The Federal Government on Thursday insisted that it did not pay any ransom to secure the release of the Dapchi girls.
In a statement issued in Ilorin, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed challenged anyone who has any evidence of payment to publish such.
The minister was responding to news item in the media which quoted a report submitted to the UN Security Council alleging that ransom was paid for the release of the girls.
“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.
Read: Nigerian Government Paid Ransom for Dapchi Girls Release- Report
Mohammed insisted that the report remained a speculation until evidence of payment of the purported ransom was made available.
“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,” the Minister said
Independent News Sources have long since speculated that the Nigerian Federal Government paid huge sums of money to have the girls released. Most believe that it is this funding that helped the insurgency get back on its feet with growing attacks on Nigerian Towns as well as military personnel.
All the girls were returned except one Leah Shaibu whom the sect claims they kept because she refused to convert to Islam from her religion of Christianity.
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