Former Presidential aspirant and the Convener of Movement for New Nigeria, Dr Abubakar Alkali, has urged the federal government to withdraw amnesty for bandits.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEW Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers , Dr Alkali said that government should route out bandits out of Nigeria and for this to be achieved, government must efficiently equip and motivate the military and also set up local vigilante groups.
“The setting up of vigilante groups is very important because in some parts of the country, especially around the border of Zamfara and Katsian states, there is no presence of security operatives, so the setting up of local vigilante groups is very important,” he said.
He said the vigilante is expected to provide intelligence to security operatives and should work with the military and the police and be paid salary to motivate them.
He said that the amnesty granted to bandits is not serving the desired purpose; rather, it has emboldened the bandits and they now kidnap in Katsina and bring the victims to Zamfara and have continued to intensify their nefarious actions of kidnaping and killing of people.
“I strongly disagree with the decision to give amnesty to bandits because not only that it is not serving its purpose, it is also emboldening them and now they don’t allow farmers to go to their farms and the crisis has spilled over and getting worse despite the amnesty,” he said.
