ZAMFARA: Lai Mohammed backs Matawalle’s approach, says nothing wrong in granting amnesty to bandits

MINISTER of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said there is nothing wrong in Governor Bello Matawalle’s approach of granting amnesty to bandits  in order to rid the state of killings and allied crimes associated with them.

The minister noted that those criticising the governor’s approach are not being fair to him.

Mohammed said this while featuring on AIT’s ‘Kakaaki’ show on Wednesday.

He stressed that the Federal Government won’t discourage any governor from adopting an approach that suits the peculiarity of the challenge confronting their state.

Governor Matawalle, who had said his government would adopt a cane and carrot approach to rid the Zamfara state of insurgency, later decided to enter into negotiations with bandits terrorising his state.

The governor was accused of aiding and abbeting banditry in the Northwestern part of the country by some members of the All Progressives Congress towards the tailend of last year.

He was also accused of donating vehicles to bandits by a former chairman of a Local Government Area in Zamfara in January.

The governor, however, denied the accusation by saying he donated the vehicles bought to the security operatives in the state.

Matawalle, however, reportedly granted amnesty to Auwalun Daudawa, a notorious bandit who led scores of his gang members to abduct over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, last year.

The amnesty programme which involves deradicalisation of criminals and their reintegration into the society has been embraced by the Federal Government and some state governments.

But speaking on Wednesday, the minister said there was nothing wrong with granting amnesty to criminals if the purpose was to restore desired peace in affected areas.

Mohammed said, “When you are fighting insurgency, you use both kinetic and non-kinetic (means). Granting amnesty to notorious drug barons, notorious militants is not a new thing, it is not unique to Nigeria.

“You need to be in the shoes of the Zamfara State government or governor to appreciate what are the issues at stake (and) why he has done that. Don’t also forget that the state governors are their own chief security officers.

“When you are dealing with insurgency, kidnapping, banditry, you are interested in the bigger picture; how do we restore peace? If granting amnesty to one notorious kidnapper is going to give me peace in my state, I might take that decision. If granting amnesty to one repentant warlord would help me capture a thousand bandits, I might take that decision. Don’t just look at what is in the public place, understand the very high complexity of managing insurgency and banditry.”

He added “The governor of a state understands the dynamics of the state and takes decision but it will be unfair of us to criticise him (Matawalle) without knowing what he did and I want to believe the governors work together with the security forces in their own state, so, it is not as we think,” he added.