Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has vowed never to negotiate with bandits.
Fielding questions from newsmen after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, yesterday, he lamented the banditry in the North.
Stating that the parley was about insecurity and infrastructure decay in his state, Bello stated that Niger was experiencing infiltration of criminals from neighbouring Benin Republic, adding: “The bandits are Fulani that has no one to control them, even their parents.”
Reiterating that he would not have anything to do with hoodlums who have never kept to terms of the agreement, the governor recalled that he once reluctantly negotiated with bandits that never yielded any positive result.
He said: “To be honest, even when the process of negotiation was being advised, I agreed to it. I have attended one meeting where the bandits were there and I cannot imagine myself as a governor and chief security officer of a state sitting down and negotiating with them.
“They have never been honest in their talks. Even when they were given the opportunity, they failed to keep the agreement. And whenever they will surrender their arms and they don’t ask anything in return, then you can tell it is not an honest negotiation.
“For someone that is used to robbery to drop his arms without asking for anything in return, I don’t think there is any sincerity in that.
“So, I have never subscribed to that negotiation. In any case, the bandits are mostly Fulani that have no one to control them, even their parents cannot control them. We call them bandits, but these are common criminals. They are armed robbers.”
