No Money Paid To Bandits Before Surrender, Says Gov Sani

The state government of Kaduna State on Friday claimed that no money was given to bandits to allow them to give up their weapons.

Additionally, the government forbade engaging in any kind of discussion or negotiation with some resolute bandits.

A day after the state’s governor received some repentant bandits, Governor Uba Sani revealed this in an exclusive interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today.

When asked if the state government had struck a financial deal to allow the bandits to lay down their weapons, the governor replied, “We did not give them one naira.”

“There was no monetary issue at all,” she said. We sat down with them and said, “Why do you continue to stay in the bush just attacking our people and kidnapping them?”

READ ALSO: Gov Sani Receives Repentant Bandits, Reopens Market In Birnin Gwari

Forgiven Of Their Crimes?

The cattle market, which had been closed for about 10 years due to insecurity in the area, was reopened on Thursday after the state government received the first set of repentant bandits.

The state government’s efforts to address the security issues that have plagued the state for years have come a significant step up.

The governor was asked if the governor’s administration had forgiven the bandits for the atrocities they had previously committed during the event.

He however shied away from the question. According to Governor Sani, negotiating peace with the bandits took six months.

“This process took almost six months to get to this position,” he explained. In terms of banditry, kidnapping, and insurgency in the North-West, Birnin Gwari is one of the region’s most important local governments.

” We also partner with the federal security agencies, the office of the National Security Adviser. So it’s is a collective effort, “Sani added.

According to the governor, the disarmament, mobilisation and integration of the repentant bandits are in process.

The Kaduna State Government has been a tireless effort to engage stakeholders and foster trust among the state’s various communities.

Since the Boko Haram group started operating in the Lake Chad basin in northeast Nigeria in 2009, the country has experienced armed violence.

Despite a military crackdown, various organizations have split from or emerged alongside the insurgency, which is infamous for numerous widespread schoolgirl kidnappings.

Along with occasionally bloody battles between farming communities and nomadic herdsmen, armed bandits and kidnapping gangs have also sparked chaos in the area.

Source: Channels TV