A former lawmaker from Southern Kaduna Shehu Sani said security agencies must do everything within their powers to arrest the leaders of bandits’ groups terrorizing and kidnapping Nigerians.
In an interview monitored by Grassroots.ng, the former lawmaker on Monday, lamented the response and failure so far of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to ensure the release of kidnapped students in some parts of the country, especially Kaduna State.
While bemoaning the escalation of banditry in the state and across the North-West region of the country, Sani emphasized that it was more important to arrest the bandits’ leaders, than separatist activists the government was going after.
Ripples Nigeria had repeatedly reported about the trend of abductions in Kaduna with the latest incident happening on Sunday where the Emir of Kajuru was abducted alongside some members of his household.
According to Sani, “We know the bandits’ leaders Dogo Gidi in Zamfara axis and Palleri in Kaduna/Niger axis.
“Palleri always sends audio messages bragging about his capacity to abduct whoever he wants to. He was the mastermind of the Greenfield kidnapping. He pledged to kidnap more people.
“The arrests of these two will ensure a reduction in the bandits activities.”
In response to comparison with the arrest of secessionists, Sani said, “I can say that in comparative terms, there is more interest in going after secessionist than bandits. I am not in support of secession and I believe they should work towards a united Nigeria.
“If the same method were applied in banditry, things would have been better. I don’t think these issues are more important than Kanu or Igboho.
“We can’t tackle them without the use of 21 century technology. We don’t have drones that move across the zones, providing intelligence.
“These bandits move in hundreds and can’t be hard to miss. Something is wrong with our security agencies. Secessionist agitations is not our only problem.”