Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), yesterday, condemned the Katsina State government’s decision to facilitate the release of about 70 suspected and convicted bandits, rejecting the justification that the move was aimed at sustaining “peace deals.”
 
It warned that the approach undermines justice, weakens security, and erodes the authority of the state.  In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, the coalition acknowledged the urgent need to end the bloodshed, kidnappings, and destruction ravaging Katsina State and the wider North-West, but insisted that peace founded on appeasement and judicial compromise is neither sustainable nor just.
 
The CNG faulted the state government’s comparison of the bandits’ release to wartime prisoner exchanges, describing it as “deeply flawed, misleading, and dangerous.” 
   
Charanchi said: “The comparison drawn by the Katsina State government between the release of bandits and wartime prisoner exchanges is deeply flawed, misleading, and dangerous. Nigeria is not engaged in a conventional war with a recognised adversary bound by rules of engagement.”