A military solution alone cannot solve the insecurity in Nigeria’s Northwest region, Vice President Kashim Shettima has said.
The vice president said other options are being considered by the federal government to address the problems of insurgency and banditry in that part of the country.
Shettiam who spoke to journalists when he paid condolence visits to the Galadanci and Mangal families in Kano and Katsina, respectively, stated that the government will have to adopt both the kinetic and non-kinetic measures solutions to the lingering insecurity in the region where many Nigerians have died as a result of killing by bandits and terrorists.
Not a few Nigerians interpret this to mean that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is planning to dialogue with both insurgents and Boko haram terrorists.
Recall that a former Zamafara state governor, Sanni Yerima recently called on the government to dialogue with bandits as a way of combating the menace.
The former governor said the bandits deserved amnesty as the former Niger Delta militants.
But the Chief Of Army Staff, COAS, Taoreed Lagbaja had ruled out amnesty, saying the measure has been adopted in the past without results.
Speaking at the weekend, Shettima said “Unless we want to engage in an endless war of attrition, there cannot be a military solution to the crisis in the North-West. There has to be a kinetic and non-kinetic solution,”
The vice president’s comment was contained in a statement issued at the weekend by State House Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola.
The Vice President revealed that the Tinubu administration would, in the coming weeks, unveil an initiative to address insurgency and poverty, among other challenges confronting Nigerians, especially those living in the northern region.
“In the next couple of weeks, we will unveil the Pulaaku solution, which will address the grievances and social exclusion of our Fulbe cousins in the North-West and also towards addressing the root causes of all the banditry and insurgency in the nation,” Shettima said.
