Gunmen
July 4, 2023
A security expert, Bulama Bukarti, has disagreed with a former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Yerima, who advised President Bola Tinubu to negotiate with bandits.
Bukarti, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, said that the Federal Government should instead use military force to end any form of terrorism and banditry.
Earlier on Monday, Yerima visited the President at Aso Villa and suggested that the best way to end insurgency in Nigeria is to dialogue with bandits rather than apply military force on them.
However, Burkati said that dialogue and negotiations have no place in ending the security challenges within the country.
The security expert said, “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 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.
