A former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) retired Brigadier General Maharazu Tsiga has said that bandit groups operating across parts of northern Nigeria may be receiving support from individuals occupying positions in government.
Tsiga, who had one time been a kidnap victim himself also questioned the effectiveness of negotiations in ending the country’s worsening insecurity.
Tsiga was part of retired military Generals who spoke at a press conference on the death of their colleague, late retired General Rabe Abubakar who died in terrorists den.
The retired general, who himself spent weeks in captivity after being kidnapped from his hometown in Katsina State last year February, told Journalists while responding to questions in an interview that his experience in the hands of bandits convinced him that the criminal gangs continue to thrive because of networks of informants, suppliers and collaborators operating outside the forests.
Speaking on whether negotiations should remain part of the country’s counter-banditry strategy, Tsiga said security challenges cannot be addressed through dialogue with terrorists.
“If I understand your question from the negotiating aspect, whether it is important or not important, security is a collective responsibility. It depends on who you are negotiating with and how committed and dedicated we are in making that negotiation,” he said.
However, drawing from his experience in captivity, the retired general argued that “bandits are not invincible and can be defeated through sustained military pressure.
“The way I look at these people, especially while I was in captivity, I am telling you that no matter what and no matter the arrangement of negotiation, we are not going to have it easy with these bandits. We must follow them aggressively. We should not forget one thing: these people are human beings like us. They fear death. When we were in captivity, they feared death. They feared anybody who would come and challenge them, fight them and finish them”, he said.
“If instead of negotiation we remove that fear and face them squarely, like the general said in his speech, I think we will sort that one out”, he added.
Tsiga noted that the challenge goes beyond the bandits themselves, insisting that attention must also be focused on those allegedly providing information and logistical support to the criminal groups.
Stressing that Security is a collective responsibility, it is not only the bandit that matters, there are people around them assisting them, there are informers”, he then asked, “if you negotiate and the informers are still having money in their pockets, what is there?”.
The Ex-NYSC boss then narrated an encounter he claimed occurred while he was being held captive by the bandits.
According to him, one night at about 2 a.m., a conversation took place involving a suspected supplier and a bandit leader.
“One of the days I was there around 2 a.m., this issue came up. Somebody called and said, ‘Please, Cachala, are you ready to buy 10 cartons of ammunition?’
“He said, ‘Yes, but let me finish with one old man. When he finished talking and was talking to me, I asked him jokingly, ‘Put me inside this business now.’
“He told me, ‘Who are you? You are a retired general. You don’t have office. We are talking to people who are in office now.”
Tsiga said the statement left him disturbed and raised questions about the sources of support available to armed groups.
“It is not only the locals. Some of them are in government offices. Comparatively, if you look at it, who are you negotiating with? You will negotiate with the bandits , but the suppliers are there. They will not allow that because they are after their pockets”, he adddd.
“They are not after the lives and properties of individuals. They are after their pockets,” he alleged.
The retired general further questioned the source of ammunition being used by criminal groups terrorising communities across the country.
“The ammunition is from where? It is from the government. So who are you negotiating with? We should not be fooling ourselves. I sincerely advise that we must aggressively move forward to make sure these people understand that we can do it,” he said.
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