The former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, of disseminating propaganda and falsehood by parading freed abductees as rescued victims, despite their families paying ransoms to secure their release.

El-Rufai noted this is a statement he shared on Monday night.

“The parade at the ONSA of ‘rescued victims’ whose families usually frown at the narrative of being ‘rescued’ after they have paid ransoms is another unfortunate propaganda and official falsehood,” the statement read in part.

He cited the case of an abductee who was allegedly released by bandits after his relatives paid a ransom to secure his release.

“At least, Nigerians followed the drama of the family in Zamfara State who paid a ransom to secure the release of their loved ones, while the middlemen of ONSA claimed to have ‘rescued’ them,” El-Rufai wrote.

The former governor and the NSA have been exchanging words since the former appeared on Channels Television on Sunday night.

During the interview, El-Rufai criticised Ribadu and the Federal Government for pampering bandits and offering them incentives, adding that it was the current administration’s non-kinetic approach to addressing insecurity.

Ribadu, however, refuted the claims on Monday, describing them as baseless. El-Rufai doubled down on his criticisms of the NSA in the statement he shared on Monday night, where he further accused Ribadu of negotiating with bandits and politicising the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

“It is a well-known fact to discerning Nigerians that the face of the politicization of national security for politically intended purposes resides, for the first time in our recent history, in the ONSA under its present leadership.

“If the ONSA thinks Nigerians are not following its unclear and incompetent management of terrorisim and banditry in Northern Nigeria and beyond, in collaboration with a certain senator, also from the North, then it is high time it carried out an in-depth evaluation and review of its actions,” he added.