Human rights activist and convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, has criticised the Federal Government’s approach to tackling insecurity, warning that ongoing negotiations and concessions to bandits and terrorists amount to indirect financing of terrorism.
In a statement issued on Monday, Adeyanju argued that engaging armed groups through dialogue, payments and forgiveness poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s national security. He maintained that terrorism and banditry are criminal acts that should be met with arrest, prosecution and imprisonment, rather than negotiations or incentives.
According to him, terrorists do not genuinely repent and their activities cannot be resolved through dialogue, stressing that treating them as negotiating partners sends the wrong signal to the public.
Adeyanju warned that appeasing armed groups creates a dangerous precedent, as it suggests that taking up arms, killing innocent citizens and destabilising the country can lead to rewards from the state. He noted that such actions could embolden others to engage in criminal activities, believing the government would eventually negotiate with them.
The activist also questioned the government’s engagement with suspected terrorists, claiming that some of those being accommodated or forgiven have committed crimes far worse than those attributed to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
He said while Kanu has been accused of incitement, he did not physically kill anyone, unlike terrorists who, according to him, have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Nigerians but are now being embraced by the government.
Adeyanju warned that the continued forgiveness and accommodation of terrorists undermines justice and weakens the foundation of national security in the long run, insisting that a serious state must deal decisively with those who take up arms against its citizens.
