Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday declared that the Senate is opposed to negotiations with terrorists and the payment of ransom.
Akpabio urged security agencies to ensure that kidnappers face capital punishment when apprehended.
He made the remarks during the ministerial screening of former Chief of Defence Staff and Defence Minister nominee, Christopher Musa, on the floor of the Senate.
The Senate President noted that kidnappers use ransoms paid for the release of victims to purchase more weapons for further abductions.
He said: “This Senate is against negotiations with terrorists, we are against the idea of paying ransom to terrorists. They would use the money to buy more arms and kidnap again.
“Even when I was a governor, I never negotiated with terrorists. I made my state so hot that each time we arrested a kidnapper he would say ‘please sir, forgive me, I didn’t know that it was in your state when they said we have a job. I know how angry you are with kidnapping.’
“That was how bad it was, the late Arase, former IGP was once one of the police commissioners in my state when I was the governor, he can testify.
“We can make Nigeria so hot that anyone that crosses in from a Sahel state, Niger or Mali, when arrested, the person will be pleading with you ‘Minister of Defence, forgive me, I don’t know that it was part of Nigeria’ because of the policies we have put in place.
“Most of the people you are negotiating with are living with drugs, they don’t go to any negotiations with their normal eyes, they don’t intend to keep to whatever agreement, they only want to buy time to come back and strike.
“There is a need for us to review the policy of kinetic and non-kinetic approach. I’m not against anything that would bring peace.
“A kidnapper is a kidnapper, this Senate is of the opinion that once we arrest any kidnapper, he should face capital punishment so that the society can be kept safe. Many countries have done that.”
