The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, has rejected the provision of blanket amnesty to bandits.
Ndume said it has the tendency to breed new forms of criminality in Nigeria.
The Borno South senator spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
According to Ndume, “I don’t think blanket amnesty is the solution because if you do that, another form of criminality may emerge, hoping that the government will bring them to the negotiating table.”
He added: “This is not a conventional war, we are not fighting another country. We have the forces on the ground, but they need what it takes, especially modern equipment for surveillance, monitoring, and intelligence gathering.”
Recall that bandits had last month demanded a blanket amnesty after they abducted some students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, in Rafi Local Government of Niger State.
A popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, made the bandits’ demands known to Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State.
Bandits have been on the rampage in states like Niger, Katsina, Zamfara and some Northern parts of Nigeria recently.