Prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has called on the Nigerian government to refund ransom payments made by families of kidnapped citizens, accusing authorities of double standards in handling abductions across the country.
Delivering the keynote address at the Law Week programme of the University of Abuja chapter of the Law Students Association on November 13, 2025, Falana described the current security situation in Nigeria as a national crisis, highlighting the persistent attacks on farmers, students, worshippers, and rural communities.
Falana argued that while the government responds quickly to kidnappings of elites such as judges and former public officers, ordinary citizens are often left to negotiate with criminals themselves, sometimes paying ransoms under duress.
“When judges, former public officers, or elites are kidnapped, the government acts swiftly, deploying military resources, intelligence operatives, and sometimes paying ransom to secure their release,” he said.
“Conversely, when ordinary citizens — farmers, students, worshippers — are abducted, their families are left to negotiate with criminals or pay ransom themselves, often at the whim of armed gangs,” Falana added.
He described this as “not only a moral failure but also a constitutional violation,” emphasizing that the government has a binding duty under Sections 14(2)(b) and 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution to protect all citizens equally.
According to Falana, families compelled to pay ransoms should be refunded as an acknowledgment of the government’s failure to provide security.
He said such refunds would also serve as a deterrent to future kidnappings, signaling that the state cannot allow ordinary citizens to bear the cost of its inaction.
He said, “When citizens are compelled to pay ransom due to government failure, justice demands restitution. The State must acknowledge its dereliction and refund such payments while intensifying action against kidnappers.
“Contrary to the official ban on payment of ransom, the federal government and state governments do pay ransom for the rescue of a few citizens. In other cases, the police and other security agencies are aware of the payment of ransom and sometime participate in the negotiations for the payment of ransom for the ‘rescue’ of abducted persons.”
Falana’s address further criticized systemic failures in Nigeria’s security architecture, highlighting how recurring banditry, terrorism, and herder-farmer conflicts continue largely unchecked due to state negligence, corruption, and weak enforcement of laws.
He called for immediate prosecution of kidnapping suspects, nationwide enforcement of anti-grazing laws, and a reorientation of national security priorities to focus on the protection of every citizen, regardless of social status, faith, or location.
“The right to life is not negotiable. It cannot be subordinated to politics, profit, or privilege,” Falana said, urging Nigerians to mobilize peacefully and demand accountability from the government.
“Every life lost to terrorism, herder-farmer conflict, or police brutality must be investigated with equal seriousness. There can be no hierarchy of victims in a just nation.”
The senior lawyer also underscored that failure to investigate kidnappings or punish perpetrators amounts to complicity, not merely administrative neglect.
Drawing on international human rights law and precedents set by the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Falana stressed that the Nigerian government has both legal and moral obligations to prevent and respond effectively to threats against citizens’ lives.
He warned that until these measures are implemented, impunity will continue to embolden kidnappers and other criminals, further eroding the government’s legitimacy.
He criticised state governments that negotiate with terrorists or grant them amnesty, calling such actions dangerous and inconsistent with federal policy.
Falana also faulted the government’s handling of herder-farmer conflicts, saying the refusal to enforce open grazing bans continues to fuel killings in rural communities.
