the federal
government neither paid for the release of the Kebbi schoolgirls nor intends to
pay for abductees in the future.
Responding to claims made by terrorists in a video, he said
their statements are propaganda designed to intimidate the public.
He said claims by the abductors lack credibility because
they have not provided evidence such as “how much they collect” or “who they
collected from”.
Bwala said rebuilding trust will take time because the
problem “was inherited by this government”.
He added that the administration remains focused on
resolving insecurity, saying “our eye is on the ball”.
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