Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday denied saying that kidnapping in Nigeria is exaggerated and not entirely new.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Osinbajo said he was entirely misquoted and his words taken out of context in the said media reports.

“For the purpose of clarity, and the records it is pertinent to state that Prof. Osinbajo was entirely misquoted and his words taken out of context in the said media reports especially those that quoted him as saying that “Kidnapping in Nigeria is exaggerated and not entirely new,” the statement read in part.

Osinbajo had at a town hall meeting in New York on Sunday evening while addressing of the Nigerian community said the social media tends to be hysterical about practically everything.

“I think there is also a lot of politics involved in some of the information as it comes up. I think it is also important to point out that this new wave of issues of security came immediately after the elections.

“And there is always a connection between this issue of security and elections because many times, politicians arm several of these individuals during the electioneering period and immediately after an election cycle, many of them, having nothing to do and with arms all over the place resort to the fastest way of making money which is to abduct somebody and ask for a ransom. And that is just one side of the problem.

“But let me dimension it so that you can really understand it better. When people say there is security problem here and there, it is not one thing, it is several different things but if it is described as one thing then it will look bigger than it really is.

“And I am deeply worried about the fact that we might find ourselves unable to resolve these problems unless we drill down to see what the problems are,” he said. 

“With respect to general kidnapping which we have seen in certain parts of the country, again this is not entirely new. When you listen to some of the stories, some of them are simply not true anyway.

“Some are fuelled by politics, but there are cases of kidnapping, there is no question at all about that and every story we try to track and trace. When you track them, you find out that people just tell some stories, but the truth anyway is that there is kidnapping in places where it has taken place,” he said.