APC Chieftain, Sahabi Sani Sami has called on the Nigerian government to investigate those promoting dialogue with bandits, affirming that the approach is unproductive in dealing with Nigeria’s insecurity, Njenje Media News reports.
The lawyer, a former Senior Special Adviser to the Kebbi State Governor faulted the calls for amnesty for criminals and opined that Northwestern states must review their carrot and stick approach in tackling the situation as they are the worst hit by insecurity.
He tasked the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Police, and the Military to bring in all promoters of dialogue with bandits for questioning as their activities fall short of the provisions of the constitution.
In a press statement he signed, Sani criticized the statement of an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi, when he compared killer bandits in the Northwest to militants in the South-south and used the opportunity to call on the federal government to probe how the Sheikh discovered the location of the bandits to the point of having unrestricted access to them.
Sami also condemned the insistent call for dialogue and amnesty for bandits by Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, arguing that the strategy has given the bandits more morale.
He alleged rather than committing funds to promote education and infrastructure in Zamfara, Matawalle was spending state resources on bandits, who he claims ‘‘will eventually return to the forest to continue causing more mayhem’’.
‘‘Zamfara State is among the educationally backward states and sadly, both the federal and state school feeding programs put in place to encourage enrolment has been put on hold’’ he decried.
Mr. Sami warned the government to rein in Governor Matawalle from his bandits’ dialogue scheme in line with the 2013 Terrorism Prevention Act.
‘‘Matawalle is not only promoting dialogue with lawless individuals in the state but also persuading his colleagues in other Northwest and Northcentral states to adopt the policy of dialogue with hoodlums, he said.
