Despite the worsening security situation in the country from bad to worse, President Tinubu has decided to henceforth rebuff all negotiations and ransom payments to bandits engaged in kidnapping activities. In just two weeks, over 600 persons, including innocent school pupils have been kidnapped in Kaduna and Borno states.

Bandits and other criminal elements are having their way all around the country. They have spread their activities to the hitherto peaceful southwest.

President Bola Tinubu in his “Renewed Hope,” agenda had pledged to prioritise security if elected into office. “We will mobilise the totality of our national security, military, and law enforcement assets to protect all Nigerians from danger and the fear of danger. We will expand and improve upon the use of technology, enhance recruitment of personnel, and bolster existing agencies and systems to achieve this fundamental national security goal,” he said in the policy document.

Asiwaju Tinubu promised to provide a trained and disciplined anti-terrorists battalions, upgrade tactical communication and transportation for security agents, upgrade weapons systems to ensure security agents are capable of addressing security threats and recruitment of people who possess the technical skills required for today’s military.

He also pledged to reduce dependence on imported foreign military equipment, exploit aerial technological superiority, improve salaries of security agents, rehabilitate economic systems affected by violent groups, secure national infrastructure, seek international collaboration and reposition the police. That resonated throughout his campaign, particularly in the northern part of the country.

In his inauguration speech on 29 May,2023 , President Tinubu speaking on the worsening security challenges, said: “Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence.

“We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide, better training, equipment, pay and firepower”.

But all these are in the realm of promises yet to be fulfilled. The security situation in the country now is worse that ten months when he came on the saddle. In 2023, bandits were satisfied with thousands and million ransom payments but now, the criminals are demanding trillions supported with several vehicles and motorcycles.

The nation was put in a state of shock on Monday when bandits who abducted 16 residents of Gonin Gora area of Kaduna metropolis demanded for a ransom of N40 trillion for their release.

John Yusuf, a community leader of the area, who disclosed this on Monday in Kaduna said the bandits called and demanded N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans and 150 brand new motorcycles for the release of the victims.

“The bandits have contacted us. They are demanding for N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans and 150 motorcycles for the release of 16 people they are holding captive”, he stressed .

But like a roaring but weak lion, the Federal Government on Wednesday at the end of its Federal Executive Council, (FEC) affirmed its position on ‘no ransom payment for kidnapped persons in Nigeria’.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Muhammad Idris, who spoke to the press after the FEC meeting, said President Tinubu also gave a directive to the security forces to ensure that the abducted school children and their teachers in Kaduna are rescued.

The minister re-emphasised that the president said the Federal Government would not pay any ransom to kidnappers and that the current administration is determined to tackle kidnapping and other criminal activities in the country.

He said under the current government, kidnapping, especially mass abduction will not be tolerated. Kidnapping activities are fast becoming a daily occurrence and a way of life in the country. On Tuesday at least 60 persons were kidnapped by bandits at Buba village in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The fresh Kajuru attack occurred barely five days after bandits invaded the Kuriga community in the Chikun Local Government Area of the state and kidnapped 287 students of LEA Primary School and Government Secondary School located in the community.

Kidnapping activities are said to be one of the major reasons why prices of food stuffs are skyrocketing in the country as farmers are no longer save going to their farms.