As the debate over the propriety or otherwise of whether the government should negotiate with non- state actors such as bandits and other violent groups who have taken up arms against the country, persists, the Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress NDC, Peter Obi says he will engage in peaceful talks with those of them ready to lay don their arms if he becomes president.
Obi spoke amid the controversy that has trailed the decision of the Borno state Government to reintegrate dozens of former Boko Haram members into the society as part of its rehabilitation and de-radicalisation programme.
A total of 720 former Boko Haram fighters were captured under the programme, including 992 women and 2,050 children after undergoing rehabilitation at the Hajj Camp in Maiduguri.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra state is one of the presidential hopeful in the country challenging the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 presidency.
He made the remark while featuring on BlackBox, an interview programme hosted by television personality, Rufai Oseni on Tuesday.
The presidential candidate said he will adopt a “balanced approach’ in tackling the current security challenges in the country, citing the United States as one of the countries, where former criminals have turned a new leaf after the were given a second chance.
As part of his efforts to unite the country, if he win the 2027 election, Obi said “anybody who wants peace, I will talk with him; I will negotiate with him. Anybody who wants war, we will go to war.”
He said the criminals who are ready to abandon their evil ways must be given another chance, saying such approach has worked in other countries.
Obi: “I once visited a university in America where the entire faculty are people who came out of prison.
“From the dean to the registrar, professors spent years in prison for one offence or the other.
“So, if you say you want to change and be part of this new Nigeria we are talking about, we have reached a point where we have to tell ourselves the truth.”
The magazine reports that Nigerians have been split on whether the government should negotiate with terrorists and other non-state actors who have taken up arms against the country at one time or the other.
Those who oppose the policy claimed, for instance, that some repentant Boko Haram terrorists have been caught in battle against security agencies, months after they have been forgiven by the government.
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