Following Kastina and Zamfara State Governors’ plan on negotiating with bandits, Gershom Bassey, a Senator representing Cross River South in the Senate, has warned against negotiation with bandits.
Bassey has made it known that the governors might not be able to control the process.
According to him:
“There were negotiations in the Niger Delta with the militants which led to the Amnesty programme. The militants were agitating for something and when the negotiations started, the level of militancy reduced under the government of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. I think that was the model that a few governors from the North may be looking at”.
Stressing this further, he said:
“However, they need to be careful because the question of control would definitely come up. If the government negotiates with the bandits, can they control their actions thereafter?”.
Bringing opinions to tackle the issue, he said, “Why not acquire the technology to reduce kidnapping significantly. In Nigerian states, where technology has been introduced, kidnapping has been virtually eliminated like in my state , Cross River, same with other crimes”.
According to reports, Bassey revealed that human policing or securing communities has become obsolete and ineffective as being experienced in Nigeria as far as Boko Haram insurgency, banditry , kidnapping and outright community invasions by gang of criminals masquerading as herders were concerned.
He said the police were underfunded and are small in number, compared to the population of the country.
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