Bandits bought arms with the money we paid them Ex-Katsina SSG tells Tinubu

According to the former official who served in the government of Katsina State, bandits will not change their ways no matter how hard the government tries to convince

When asked about his time as Chairman of the Amnesty Programme to Put an End to Banditry in Katsina State under the Administration of Former Governor Bello Massari, Inuwa made this statement while relating his experiences.

Recently, Senator Sani Yarima, a former governor of Zamfara State, made a suggestion to Tinubu that talking with bandits, particularly those operating in Zamfara State, could be the quickest method to remove instability in the northern region. Yarima made this suggestion to Tinubu.

However, Inuwa warned that extending an invitation to the criminals to participate in negotiations would be a waste of time because the profitable nature of abduction would make it impossible for bandits to change their methods.

He asserted that the bandits couldn't make the amount of money they obtain from their criminal enterprise from any lawful venture since the money just couldn't be earned.

As a result, he urged the government to continue employing force in order to bring the bandits to their knees, while simultaneously calling for united efforts on the side of both security agencies and the respective Governors of troubled states in the process.

He stated, "I believe it is very wrong advice for a former governor and senator, especially from a state that has been hardest hit by the activities of bandits, to even contemplate negotiating with the bandits despite the atrocities committed by them in these states and Nigeria as a whole. This is especially true coming from a state that has been hardest hit by the activities of bandits."

We attempted it from 2017 all the way through 2019, but it was unsuccessful since they are not sincere. Because we discovered that the security agencies were not performing their duties as they should, we felt forced to investigate the matter.

"As a result, we were put under a significant amount of pressure by the public because they looked up to us to put an end to the threat. Because of this, we ultimately decided to go with the non-kinetic method. It functioned properly for a little while until it broke down completely.

"It was unsuccessful for two reasons: first, they were not sincere, and second, they were not organised, and they did not have common leaders who, if you negotiated with them, could function as their representatives.

They compete against one another and belong to distinct groups. It is not the same as when you are battling a group based on their ideology since in that case, the group will have a common leader, and you will negotiate with him while he leads the organisation. It does not work like that at all. There are several distinct bandit groups. How many are you going to take care of? When dealing with certain groups while ignoring others, you will undoubtedly run into complications. Additionally, new communities are always forming.

"And in addition to that, these individuals are larcenists and other types of crooks; if you negotiate with them, what will you give them?" What kind of compensation will they receive from you, if any? Then there are those individuals who are accustomed to obtaining enormous quantities of money, particularly through acts such as abduction. Therefore, there is no lawful way for them to achieve anything even quite comparable to the results they are achieving through their kidnapping actions.

It is impossible for these people to voluntarily accept to abandon what they are doing for whatever that you promise them, so it is pointless for you to ask them to do so. Because you can't promise them anything that comes even remotely close to what they will receive. From 2017 to 2019, we experimented with it and discovered that the money we supplied them was utilised to purchase even more weapons. It would be a grave error on the part of President Tinubu and his news NSA, Ribadu, to attempt to negotiate with them.