The former governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Ahmad Yerima, yesterday told President Bola Tinubu to consider dialogue with bandits rather than use military force to end insecurity in the northwest region of the country.
Yerima made the recommendation yesterday while speaking with journalists after he meeting with the president in Aso Villa.
But a security expert, Mr. Bulama Bukarti, countered the suggestion saying the best way to approach any form of terrorism in the country is by force of arms.
Yerima had said that the president should consider an amnesty programme for bandits in the north, like tlate President Umar Yar’Adua did for the Niger Delta militants.
“I believe that the Nigerian military has the capacity to deal with them (bandits) if so directed and given the resources, support, and political will.
“But the collateral damages that will be associated with the actions to be taken are what I believe should be avoided. If you send an aircraft now, not only bandits will be affected.
“Former President Umaru Yar’Adua had a similar interaction with the militants in the Niger Delta, and it was successful,” he declared.
However, security expert, Mr. Bulama Bukarti, disagreed with Yerima, advising the federal government to use military force to end any form of terrorism and banditry.
He said in an interview on Channels Television yesterday that dialogue and negotiations have no place in ending the security challenges within the country.
“Dialogue or negotiations implies sitting round the table and conversing with the bandits or the terrorists and giving them something in order to get something from them. It’s like a compromise and that is not how to deal with them.
“The way to deal with them is to start with the stick because Yerima suggests that we start with the carrot, give them an opportunity to defect or to repent and if they don’t, then go all in with the military. We have tried that before and it did not work.
“What you need to do is to go hard on the military side of things and then after you have used enough military power on them, you may then open the door not for negotiation, for amnesty because you don’t negotiate with terrorists, you don’t negotiate with criminals,” he said.
He further stated that what the federal government should do is allow the bandits that want to repent lay down their arms and turn themselves in to the authorities.
Bukarti said the government will then decide whether to prosecute the bandits or follow the procedure laid down by experts to demobilise them properly, rehabilitate them and then reintegrate them into communities.
“That is the process, it is not about negotiation, it is not about dialogue; it is a question of using military force against them to show them that Nigeria has the might to crush them and then you allow them to repent and defect if they want to,” he added.
