Unless those clamoring for Governor Dikko Umaru Radda to negotiate with bandits are planning to feather their own nests, Francis Sardauna writes that they should consider the atrocities being committed by the hoodlums and diminishing effects of previous negotiations.
For over 10 years, banditry and kidnapping have ravaged communities across Katsina State, leaving a trail of devastation and agony. The crisis has not only claimed hundreds of lives and displaced dozens of residents, but it has also crippled economic and social activities in some parts of the state.
Farming, education and social cohesion have suffered immensely, while kidnapping for ransom has become invariably a lucrative business for the marauding criminals and their sponsors, entrenching a flourishing war economy in eight frontline local governments in the state.
The humanitarian catastrophe that negatively affected the frontline local governments of Batsari, Jibia, Kankara, Safana, Dandume, Sabuwa, Danmusa and Faskari, has not been pleasant for the state despite restless efforts by previous governments to tame the scourge.
In spite of these ongoing atrocities, calls for negotiation popularly known in Hausa language as ‘Sulhu’ were largely absent until recently when Governor Dikko Umaru Radda and security agencies’ relentless efforts are forcing the criminals onto the defensive.
It is not surprising that this sudden push for negotiations has been met with skepticism, with many perceiving it as a desperate move by the bandits facing imminent defeat rather than a remorseful and genuine effort for peace in communities ravaged by their activities.
The skepticism about this move is understandable given that precious dialogue efforts, such as the amnesty programme championed by the former Governor of the state, Aminu Bello Masari, failed to achieve meaningful disarmament and allowed the circle of violence to persist in the state.
Masari, who signed separate peace deals with the daredevils on January 15, 2017 and September 9, 2019 after visiting their enclaves in the fringes of Rugu forest, later regretted his rapprochement with them, which many described as unproductive exercise.
“The armed bandits have betrayed our trust in them following a peace agreement earlier negotiated with them in our quest to find a lasting peace in our state. I will never negotiate with them again”, Masari said at an event during his second tenure.
The invariably failed approach by Masari in dealing with the seemingly intractable insecurity in the state during his eight-year administration, has not only made banditry fester, but assumed the more dangerous status of a hydra-headed monster.
While his negotiation approach could have been desirable for some security analysts, its failure has largely proven that it was not only ineffective, but has also emboldened the criminals to carry out their heinous crimes even with more baffling audacity in the state.
Also, bandits, unlike other terrorists in the country who claimed to be prosecuting a holy religious war over the years, have no clear-cut ideology and no known leader despite their age-long inhuman activities. Thus, each terror group has its leader well-armed.
This has remained an unresolved challenge. So, who is the government trying to negotiate with again? Criminal elements devoid of ideological beliefs? Therefore, negotiation with one or more of these terror groups does not apply to all terror groups who had displaced farmers from their ancestral homes in the state.
For instance, this played out in 2017 when bandits who were against the peace deals between some of their members and former Governor Masari killed those who participated in it. Negotiating with top bandits also encourages leaders of smaller groups to scale up their heinous activities to gain attention from the government for either financial gains or show of force.
These criminal elements also believed they stand a better chance of getting more money through kidnap-for-ransom, cattle rustling, levies on rural communities and gun running. So, it is very cumbersome for them to sustain or heed to agreements with the government.
It is pertinent, therefore, to state that those who are calling on Governor Dikko Umaru Radda to follow Masari’s footsteps of negotiating with the bandits are enemies of the state in disguise and lack remorse for the downtrodden who are severely affected by the scourge of banditry in the state.
But Radda, had in different fora, warned the self-acclaimed coerces of peace that his government will not negotiate with the hoodlums “but any of the bandits who genuinely denounce banditry and surrendered his weapons will be supported by the state government.”
He added that, “Some people are saying that the only way to solve this problem is through negotiations. I told the National Security Adviser (NSA) that in Katsina, I would not negotiate with bandits because we have done it under the previous administration and it didn’t yield positive results.
It is on record that Radda’s predecessor ended up giving the bandits the taxpayers money and they equipped themselves, acquired more weapons and relaunched their attacks on innocent citizens of the state. Therefore, such a grievous mistake should not be repeated.
Sadly, some forces from the seat of power in Abuja are now prevailing on Governor Radda to change his early decision on the criminals against the right thing of allowing the full wrath of the law to be applied to these bandits as it has been demonstrated by the governor.
“Our governor has made his point clear that his government will not negotiate with criminals, but there are some people in Abuja who are trying to force him to accept it because of what is happening in Kaduna”, a credible government source said.
He accused the federal government of sabotaging the ongoing war against banditry in the state by negotiating with the bandits behind the state government through security agencies.
He voiced dissatisfaction with a recent peace agreement made by the Nigerian Army with Bandits’ Leaders Abu Radde, Umar Black, and others who were hitherto terrorising communities in the Batsari local government area of the state.
“Similar agreements have been made before, but none have succeeded. This one would not either. The federal government was wrong to go ahead without the state’s involvement,” he added.
Although military sources reported that the development came after intense operations by the combined forces of Operation Fasan Yanma, the government source said the secret move will not yield any result for the government.
He also questioned the significance of the arms surrendered by the bandits, noting that, “Four AK47 rifles from a group with hundreds of guns? It’s hardly a meaningful gesture.”
With this military initiative reportedly supported by the federal government, there are indications that Governor Radda may reconsider his stance of not negotiating with the bandits arguably for political and economic gains from the federal government to continue to thrive in the state.
Unless those clamoring for Radda to negotiate with the hoodlums are planning to feather their own nests, they should not gloss over or downplay the atrocities being committed by these criminal elements and allow security personnel to flush them out in the state.
Rather than engage in such a wild goose chase, the dialogue agitators should look inward and try to identify the remote and immediate causes of banditry so that they can retrace their steps and help the government deal with the menace decisively and comprehensively for sustainable peace.
Notably, engaging the bandits in a peace deal will never yield significant positive outcomes in the state because past experiences have demonstrated that the daredevils exploited the first and second negotiations of Ex-governor Masari as a means to buy time, regroup and strengthen their nefarious activities.
This is because they view the negotiations as a sign of weakness of his government, which emboldens them to continue their devilish acts. Thus, dialogue can only be meaningful if bandits are genuinely remorseful and voluntarily seek reconciliation and victims are actively involved in shaping the process.
Without the trust and participation of the victims and affected communities, any peace initiative by either the security agencies or government risks being superficial and unsustainable in Katsina state.
Negotiation can only be sustainable if bandits are genuinely remorseful and voluntarily seek reconciliation with the government and victims are actively involved in shaping the peace building process
Therefore, the stance of Governor Radda-led government of not negotiating with the bandits should be supported by the federal government without the distractions of calls for negotiations by those who might only be interested in what they stand to gain financially from such ill-advised ventures.
In every administration it has its own way to administer, so going by masari’s negotiations with bandits he did it with good faith only that the criminals betrayed him, so I see nothing wrong in doing that as a leader of that time he can apply any method that can be helpful to bring peace to the state and that was the steps he first take and when the bandits turn off the agreements he decided not make any other negotiation with them again, and by then he becomes helpless as the security agencies were not cooperating to deal with the criminals therefore he decided to trained his vigilant members as they are more close to the local communities and that has yielded positive results.