A former Chairman of the Committee on Prosecution of Bandits Related Offences, Sani Shinkafi, has called for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to stop posting corps members to states grappling with bandit attacks.
Shinkafi’s recommendation follows the recent abduction of corps members en route these states.
GOOD EVENING NIGERIA reports that 8 NYSC members were kidnapped last month while traveling from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to Sokoto en route to Zamfara State. Their abductors reportedly demanded for N4million for each of the victims.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Shinkafi, a one-time aspirant for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairmanship, stated, “I’m calling on the leadership of NYSC to stop posting youth corps members to Sokoto, Kebbi, [and] even Zamfara.”
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He criticized Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal’s reluctance to engage in a “peace dialogue” with repentant bandits, arguing that the previous administration of Bello Matawalle, who is now the Minister of State for Defence, had adopted a beneficial approach by engaging in dialogue with terrorists, which contributed to securing the release of abducted individuals in Zamfara.
“If this type of situation happens, we used to reach out to these repented bandits and these repented bandits would work with security agencies to either rescue them (victims) or collect them from their captors without paying any ransom,” he said.
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“But this administration — I am telling you, many people were killed, many people were kidnapped. More than 2,000 people were killed and kidnapped. No place in the 14 local governments of Zamfara is safe.”
Governor Lawal, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), secured victory in the March 18 governorship election, defeating Bello Matawalle, who was seeking re-election for a second term.
Matawalle was subsequently sworn in as the Minister of State for Defence by President Bola Tinubu.