“You Are Mocking Thousands Of Victims With Your Pardon Of Bandits”,  Forum Chides Kaduna Gov.

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Middle Belt Forum, MBF ,has strongly rejected the amnesty recently granted some “repentant” banditry elements by the Kaduna state authorities.

This is even as they tagged the exercise a grave injustice and a relegation of responsibility to law abiding citizens who have suffered the heinous crime committed by the bandits.

The Source reports that the Kaduna State Governor ,Uba Sani, on Thursday November 28, 2024, accepted the olive branch extended by some repentant bandits and other criminal elements operating in parts of the State.

At a ceremony in Birnin Gwari Local Government, the Governor  granted pardon to several of the erstwhile bandits, insisting that they have shown genuine signs of repentance.

He promised to immediately commence the process of their rehabilitation and full integration into civil society.

But a statement from Binniyat Luka, the MBF Kaduna State Chapter Chairman, on Sunday December 1 2024 in Kaduna, described as sad and unfortunate the Governor’s decision to grant  pardon to the criminal elements.

He described the ceremony at which the bandits were received and granted amnesty on Thursday  by the Governor as not being different from a celebration of crime and criminality.

He debunked the claim by the Governor that the bandits were granted pardon after dropping their arms ,as well as after negotiations with relevant stakeholders.

The MBF expressed huge shock that Governor Sani could embark on such a far reaching decision without carrying major stakeholders along .

” It is with deep concern and consternation that we received the odd news of His Excellency, the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, granting pardon to terrorists a.k.a bandits .

“These are violent criminals that have been accused of serial mass murder, mass kidnappings, rape and arson among other heinous crimes against his citizens in the Birnin Gwari axis of the State and beyond for over a decade.

“The Governor also assured them (repentant bandits) of rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.

“What rehabilitation do criminals who are multi- millionaires from composite criminality need?”, the MBF querried

According to the MBF, information at its disposal indicate that most of the pardoned bandits are the most notorious elements on the wanted list of the military and other security agencies.

It  expressed worry that letting the criminal elements loose under whatever guise remains one of the most dangerous mistakes that can be committed by any descent and law abiding society .

“It is on record that past Governments of Zamfara and Katsina States have tried such an exercise and it ended up escalating the criminality of the bandits who are absolutely not persons of honour and integrity and as such their words cannot be trusted

“We do not know where Nigerian State Governors are drawing powers from to forgive persons accused of Federal crimes such as banditry, capture and occupying Nigerian territories, mass murder and sundry grim crimes.

“No person that carry out the scale of massive heartless cruelty for over a decade – killing thousands, raping and displacing hundreds of thousands into conditions of destitution that these terrorists are accused of ,deserve to go free. Especially, for self-serving crimes. Not in the most lawless country.

“To us in the MBF Kaduna state chapter, the freedom and peace that these evil people are enjoying today is crude lack of empathy and sympathy to their victims dead or alive, to think that Kaduna State will use its tax payers money to rehabilitate these outlaws, feels very insulting to the hundreds of their victims who are living with scars of their wickedness, especially those who can never recover their losses in their life time and those that cannot even feed today.

“We  are at a loss on how these gunmen will return to the same communities that they have terrorized and pillaged and hope to live  peacefully with those who survived their terror

“It is a grave injustice and a relegation of responsibility to law abiding citizens who have suffered the heinous crimes committed by these. bandits ,especially as they have never received any assistance from the Government, but instead, the perpetrators of the crime are now being celebrated and pampered as repentant terrorists”,  the MBF statement further reads .

The group while drawing attention to the several failed attempts to rehabilitate and reintegrate Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State, also expressed fear that the Kaduna experiment may be goaded more by the exigences of 2027 general election than any sincere efforts at rehabilitation.

“The MBF hopes  that the repentant bandits would not play prominent role in the 2027 general elections as armed thugs for political parties and politicians”, Luka stated.