Alhaji Musa Saidu, a leader of Arewa Community Living in Southern Nigeria, has backed President Bola Tinubu’s stand of not negotiating with terrorists or paying ransom to the criminals.
He said that the president’s stand was apt and a good step towards finding a lasting solution to the problem.
Saidu, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja, encouraged the Federal Government not to waiver in tracking and eliminating the terrorists and their sponsors.
“Although banditry remains the most prevalent threat to Nigeria’s national security, paying ransom to the criminals would only embolden them to commit more atrocities.
“The bandits are sponsored by some unpatriotic politicians with the support of some unpatriotic security agents to destroy our society. It will be a failure on the part of the government if it listens to the criminals.
“For the government to pay ransom means it is empowering the bandits to buy more weapons for their criminal activities,’’ he said.
The community leader advised states affected by banditry to mobilise and empower local vigilantes to protect their communities and assist security agencies during operations.
“State governments should buy more weapons for their vigilante groups and train them on intelligence gathering,” Saidu added.
He also suggested the recruitment of more soldiers and policemen to meet the security needs of the country.
“We can’t surrender our communities to those killing, kidnapping, raping, looting, and displacing our people. The bandits and terrorists must be eliminated,” he said.
He dismissed as baseless recent calls by a cleric, Sheik Ahmed Gumi, for the government to negotiate with the bandits.
Saidu urged Nigerians to support the government and the security forces in the fight against terrorism and all forms of criminality, so as to make the country safer. (NAN)
