Kuje Attack: Presidency Admits Hardship, Criminality In Nigeria

The Presidency has admitted to the hardship and criminality being faced by Nigerians, adding that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is doing its best.

Speaking on Channels Television on the recent Kuje Prison attack, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, stated that he has not known anyway suggested that there is no hardship in the land.

He said, “I’m a Nigerian, I have family members that live in the society, I don’t come from the moon, I feel it, and I have never in any way suggested that there’s no hardship in the country. I have never in any place or position indicated that there’s no criminality.”

Shehu, however, urged Nigerians to stop paying ransoms to terrorists and kidnappers, saying that it only fuels terrorism.

Buhari’s spokesperson said families who have had loved ones abducted should call the bluff of the kidnappers and allow security agencies to do their jobs.

He said, “You are mentioning all of these about kidnappers, and the people that have been taken, and the President even in his Sallah message mentioned an appeal he was making to fellow citizens to expose them (the criminals), tell the security agencies where they are, and sometimes you also can sympathize with the family members in that highly emotive situation.

“The first priority for most of them is to get their family back, and they are willing to pay, and they’ve paid, and these payments, whether anybody likes it or not, will continue to fuel terrorism, we have to learn from experiences in other lands that when you pay, you are fuelling terrorism, you are fuelling the hijack and kidnapping of fellow citizens, and it will go on, and on until simply people call off the bluff and be prepared to allow law enforcement.”