Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Henry Owen
I have been compelled to respond to the recent statement attributed to Bashir Dalhatu, Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, suggesting that the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme should serve as a model for addressing banditry in Northern Nigeria. This comparison is not only fundamentally flawed but also intellectually dishonest and deeply insulting to the Nigerian people.
The Niger Delta struggle represented a determined fight for resource control, environmental justice, and socio-economic rights in communities that had been devastated by decades of oil exploration. It was a rights-based agitation, grounded in the legitimate grievances of marginalized communities and the recognition of constitutional injustice. The aim of the Niger Delta militants was to address systemic inequities and demand a fair share of the nation’s resources for their people. In stark contrast, banditry in Northern Nigeria is not a struggle for justice; it is pure criminality. It manifests as terrorism, kidnapping, extortion, murder, and the deliberate destruction of innocent lives and livelihoods. Equating the two is not only analytically unsound, but it also risks legitimizing terrorism and coercing the Nigerian State into rewarding armed violence.
Bandits have no ideology, no grievance, and no constitutional injustice that they are fighting to correct. Their activities are motivated entirely by profit. They abduct schoolchildren for ransom, levy illegal “taxes” on farmers, burn entire communities, and often collaborate with foreign criminal networks to sustain their operations. This is not a fight for rights; it is sheer terror that inflicts suffering on countless innocent Nigerians. To suggest that the government should offer amnesty under such circumstances represents a failure of reason and a dangerous precedent. Rewarding those who commit heinous acts today could encourage future generations of misguided young people to conclude that armed violence is the fastest route to government support and financial gain.
Nigeria must never reward criminality, and it must never equate militants fighting for constitutional rights with terrorists who thrive on extortion and bloodshed. The focus of the government must remain on strengthening intelligence operations, implementing decisive military action, fostering effective community policing structures, prosecuting those who finance or collaborate with criminal networks, and ensuring that rehabilitation is only extended to those who surrender before committing atrocities. Beyond these measures, it is imperative that genuine socio-economic development programs be implemented in affected communities to address the underlying vulnerabilities that criminals exploit. Anything less would be a betrayal of justice and a mockery of the citizens who have endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of bandits.
Nigeria deserves peace that is built on justice and fairness, not a peace achieved by rewarding those who shed innocent blood.
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