Helicopter Delivered Ransom Money To Kidnappers, Says Woro Abductees

The freed victims from Woro community in Kwara State are telling their relatives that a helicopter flew in with money for their kidnappers days before their release, and this directly contradicts the government's story of a no-ransom military rescue. One relative told SaharaReporters that two of his family members were shocked when they heard officials claiming no money was paid. He said, "When they heard that the government was claiming they were rescued and that no money was paid, two of my family members were shocked. They said a helicopter came while they were in captivity and money was brought to the kidnappers. They saw it, but they were not allowed to touch the money."

So the Federal Government, with President Bola Tinubu personally commending the operation as the largest single-day hostage rescue in the country, wants us to believe that over 300 people were freed purely by intelligence and firepower. But the people who were actually there, the ones who spent six months in that forest, they are saying something different. They say the money arrived roughly four to five days before they were let go. That is not a rescue, that is a business transaction.

And who suffers? The 176 people initially taken, mostly women and children, of whom 13 died in captivity. They ate one meal a day, had no medical care, slept under the sky until makeshift shelters were built. Now they are home with their families, but the truth is still locked in that forest. The question is simple: if the government paid ransom, why lie about it? And if they did not pay, what did the helicopter actually bring?