Ganduje to Kwankwaso: Negotiating with Bandits’ll Enrich Them, Not Good Strategy

Deji Elumoye and Chuks Okocha in Abuja

A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has declared that sitting with bandits to negotiate was not a good strategy.

Ganduje warned that negotiating with bandits would further enrich the terrorists, thereby worsening insecurity in the country.

He made the remark at a press conference yesterday in response to claims by the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, that he and the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would hold talks with terrorists if elected into office in 2027.

In the same breath, Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, has hailed President Bola Tinubu’s security strategy, saying the government’s firm stance against negotiating with criminals had significantly improved security in his state.

Ganduje, however, said, “The role of the security agencies depends on the strategies that have been adopted. The Air Force helps to do its own due diligence, alongside the Army, Navy, the police, and the DSS. So, the issue of sitting with bandits to negotiate with them personally, I don’t appreciate that.

“Because, in Nigeria, having a gun without approval is illegal. How do you expect hundreds of bandits to come from the forests with their guns to sit down with local chiefs, chairmen of local governments, traditional rulers, or even the police and start negotiating? I think that system has failed, and it will continue to fail.

“This is because we are giving room to the bandits; we are arming them because the negotiation is that they should be allowed to operate here and there, they should be given money, transportation, motorcycles, and money for logistics. So, in a way, we are giving them an enabling environment to operate.

“And by so doing, they would enrich themselves through kidnapping, as that would give them more financial power to purchase weapons, which would be used against us to cause panic and then call them for negotiation. I don’t think that is a good strategy.”

Ododo: Tinubu’s Security Strategy of Not Negotiating With Criminals Paying Off

Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, has hailed President Bola Tinubu’s security strategy, saying the government’s firm stance against negotiating with criminals has significantly improved security in his state.

Ododo, who spoke with newsmen in the company of ex-Kogi West Senator, Smart Adeyemi, after meeting with the president at the State House, Abuja, said he was in the Villa to sppreciate the government’s efforts in tackling insecurity and for the support that had contributed to recent security successes.

“I came here with my brother to appreciate Mr President for what he is doing in terms of security and fighting insecurity. I have come to appreciate him for the success we have recorded in the successful rescue of our students and, of course, that of Kogi State,” he said.

The governor described insecurity as an inherited challenge, noting that the President  had confronted it directly since assuming office.

He said, “The issue of insecurity today that we are faced with is an inherited problem. We all know, except we don’t want to tell ourselves the truth. And he faced it head on.”

Ododo disclosed that President Tinubu had advised him against negotiating with criminals when he assumed office, a strategy he said Kogi State had adopted.

“He told me when I assumed office, ‘Look, don’t negotiate with criminals. Negotiating with criminals indirectly, we are empowering them against yourself,’ and that is what we are doing. Today, in Kogi State, we are safe. I don’t play with them. I don’t negotiate with them.”

Asked about infrastructure development in the state, the governor refused to shed light on executed projects but rather extended invitations to journalists to visit the state to assess the progress first hand.

“If you want to know what we are doing in Kogi State, please come to Kogi State. We are ready to receive you and provide every logistic. Like the Presidential Media Team, they were in Kogi State. Please call them and ask them what they have seen.

“If you are there, I don’t need to interface with you. Whatever you see, report it. But I can assure you, we are doing very, very well.”