Kano State government has offered to pardon over 1,300 political thugs who have agreed to surrender their arms and shun violence and criminal tendencies frustrating peace in the city.

The state government equally pledged to rehabilitate the repentant youth and reintegrate them into society through various social empowerment programs that will make them self-reliant.

Governor Abba Yusuf made the commitment on Monday at a one-day interface with cluster leaders of the repentant youths under the Safe Corridor Project being anchored by the state Ministry of Information.

Governor Yusuf lamented the ugly violent clash between rival political thugs that has led to the killings of several youths in the state and posited that the initiative intends to offer an olive branch for the youths to turn a new leaf.

Represented by Commissioner for Information, Comrade Abdullahi Ibrahim Waiya, the governor said the non-kinetic approach was designed to assuage the dangerous trend in Kano.

The governor said the Safe Corridor program is an independent initiative developed to address the rising challenges of insecurity and youth restiveness in Kano.

He explained, “The second stage of the implementation of the project is the interface with the different cluster leaders of different gangs of political thugs who have repented, surrendered, agreed to surrender to authority to disarm themselves and also at the same time surrender themselves for refinement and rehabilitation.
“This is exactly what we are doing and it has been done at the behest of His Excellency because he is the one who has determined to address this and he has taken this as a very serious project that he really wants to address these challenges of insecurity around the city and he felt that the only way he could do this is by empowering these youth after disarming them.
“And today, like I say, it’s an interface and critical stakeholders, especially the implementing partners, are all here — the NDLEA, the police, the elders, some selected elders in the state and other relevant authorities. They are all here and you all heard from them, their own commitment to support the project.”

Waiya explained that some of the individuals earlier profiled for the programme had died and announced that the government would conduct a fresh revalidation exercise to update its records.
He stressed that the initiative is non-political but solely aimed at tackling the menace of thuggery and other antisocial behaviour in the state.

The commissioner reminded that prior to the offer of amnesty, the repentant youth will be profiled and screened by relevant security agencies to ascertain the background of the youths.

In their separate remarks, Commissioner of Police and Commander National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kano cautioned the repentant youth against the negative repercussions of illicit behaviours in the society.

They urged the youths to consider the opportunity offered by the government as a golden privilege to build a better future in life.