The 2023 Labour Party vice presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has called on security agencies to interrogate former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent claim that the Federal Government is paying bandits.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Baba-Ahmed said the allegation was too serious to be waved aside and criticised the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for its response.

“If the so-called office of the National Security Adviser would take this statement with levity, then Nuhu Ribadu was never a policeman; he is not a qualified lawyer; he should not be in that office,” he said, insisting El-Rufai should already be giving statements to law enforcement.

El-Rufai had on Sunday, also on Politics Today, accused the government of adopting a “kiss-the-bandits policy,” alleging that allowances and food supplies were being given to criminal groups under a non-kinetic security approach.

“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits,” the former governor said.

But the ONSA swiftly dismissed his comments. In a statement signed by its spokesman, Zakari Mijinyawa, the office described El-Rufai’s claims as “false and baseless,” stressing that the administration has never paid ransoms or inducements to bandits and continues to warn citizens against doing so.