Like Niger Delta Militants, Repentant Bandits Should Be Rehabilitated – Ango Abdullahi

• “Those who attack and kill northerners must be stopped and be prosecuted“

Ango Abdullahi, chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), says penitent bandits who have shown readiness to turn a new leaf and desist from their nefarious ways deserve to be rehabilitated.

In recent months, Many communities in the north have been at the receiving end of vicious attacks from bandits leading to displacement of many and destruction of properties.

While the monstrous characters continue to unleash terror on hapless citizens, Abuja appears bereft of idea on how to address the nagging problem of insecurity as the country teeters on the precipice of collapse.

However, Abdullahi, while making a presentation at the northern people’s summit in Kaduna on Wednesday, said repentant criminals should be offered options for rehabilitation, noting that government should only deal with those unwilling to desist from crime.

He also advised that the government should tackle banditry like it did with Niger Delta militants who were offered amnesty.

“Those elements that show a genuine willingness to abandon criminality should be rehabilitated and integrated. Those who insist on pursuing criminality should be stoutly resisted by the Nigerian state and by communities,” he said.

“Those who attack and kill northerners must be stopped and be prosecuted.

“The entire phenomenon of armed criminality requires bold steps and policies to deal with it, and we should examine these and make our recommendations to those with responsibility to implement them.

“Even at this stage, however, I have to say that dealing with criminality, poverty, and destitution in the north will require a national effort to mitigate.

He averred that banditry, insurgency, cultism, piracy and irredentism constitute serious threats to the nation, and they must be treated with a perception that appreciates their roots, complexities and solutions in a national context.

Abdullahi added that it’s time to re-evaluate the current security arrangements and address limitations which encourage criminality.

The NEF chairman joins the growing  list of leaders, including ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ahmad Gumi, prominent Islamic cleric, who have also called on the government to rehabilitate repentant bandits.

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