By Bala Baba Dihis
The Nigerian government has no respect and regards for ordinary law abiding citizens. The government only fears, regard and respects those who function or identify as notorious terrorists and dangerous criminals, those ones are instantly pampered and appeased, despite their wanton killings and colossal destruction.
I think there is a game some of the northern political and religious elites are playing with this terrorism and banditry that most of us are yet to figure out and understand. From the president to some of those governors. If there isn’t a game they are playing that we are yet to understand, then why do they all keep insisting that terrorist that have destroyed wantonly and killed so many should be reasoned with, negotiated with, paid off, rehabilitated and forgiven?
Governor El-Rufai in the past proudly said that he paid Fulani terrorist money to stop killing people in Southern Kaduna at a time. He knows where the terrorist herdsmen are, he knows how to locate them, and he also knows how to pay them. The governors of Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto have had different summits with different bandits and terrorist to negotiate with them and appease them. The Sokoto state government recently said that they will continue to negotiate with the terrorist/bandits and will not stop.
The governor of Zamfara state is now an apologists of bandits, few days ago he declared that it is not all bandits that are criminals, saying that some were pushed into banditry because of injustice meted out on them.
The governor of Bauchi state also recently said that Fulani herdsmen are justified to carry AK-47 to protect themselves against attacks from others that attack them and steal their cows.
Sometimes these governors come out publicly and appear helpless. The governors wail and complain that the bandits and terrorist refuse to keep to their own part of the bargain, as if they expect anything else. Criminals do not hold unto any form of agreement. Even if they do, it is always short lived. The only solution is to prosecute, convict and destroy such dangerous criminals.
Then the Buhari administration keeps insisting that it must rehabilitate Boko Haram terrorist and send them back into the society, the same government also keeps insisting that the people must accept the terrorist back and not reject them.
Now a popular Islamic religious leader(Shiek Gumi) is going about meeting the terrorist/bandits in their base to serve as a negotiator in chief by preaching to them and begging them to stop their banditry/terrorism and also telling the government to grant total amnesty to the bandits/terrorist. If you watch the videos he released, he is trying to portray them as freedom fighters.
How will a society have peace when it keeps legitimizing banditry, terrorism and high level criminality? When government and religious leaders meet with terrorist and bandits to appease them, they tell people that the criminals are very powerful and they also tell people that their criminal venture is very lucrative.
A society that rewards and appease criminals and terrorist will never be crime free.
The bottom line is that the government and the criminals/terrorist are all bedfellows and belong to the same group, if not why appease criminals instead of arresting and prosecuting them?
(c) Bala Baba Dihis 2020
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