January 25, (THEWILL) — If there is any evidence against the controversial plan by the Katsina State Government to release 70 suspected and convicted bandits in a swap deal for 1,000 abducted but released victims is foolhardy, here it is: Bandits have continued to adduct victims and demand ransom in spite of the amnesty deal.
In fact, for three days week, bandits laid siege to four communities in Faskari, Funtua and Musawa local governments areas. These LGAs were part of those that recently negotiated a state government supported, “community driven,” peace deal with bandits and yet have come under renewed attack.
Reports say the bandits, armed with sophisticated weapons and mounted on motorcycles, attacked Gidan Sarki community in Musawa on Monday night, where they killed two people and abducted 10 persons.
On Saturday night, the bandits also attacked Dikke village in the Funtua council area and abducted about five persons. Then on Sunday, the criminals attacked Unguwan Malam Musa community and a neighbouring village, Nadankama, in Faskari council and abducted six persons.
The bandits are said to have earlier demanded N14 million for each of the victims and reduce the money to N2.5 million when they got feedback that the community did not have the money to pay them.
While the bandits had agreed to stop kidnappings, cattle rustling and allow farmers access to their farms, in exchange for schools, grazing reserves and release of detained members, the fact that the bandits, the party with the upper hand in the peace deal, was never in doubt. They were bandits. During the negotiations, the criminals were allowed to carry arms in full glare of the public, thereby sending a message on inequality to the terrorised communities.
Moreover, the state government’s decision to release 70 convicted bandits and liken it to an exchange of prisoners during war, sounds illogical. While the death of over 1,500 abducted victims between 2021 and 2025 in the state may seem like a warlike scenario, it is however easy for every reasonable person to see that the avoidable deaths are the result of criminality.
A criminality that has dragged on under similar circumstances and the same circle of appeasement embarked upon by preceding governor Bello Masari, who in exasperation stated in a 2020 BBC Hausa Service programme that, “In our effort to honour the agreement, we cancelled all vigilantes and volunteer groups and we allowed the (bandits) to continue with their normal activities in the state. But they could not honour the agreement. They betrayed us.”
He was not alone. His counterpart in Zamfara at the time, Bello Mutawalle, now Minister of State, Defence, signed a similar pact with bandits and lived to regret it such that the state has remained a hotbed of runaway banditry. Borno State, the precursor of such failed deals with criminals whereby the Nigeria Army, supported by the baleful ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, rigged a so- called “repentant terrorist,” deal that has left minimal impact of terrorism in the northeast state. So, everywhere one turns in respect of this deal with terrorists in Nigeria leaves a bad taste in the mouth about the seriousness of local and central governments to frontally confront the menace posed by terrorists.
Has the Katsina State Government thought about the regional and national impact of its peace deal, whereby terrorists who come armed to negotiate peace with communities, violate the terms with impunity and get reprieve in the form of “released bandits.”
Is the state government really serving the people when it can conveniently ignore appeals from its religious, community and business leaders who have kicked against the release of the 70 criminals.? Not to talk of the nationwide public outrage against the release.?
History shows that negotiating with bandits unconditionally as had happened with the “repentant terrorist,” deal with Boko Haram and for the second time now in Katsina and Zamfara, are nothing but appeasement. It is condemnable and a worrisome sign that governments are fuelling banditry rather than dealing with it.
