Negotiations with bandits

Negotiations with bandits have emerged as a contentious approach, with supporters arguing that dialogue can reduce bloodshed.

it may provide short-term calm, but without strong enforcement and rehabilitation frameworks, the gains risk being fragile and temporary

There are people within this government who support negotiations with bandits, and this piece aims to address them.

I wrote against former Governor Masari’s governance when he had negotiated with bandits in an article published by The Daily Reality newspaper, titled “How Governor Masari is Wrongly Governing Katsina State.” I’m doing the same to refute any move to negotiate with bandits at the expense of the government’s power.

There are people within this government who support negotiations with bandits, and this piece aims to address them.

Meanwhile, apart from the government’s “data boys,” the problem we now have is the “negotiation lawyers” who protect the government from criticism of negotiating with terrorists. As I have been saying, it is a failure of the government to negotiate with terrorists.

Not only I, but many security experts have opined that negotiating with bandits is futile. In fact, the governor himself, Dr Dikko Umaru Radda, admitted during a call, in an interview with Channels Television that he wouldn’t negotiate with bandits at their weakest point. 

Negotiations with bandits

We all applauded, as they have no justifiable reason for their actions and hence no grievances to present to the government for it to listen to. They should either surrender and cease fire, or the government should use force to wipe them out.

Negotiations with bandits

We’ve seen many such negotiations with bandits in both the previous administration and the present that have not borne fruit. Perhaps the terrorists breached the truce by breaking the agreement, thereby continuing to commit crimes against innocent citizens. 

The biggest problem is that they will come into town with weapons, as we’ve seen in the Kankara Local Government area, until people become accustomed to seeing them. Then, some will start to befriend them, so they, too, can get the opportunity to handle weapons. 

There are people within this government who support negotiations with bandits, and this piece aims to address them.

Thus, the country might become like Libya, God forbid, but where arms became available to citizens as a result of government carelessness in the name of self defense, and subsequently turns into a lawless state.

For in Libya today, one with more sophisticated arms is the most feared and powerful being, just like a government. They can do and undo as they want. Nigeria, particularly Arewa, might face a similar fate, but I believe God will embarrass them. 

The worst thing about this negotiation is that even if there is negotiation, these bandits won’t take up any job that will earn them money. Instead, they’ll move to another town where there’s no security problem and continue their terrorist activities. If there’s another negotiation, they’ll move forward.

They wanted to pursue an agenda of conquest with great force, as in the 1804 Jihad. I know historians among us will relate better, though I’m not one; I’m a history enthusiast. 

Negotiations with bandits

Thus, we’re not ignorant of the past. If we don’t forget, those bandits camped at the Kankara forest under the notorious bandit leader Babaru, had to negotiate with the people of Yar Goje town, before they could target some villages.

Then, they got the opportunity to attack the Mantau village in Malumfashi, where they killed many worshippers during dawn prayers in the mosque and thereafter kidnapped many residents and took them to their camps.

Although they later released them, the government claimed the release was due to a firefight with troops, but Zuma Times reported the opposite. We believe the latter, as the government didn’t present any evidence of casualties.

There are people within this government who support negotiations with bandits, and this piece aims to address them.

The Mantau village has been a headache for the bandits for years. They’re well prepared and gallant, and on many occasions, they’ve hidden at routes where bandits pass by to attack and kill them.

The village was a no nonsense and fearful place for bandits. Even the day they attacked them, it was a raid, not face to face, which shows an act of cowardice.

Negotiations with bandits

Therefore, the terrorists  won’t stop terrorizing; they’ll move forward until they’ve conquered the region entirely, as captured and masterminded by their ancestors for centuries.

Negotiation with bandits, even though it has never happened at the state level but at the local governments’ level, as seen in Jibia, Batsari, Kurfi, Kankara, and others, makes us suspicious that even those that happened at the local governments’ level were with the governor’s consent.

He doesn’t want to admit his failure or is afraid of reversing his stance on non negotiations with bandits.

The idea is totally archaic and reckless because not everybody will sit down and watch people who killed their loved ones or bankrupted them through ransom payments be forgiven and allowed to roam freely, while the people they killed are no more. The properties destroyed or collected for ransom are not compensated.

Even the government’s careless move to empower repented bandits is not welcoming because they have enough money collected from ransom payments. Why should the government empower them with our money? 

Negotiations with bandits

I think the preferred approach is to empower the victims, not the repentant bandits. The government should also intensify its security approach, especially given the recent surge in banditry attacks in eastern and southern Malumfashi over the past two days. 

There are people within this government who support negotiations with bandits, and this piece aims to address them!!!