Lai Mohammed Speaks Out, Claims It’s Fake News About A $20 Million Bribe Paid to Bandits

Lai Mohammed Speaks Out, Claims It’s Fake News About A $20 Million Bribe Paid to Bandits

Lai Mohammed Speaks Out, Claims It’s Fake News About A $20 Million Bribe Paid to Bandits

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NewsReport gathered that the Federal Government said on Monday that a report that the Nigerian Air Force paid bandits N20 million in exchange for an anti-aircraft gun seized by the bandits was false.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that masked men on motorcycles emerged from the forest, encircling a young intelligence officer clutching a cash-filled bag.

The ransom, nearly $50,000 in crisp Nigerian banknotes, was said to be for the recovery of a weapon that directly threatened the country’s president this online information learned

According to the journal, a kidnapping gang encamped in Nigeria’s Rugu forest seized an antiaircraft gun during a clash with a military unit.

This posed a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had planned to fly to his hometown about 80 miles away, and the government needed to repurchase the plane.

In an interview, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said that despite the military’s recent notable successes in combating insecurity, he was amused by a story that the Nigerian Air Force paid N20 million to bribe bandits so that they would not bring down the president’s aircraft.

“Fortunately, the Air Force immediately debunked this because this exposes their ignorance. Between Zamfara, Katsina, parts of Kaduna, and Niger states, there are about 150 bandit camps. Who then was the money given to?

We didn’t pay N20m to bandits in exchange for anti-aircraft gun – NAF

“It does not make any sense and it is because they do not understand how bandits operate that is why they can peddle that kind of fake news,’’ he said.

Mohammed said with the improved security situation in the North-East and North-Central Zones the nation would experience improved food security.

“If you observe what is happening of recent, you can see heightened activities in the agricultural area.

“This is because of the superior firepower of the military which is now making it possible for people to go to their farms, especially in the North East. They have been able to put the criminals at bay,’’ he said.

The minister gave an assurance that the success of the military against terrorists and bandits would be sustained.

He, therefore, solicited the cooperation and support of Nigerians for the sustenance of the military action.