Defense Minister Reveals How Troops Rescue Kidnap Victims Without Killing Terrorists

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has explained how security forces rescue abducted victims without necessarily arresting or killing the terrorists responsible for the kidnappings.

Musa said troops often achieve such rescues by locating the terrorists, blocking their escape routes and cutting off their access to essential supplies, including food, water and fuel.

He explained that terrorists frequently abandon their captives and flee when they detect the presence or movement of security forces, particularly when drones or other military assets are deployed.

The minister disclosed this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, amid concerns over the increasing cases of kidnapping for ransom and recent operations where victims were rescued without their captors being apprehended or killed.

He said, “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.”

Musa said security forces also work to prevent terrorists from receiving supplies from people operating around 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 further said ransom payments could provide security agencies with useful leads for tracing terrorists and their financial networks.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria was also working to track funds connected to criminal activities and trace the movement of money to those involved in terrorism and kidnapping.

“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,” Musa said.

Musa also appealed to state governors to stop distributing high-capacity motorcycles as palliatives, warning that some of the motorcycles could eventually be acquired by terrorists and used to move quickly through difficult terrain.

“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 intend to distribute motorcycles to consider smaller-capacity models, saying high-powered motorcycles could give terrorists an advantage by enabling them to move into communities and escape quickly.

“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,” he said.

The defence minister further alleged that motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and palliative programmes could also eventually find their way into the hands of bandits.

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