AFRICA Nigerian Governor Seeks Peace Deal with Bandits

OE Watch Commentary: Northwestern ’s State has suffered from an increase in banditry in recent months. Specifically, groups of youths on motorcycles have been kidnapping villagers, raiding villages and extorting civilians. As a result, according to the excerpted article for Nigeria’s Pulse.ng, Katsina’s government has made a peace deal with bandit leaders. However, the article notes that kidnappings have continued since the deal was reached. Most recently, for example, bandits abducted passengers on two buses in Katsina. Most passengers were rescued, but seven of the passengers remain in captivity. The article mentions that Katsina’s governor attributes the continued banditry to two bandit leaders not signing the peace deal. In addition, the governor argues that people have still been paying ransom money to kidnappers, which has only encouraged them. The governor says the kidnappings escalated after agreements were made with the bandits to end cattle rustling. The article concludes by noting that the final Nigeria map. Source: Himalayan Explorer based on work by Uwe Dedering via Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nigeria_Katsina_State_map.png, CC BY 3.0 stage of the peace deal will be the disarmament of repentant bandits. This has not occurred yet, but will be a major test for the governor in checking banditry in the country. In addition, the governor will still have to find a way to combat or reach a peace deal with the remaining few bandit leaders in Katsina who remain active and have not signed any peace deal. End OE Watch Commentary (Zenn)

“The governor said the next step for the peace accord would be disarmament of the repentant bandits.”

Source: “Masari says peace accord with repentant bandits in Katsina has not collapsed,” Pulse.ng, 10 January 2019. https://www.pulse.ng/ news/local/masari-says-peace-accord-with-repentant-bandits-in-katsina-has-not-collapsed/f6g6yl8

According to the police, the latest kidnapping was when occupants of two buses were abducted along Ruma road in local government area. However, security agencies succeeded in rescuing the victims, except seven taken away by the kidnappers. The governor agreed that there were still some challenges, but that the “peace accord is still on course…. Their gang leaders like the one called Dangote and Dankarami refused to join, but those living in , and Safana embraced the peace accord and are now assisting the government in fighting the unrepentant ones. Masari further said his administration met the problem of cattle rustling but after addressing it, banditry also came up, and after the peace accord, now it was kidnapping, which was all over the country. He therefore advised people to stop paying ransom to kidnappers, saying as long as people continue to pay ransom, it will take longer time to stop it. The governor said the next step for the peace accord would be disarmament of the repentant bandits.

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