By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian authorities have maintained that no money exchanged hands between the federal government and members of the Boko Haram terrorists group for the release of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls.
A United Nations report had claimed that the Nigerian government paid a “huge sum” to secure the release of the girls earlier this year week after they were captured at their school dormitory.
But in a statement issued in Illorin, Kwara State on Thursday, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, insisted that government did not pay any ransom to Boko Haram to free the girls from captivity.
Mr Mohammed, in the statement signed by his media aide, Mr Segun Adeyemi, challenged anyone who has any evidence of payment to publish such.
The Minister said, “It is not enough to say that Nigeria paid a ransom, little or huge. There must be a conclusive evidence to support such claim. Without that, the claim remains what it is: a mere conjecture.”
Recall that in March 2018, Boko Haram released the girls its members kidnapped at the Government Girls Science and Technology College in Dapchi, Yobe State. However, it failed to release one of them, Leah Sharibu, allegedly because she did not renounce her Christian faith.
Adedapo Adesanya 
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