The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has explained that security forces can rescue abducted victims without arresting or killing the terrorists holding them by cutting off their access to essential supplies and blocking their escape routes.
Musa said terrorists often abandon their captives and flee when confronted by security forces, making it possible for troops to rescue victims without engaging in a direct confrontation.
The minister spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday while responding to concerns over recent military operations in which abducted victims were rescued without the arrest or killing of their captors.
According to him, security forces first identify the location of the terrorists before deploying strategies to restrict their movement and cut off access to food, water, fuel and other supplies.
“Sometimes if you carry out manoeuvres. The funny thing is, the terrorists too don’t want to die. I hope you know that. All this one they’re doing carrying weapons, they don’t want to die. So once there’s anything, even if it’s a drone that comes, you see them scatter away and leave everybody. That’s what happens,” he said.
Musa added that denying terrorists access to essential supplies could weaken their ability to remain in their hideouts.
“So what we normally do is once we’re able to identify where they are, we block avenues for them. Like I said, take out the oxygen, they will die. So those are the aspects, and that’s why as long as people go to support to sneak in, give them fuel, give them water, give them food, give them all this, these are the things that are making them thrive. Once they don’t have that, they can’t survive,” he said.
The minister also said ransom payments could provide security agencies with an avenue to trace terrorists and their financial networks.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria was working to track funds linked to criminal activities and identify the movement of money associated with such operations.
“I’m happy that the CBN too is living up to expectation, trying to make sure that even if we were able to trace monies that are coming in from those other areas, we can track back where they are,” he said.
Musa also urged state governors to reconsider distributing motorcycles as palliatives, warning that some of the motorcycles could eventually find their way into the hands of terrorists.
“We try to appeal to even governors to stop selling motorcycle—giving motorcycles out as palliatives. Because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up to with this… with these terrorists into using,” he said.
He advised governors who must distribute motorcycles to consider lower-capacity models, arguing that larger motorcycles give terrorists greater mobility and make it easier for them to evade security forces.
“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big capacity motorcycles, give them the small capacity ones that they will not be… won’t be able to use to run around, because that gives them leverage. They can easily enter and then disappear,” Musa said.
He further alleged that motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and palliative programmes could also eventually find their way back to bandits.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
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