Fight against banditry: ONSA calls out El-Rufai’s false allegations
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has released a press statement to rebut El-Rufai’s claim about the government paying incentives to bandits.
El-Rufai had alleged in an interview with Channels TV Sunday Politics program that ONSA pays a stipulated amount of money to bandits and still couldn’t deal with the issue of insecurity.
Zakari Mijinyawa, NSA official spokesperson, has now responded to these claims in an official press release; calling it baseless, false and unfounded.
The press release was shared by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on Information, on his official X account, dated 1st of September, 2025.
“The attention of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has been drawn to comments made by the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, in a television interview on Sunday.
“In that interview, he alleged, falsely, that the ONSA coordinates a policy of payments and offers incentives to bandits. This claim is baseless.
“At no time has the ONSA, or any arm of government under this administration, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals,” the statement reads.
Mijinyawa mentioned the government’s insistence against paying ransom. According to him, “El-Rufai’s allegations are not only false but also contradict verifiable facts on ground”.
The statement further revealed how the government have strategically reduced the state of insecurity in the country, particularly in the Northern part of the country where banditry is rampant.
“From inception, this government adopted a dual strategy: decisive kinetic operations alongside community engagements aimed at addressing local grievances.
“The result is evident in areas such as Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, and other parts of Kaduna that once suffered untold terror in Kaduna state but are now experiencing relative peace,” it added.
It also acknowledged the sacrifices of security personnels, many of whom lost their lives in the consistent battles with the insurgents.
“The efforts of our gallant military and security agencies in capturing or eliminating notorious bandits have been widely reported in the media. These successes came at a cost, some of our brave officers paid the supreme price.
“For a former governor of a state in person of El-Rufai to deny these sacrifices on national television is both unfair and deeply insulting to the memories of our security personnel,” the statement said.
To conclude, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) appealed to El-Rufai as well as other politicians to desist from dragging national security institutions into partisan battles.
According to the statement, the fight against banditry is a collective struggle, not a platform for political point-scoring.
