•Nuhu Ribadu, Nasir El-Rufai and Major General Emeka Onumajuru
The Chief of Defence Operations, Major General Emeka Onumajuru, has said that the Nigerian Armed Forces do not support financial payment to bandits terrorising different states across the country.
Onumajuru said that experience had shown that such an action does not work.
“The armed forces of Nigeria do not support the payment of money to criminal groups. The armed forces of Nigeria are not part of that arrangement.
“However, the armed forces of Nigeria have a DDR programme with other stakeholders, the Ministry of Justice, and the Office of the National Security Advisor for criminals that have shown remorse and want to toe the line for peace, to surrender their weapons, undergo a thorough profiling to ensure the extent of their culpability, and then they are transferred for the DDR programme,” he said on Channels TV today.
He noted that rather than pay bandits, the armed forces have a national DDR programme anchored around Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe State and Zamfara State for the North-East and North-West regions, respectively.
“The essence of this national framework is for bandists who clearly want another route to leaving criminality. You surrender your weapons, and you are profiled in detail.
“Those who are found really culpable face the law. Now, this is coordinated by the Ministry of Justice. Don’t forget that some of the people were forcibly conscripted, kept in the bust for God knows why.
“Once it is decided that this set of people is not really culpable after a detailed profiling, they are transferred to the DDR centres in Gombe, and they start going through the DDR process,” he explained.
On border security, the chief of defence operations said that communities must feel a sense of belonging and responsibility to help strengthen Nigeria’s borders.
A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, had on Sunday accused the government of empowering bandits by paying them a “monthly allowance,” sending “food to them in the name of non-kinetic, describing it as a kiss-the-bandits policy.
“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits.
“It’s not the government of Kaduna State; it’s a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Kaduna is part of it. Kiss the bandits; that’s the new policy,” Rufai, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said during an interview on Channels Television on Sunday.
He faulted what he described as a policy that rehabilitates bandits rather than making them answer for their crimes, saying that it was responsible for the lingering insecurity problem in the country.
But the federal government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), dismissed the allegation.
In a statement by the ONSA yesterday, it described the allegation as baseless, adding that the ONSA did not coordinate a policy of payments and incentives to bandits.
“In that interview, he [El-Rufai] alleged, falsely, that the ONSA coordinates a policy of payments and offers incentives to bandits. This claim is baseless.
“At no time has the ONSA, or any arm of government under this administration, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals.
“On the contrary, we have consistently warned Nigerians against paying ransom. El-Rufai’s allegations are not only false but also contradict verifiable facts on the ground,” the statement signed by Zakari Mijinyawa for the Office of the National Security Adviser, partly read.
