Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has revealed that he refused to pay a N300 million ransom demanded by bandits who abducted two men they falsely claimed were his brothers.

He said he told the kidnappers to kill them if they were indeed his siblings.

The governor disclosed this during an interview with Arise Television, insisting that he would never negotiate with or pay ransom to criminal groups, regardless of the circumstances.

Lawal explained that the bandits had released a video in which the abductees, under duress, claimed to be his biological brothers in an apparent attempt to pressure him into paying the ransom.

According to him, he immediately informed the kidnappers that he had no male sibling and challenged them to carry out their threat if they believed otherwise.

"I told them if they are my brothers, they should kill them. I don't have a brother. I have only one sibling and she is a woman," the governor said.

He however reiterated that he would not encourage kidnapping by paying ransom.

Lawal maintained that negotiating with bandits or yielding to their financial demands only strengthens criminal networks and fuels further abductions.

He stressed that his administration remained committed to confronting insecurity through collaboration with security agencies rather than making concessions to armed groups.

The governor recalled that his administration had consistently opposed ransom payments and dialogue with bandits, arguing that such measures had failed to bring lasting peace to Zamfara and other parts of the North-West plagued by armed violence.