…Wants Bandits Treated As Criminals
Against the backdrop of the ravaging banditry in the North-West region of Nigeria, former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Adolphus Peterside, has called for a stick and carrot approach as a way of nipping the scourge in the bud.
The prolific writer who expressed his views on a piece he titled, ‘From Kankara to Kagara: The Deification of Banditry’, Peterside took a swipe at both state and federal authorities for their inability to address the malady which has claimed thousands of lives as well as destruction of unquantifiable properties in the six North-West states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina.
He lamented that the crisis became apparent when the bandits attacked President Buhari’s home state of Katsina, just as the president was visiting for a vacation.
“I suggest that the federal government should adopt a kind of carrot and stick approach to bringing the problem of banditry to an end.
“On the carrot side, there should be a recognition that some of the factors that lead to banditry include youth unemployment, poverty and inequality”, he opined.
Peterside, a one-time Governorship Candidate under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State urged the government to strive to build trust with local communities by addressing the structural inequalities that drive people to violence.
Stressing that such structural inequalities include poverty, ignorance through lack of education/opportunity and government ineptitude at various levels, the former NIMASA boss said the carrot approach would work when government ensures that critical infrastructures like roads, clean water, schools and hospitals are in the local communities.
On the ‘stick’ side, Peterside would not mince words in calling on government to deal decisively with the bandits.
According to him, “Criminality is unlawful and should be treated according to the provisions of our laws. The crucial issue is the reassertion of the supremacy of the Nigerian state in the control of the power of coercion”, adding that sovereign power is never shared with non-state actors.
The Opobo, Rivers State-born Peterside however condemned government’s handling of the issue of banditry, even as ‘negotiations’ have been concluded with the armed bandits who recently abducted 27 pupils and 15 workers of Government Science College, Kagara in Niger State.
“If Kagara goes the way of Kankara (in Katsina State where over 400 students were abducted in December and later released after ‘negotiation’ with the bandits), the stage is set to deify armed banditry in Nigeria and tacitly give it consent as an industry.
“In 2019, the governors of Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states agreed on a peace deal with the armed bandits, which involved disarmament, the release of kidnapped victims, and an amnesty for the bandits. A northern state governor shocked many Nigerians when he appeared in a photo standing next to a bandit wielding an AK-47 rifle, justified the deal by stating that negotiation was the best way to achieve lasting peace.
“Expectedly, the agreements did not survive as the bandits reneged on the terms of the contract”, he said, adding that bandits are criminals and should be so treated.
Peterside affirmed that “The bandits are taking advantage of our security and institutional failures to terrorize the populace and enrich themselves in the process. They should not be ‘treated with kid gloves. When criminals get public recognition and some leaders try to justify or pamper their odious criminality and possibly reward them financially as the government allegedly did over the Kankara (and Kagara) incidents, they get more brazen and try to hold the country to ransom”.
He called on the legislative and executive arms of government to call for a “war against insecurity” whereby both human and material resources would be channelled to end the scourge.
