Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has denied saying that ‘rich Nigerians’ were joining Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

A statement released by his spokesperson on Tuesday, Loula Akande, had quoted the Vice President, as saying that: “For some strange reasons, something that appears so completely mindless and almost insane gains currency in a way that gets regular recruits. I have seen people who are well-to-do being recruited into terrorism”.

But several media outlets reported the Vice President as saying that wealthy Nigerians were being recruited into Boko Haram.

Reacting to the backlash generated from the reports, Akande put out a statement on Wednesday saying that Osinbajo was quoted out of context.

The statement read:

“There was no mention of ‘rich Nigerians’ anywhere in the release as some media reported. There was no reference to Nigerians at all. Also the Vice President was not raising any alarm of any kind.

“Comments of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in the above titled press release were taken out of context by some of the papers and some of the reports misleading.

“The Vice President was talking about the mindless ideologies of violent extremism and terrorism, and not about mindless people as some of the reports stated.

“He said such ideologies drew different people including those who were lured into terrorism with money and those who are well-to-do. This clarification is to set public records straight.”