Rewarding bandits with money, vehicles, might boomerang ‘disastrously’, Buhari warns govs

*Says no criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by govt

PRESIDENT Buhari has declared that his administration is not in support of negotiating with bandits and criminals in order to stop them from their activities.

The President appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”

He also advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.

In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the president also said, “no criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government,” adding that, “the only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.”

Describing the recent abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State as inhumane and totally unacceptable, the president stated, “this administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.”

The Zamfara State Police Command confirmed that 317 schoolgirls were kidnapped when heavily-armed gunmen stormed the school in the wee hours of Friday.

President Buhari continued, “We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits,” he said, stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”

He noted that “a hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.”

The President warned the bandits: “Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”