By Osaretin Osadebamwen
Senator Ali Ndume representing Borno South Senatorial district has reacted to the trending video online by the President of Borno South Youth alliance (BOSYA) alleging the Borno State government and Senator Ali Ndume are “complicit” in series of kidnapping in the state.
Sen. Ndume said that all allegations by Samaila Ibrahim Kaigama, that he was involved in any ransome for release of any kidnap victim are false and politically motivated.
He said he does not believe in the negotiation or payment of ransome for release of victims with terrorist and wonder how he could be involved or seeking to be involved in the process of negotiating and ransome exchange for kidnapped victims.
Ndume said the person laying the allegations is contesting for the Borno South Senatorial District on the platform of Accord Party and is seeking to use this damaging and false allegations to sway electorates.
According to the Senator who appeared on Friday night on Channels TV Politics programme said the character of the person alleging he received ₦5bn was curious adding that he has never seen ₦1bn at once in his life except through cumulative earnings.
“In my life, I have never seen 1 billion at once cash, not to talk of 5 billion. And still, you know, if we are talking about 5 billion, 5 billion is not a small figure, even if it’s in the highest currency, that is ₦1,000. I don’t think this place can take ₦5 billion if it is cash. That is, if cash was paid.
“If it is not paid by cash, which account was that money paid to? Who was responsible for the payment? Is it the state government as he is claiming? And if it is so, he should go as it is now to prove to the relevant authorities that this is what happened, that is how it happened.
“So, after complaining severally to DSS, I understand now, the day before yesterday or two days ago, he has been invited by DSS to come and explain.
He maintained that the allegations are serious and bothered on national and international security.
“The government should take this matter very seriously, because it borders on national security. It’s very dangerous, in fact, to international security, because it’s war, and all these terrorist organizations are involved.
“After he started bothering me about personally contributing, I told him that I do not support negotiation with Boko Haram, not to talk of paying ransom. And that, I think, is where the problem started. He started issuing out all these uncoordinated and contradictory statements about my involvement and the like.
Ndume said it was important to point out that the man alleging he was seeking to be pivotal in ransome negotiating for the release of the kidnappers in different parts of Borno State has been accused of collecting monies from families of kidnapped victims promising to secure their releases but has ended without any release of their loved ones.
He further stated that when the families complained to him he asked to to go and report the matter to security agencies to take the right action.
“Some people from my constituency came to me to say Kaigama defrauded them or extorted money from them by asking them to contribute money for the release of the people. But all of them that he claimed or he collected money on behalf, up to now, have not been released.
“So, the people who came after we started this back and forth something, to say they are reporting this matter, I say go to the appropriate authority. So, he has a case now with the EFCC about extortion or financial crime, which is the appropriate authority. And I think the other agencies like DSS and police are also aware.
“And I also reported the case to the police after he consistently or he made all those defamatory comments about me and I said, ah, this is getting out of hand and I need to do something.
“So, that is why I reported to the police, reported to NSA, reported to DSS and I am also going to take him to court on this matter because it’s a serious defamation of character.
Senator Ndume said he has contested six times to be in the senate and all six time he was challenged by opponent
Ndume said he has never met Kaigama in person but has received messages from. Asking him to contribute money to secure the release of kidnapped victims in his constituency and he told him he I’ll not as he never believed in such action and asked Kaigama to stop contacting him.
“I have the message that he sent, and the last one that I sent to him, warning him to stop contacting me, because I did the needful. I reported the matter to the NSA, the police, and the military, intelligence
“Lately, I made it on WhatsApp, and I spoke with the DG DSS. I spoke with NSA on this matter. That is, after he came on Sunrise to make those specific allegations.
The BOSYA, President Samaila Ibrahim Kaigama had accused the Borno State government of giving Senator Ali Ndume money and appointing him as the mediator and have released ₦5 billion to Sen. Ndume whom he alleged that only ₦1.9 billion was received by Boko Haram.
Kaigama had in a six minutes video alleged among others that Boko Haram Commander confirmed to him that Sen. Ali Ndume is a sponsor of Boko Haram
