Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday explained why the Nigerian government has not legally labelled the bandits who have been on killing spree and razing villages in Northern part of the country as terrorists or proscribed because they don’t go by any name or organisation.
Mohammed, who spoke on AIT’s Kaakaki programme Wednesday said proscribing the bandits is not what really matters but how they are treated.
According to the Minister, “you proscribe known groups with names. You can’t just proscribe an unknown group legally.
“Secondly, it’s not whether they are proscribed or not, it is the way they are treated. Does the government actually treat them with kid gloves? The answer is no.”
Mohammed explained the difference between the bandits and the separatists group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which through a Federal High Court, Abuja ruling on September 18, 2017 officially tagged an illegal and terrorist and proscribed.
A further order was to proscribe the existence of the group and all others who champion causes similar to it and the court declarations were published in Federal Government’s official gazette and two national dailies.
The Minister said: “When a group is championing a course for the disintegration of Nigeria… A group like IPOB (that) does not even recognise Nigeria as a State, sets up its own Army and think it is a sovereign State is different from bandits and criminals. Please, don’t compare apples and oranges.”
When asked if the bandits aren’t also threatening the sovereignty of Nigeria by taking up arms against the citizens, the Minister said the cases are completely different.
He said, “Security challenges are one thing. Challenging the sovereignty of Nigeria is a completely different thing. Don’t let us dwell on semantics.”
Speaking further, he said, “Don’t armed robbers threaten the security of lives and property? They do. Is there anywhere in the world that armed robbers have been proscribed?”
First published in PUNCH, https://punchng.com/why-bandits-have-not-been-proscribed-lai-mohammed/