Group faults Kaduna gov’s amnesty for repentant terrorists

Members of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Kaduna State Chapter, have faulted the decision by Governor Uba Sani to grant amnesty to repentant terrorists after they wreaked havoc on communities and sent many victims to their early graves.

Though the group said it supports efforts by the government in pursuing peace, security, and safety in the state, without which development and the well-being of citizens may be elusive, according to the MBF members, this should not be done by condoning threats to the security of citizens’ lives.

In a statement by the Kaduna State Chairman of MBF, Luka Binnyat, on Sunday, he recalled that the governor granted the repentant terrorists pardon in Birnin Gwari town during a ceremony that resembled a celebration last Thursday.

Binnyat pointed out that the governor claimed that the terrorists have repented and dropped arms following negotiations with multi-sectoral stakeholders.

“Some of the criminals are among the most dangerous wanted outlaws in Nigeria. The Nigerian military has placed price tags on their heads due to the grievous crimes they have committed against citizens and the Nigerian state. It is on record that past governments of Zamfara and Katsina states have tried such an exercise, and it ended up escalating the criminality of the bandits, who are absolutely not persons of honour and integrity and, as such, their words cannot be trusted.

“We do not know where Nigerian state governors are drawing powers to forgive persons accused of federal crimes, such as banditry, capture and occupying Nigerian territories, mass murder, and sundry grim crimes.

“No persons that carried out the scale of massive heartless cruelty for over a decade—killing thousands, raping, and displacing hundreds of thousands into conditions of destitution that these terrorists are accused of—deserve to go free, especially for self-serving crimes. Not in the most lawless country!” he stressed.

“Does that mean that both the state and the federal government have agreed that the bandits cannot be decimated or captured unless they willingly drop arms? To us in the MBF, Kaduna State Chapter, the freedom and peace that these evil people are enjoying today is a crude lack of empathy and sympathy for their victims, dead and alive,” Binnyat noted.

Saying that “to think that Kaduna State will use its taxpayers’ money to rehabilitate these outlaws feels very insulting to the hundreds of thousands of their victims who are living with the scars of their wickedness, especially those who can never recover their losses in their lifetime and those that cannot even feed today.” Binnyat added, “We are at a loss as to how these gunmen will return to the same communities that they have terrorized and pillaged and hope to live peacefully with those who survived their terror.”

Binnyat continued: “It is grave injustice and a relegation of responsibility to law-abiding citizens who have suffered the heinous crimes committed by these bandits, especially as they have never received any assistance from the government. Instead, the perpetrators of these crimes are now celebrated and pampered as repentant terrorists.”

He said, “In Borno State, we read news of ‘repentant’ Boko Haram terrorists carrying out criminal acts recklessly. Many have returned to their comrades in the bushes, yet so much was spent on rehabilitating them while their victims wallow under beggarly conditions in IDP camps. Is Borno State free of Boko Haram today? We just pray that these ‘repentant’ bandits will not play prominent roles in the 2027 general elections as armed thugs for political parties and politicians.”

Binnyat stated further, “In Southern Kaduna, which is part of the Middle Belt, these bandits have displaced and are occupying several communities in Kauru, Kachia, Kajuru, and Chikun LGAs. In some areas in the aforementioned LGAs, they are holding scores as hostages. And in other areas, they place levies on farmers before they can farm and harvest their crops.”

He added: “From what we gather among our youths on the ground, there are thousands that are ready to volunteer as citizen guards in collaboration with the military and other law enforcement agencies to combat these cowardly enemies of the state. That’s how to take justice to them. Not to deal with them like partners. That’s the kind of cooperation we see working in Katsina and Zamfara states and is celebrated every day in the news.”