Afenifere, Sagay, Junaid Condemn Govs’ Negotiation With Bandits

Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere; Second
Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, and Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN),
chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption
(PACAC), on Wednesday condemned the decision by the governors of
Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto states to go into negotiations with
armed bandits, who killed hundreds of people and destroyed
properties of both individuals and government worth billions of
naira, as against enforcing relevant laws of the country against
criminality.

Speaking with Daily Independent, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere’s
National Publicity Secretary, said the action by the governors is a
greatest testimony that Nigeria is a failed state.

According to him, for governors who are supposed to be the chief
security officers of their states to start negotiating and begging
criminal elements shows that Nigeria has deregulated violence.

“The action by the governors is the greatest testimony of
failure of state. The governable space in Nigeria is shrinking and
the authority of state actors dwindle daily.

“We have deregulated violence and non-state actors have taken
the biggest chunk. Nigeria totters to the edge of the precipice”,
Afenifere said.

On his part, elder statesman and Second Republic lawmaker,
Junaid Mohammed, described as a dangerous trend negotiations with
bandits by governors of the North-West.

Speaking with Daily Independent, Mohammed said the governors are
helpless in tackling the security challenges in their states
because they have been stealing the money earmarked for security
while underfunding the police and other security agencies.

According to him, rather than negotiate, the governors should
make judicious use of the huge security votes they are collecting
to fund the police and other security agencies.

“I believe it is a very dangerous trend. It shows that the
governors are not sincere and they have underfinanced the security
system even though they make billions of naira in the name of
maintaining security.

“Essentially, they have been stealing the money which was
earmarked for security. So, I don’t accept the idea of negotiating
with bandits. It is a bad idea and I believe instead of paying off
the bandits, they can finance the police and assist the DSS and
other security organisations.

“It shows what will happen in the state if governors are allowed
to set up their private policemen. It is going to be disastrous and
make Nigeria ungovernable”, he said.

Also speaking, Sagay said while he sympathizes with the
governors who seem helpless in addressing the security challenges
in their states, he disagrees with their method of negotiating with
criminals who ought to be in condemned cells awaiting death.

“When you remove your toga of principles and go and negotiate
with murderers, hoodlums who not only should be in prison but
condemned cells, awaiting to be executed all because you want your
people to be alive, it means we have lost the right to law. But we
gained the preservation of the lives of the people which is also
important.

“I think we should have fought harder to try to overcome these
criminals because apart from the moral outrage that you are
negotiating with murderers and they get away with it, we should ask
that how many lives have we saved by doing that and is it worth
it?

“I sympathize with the governors because it is he who wears the
shoes that knows where it pinches. But I don’t agree with that
method of negotiating with bandits”, he said.

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