The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has restated his stance against negotiating with bandits and other criminal elements.
He said that the criminals always took advantage of the gesture to cause greater damage because they believe that the government negotiated out of a place of weakness.
Yahaya Bello spoke on Wednesday while appearing on a national television programme.
Explaining why he was not in support of negotiating with criminals, he said, “When we went to Nasarawa state for a meeting, some bandits were said to have repented and that we should grant them amnesty.
“I did say that I would never negotiate with bandits or criminals. Not up to two weeks after, the head of these bandits who I saw with my naked eyes and his lieutenants went on the rampage again kidnapping, killing and maiming our people.”
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Yahaya Bello said that rather than negotiate, his administration would rather work closely with the military and other security agencies to deal decisively with the criminals.
He urged community people not to abandon their own security to soldiers, the police and government, charging them to rise to the occasion and offer necessary support.
“What we did in Kogi state was to ensure that the citizens owned the security architecture and work with the defence, security and intelligence service by way of giving them information,” Yahaya Bello said.