The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Kaduna State chapter, has expressed concern over the pardon granted to terrorists by Governor Uba Sani.
A statement on Sunday issued by the MBF state chairman, Luka Binniyat said, it was sad that bandits accused of violent crimes by the state were being pardoned by the state government.
He alleged that the governor granted them pardon in Birnin Gwari town during a ceremony that looked like a celebration last Thursday, saying the Governor claimed that they had repented and dropped arms following negotiations with multi-sectoral stakeholders.
Following the alleged pardon, the group said, ”It is with deep concern and consternation that we received the odd news of His Excellency, the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani granting pardon to terrorists, a.k.a Bandits. These are violent criminals that have been accused of serial mass murder, mass kidnapping, rape, and arson among other heinous crimes against his citizens in the Birnin Gwari axis of the state and beyond for over a decade.
“The Governor also assured them of rehabilitation and reintegration into society – What rehabilitation do criminals who are multimillionaires from composite criminality need!”
The Forum alleged that some of the criminals pardoned may be among the most dangerous wanted outlaws in Nigeria, saying that the Nigerian military had placed price tags on their heads due to the grievous crimes they committed against citizens and the Nigerian State.
“It is on record that past Governments of Zamfara and Katsina State have tried such an exercise and it ended up in escalating the criminality of the bandits who are absolutely not persons of honour and integrity and, as such, their words cannot be trusted.
“We do not know where Nigerian State Governors are drawing powers to forgive persons accused of federal crimes, such as banditry, capture and occupying Nigeria territories, mass murder and sundry grim crimes.
“No persons that carried out the scale of massive heartless cruelty for over a decade – killing thousands, raping and displacing hundreds of thousands into conditions of destitution that these terrorists are accused of – deserve to go free. Especially for self-serving crimes. Not in the most lawless country!”
”To us in the MBF, Kaduna State Chapter, the freedom and peace that these evil people are enjoying today is a crude lack of empathy and sympathy to their victims, dead and alive, to think that Kaduna State will use its taxpayer’s money to rehabilitate these outlaws, feels very insulting to the hundreds of thousands of their victims who are living, with scars of their wickedness, especially those who can never recover their losses in their lifetime and those that cannot even feed today.
“We are at a loss how these gunmen will return to the same communities that they have terrorised and pillaged and hope to live peacefully with those who survived their terror,” the statement observed.
”It is a grave injustice and a relegation of responsibility to law-abiding citizens- who have suffered the heinous crimes committed by these bandits, especially as they have never received any assistance from the government but instead, the perpetrators of the crimes are now celebrated and pampered as “repentant” terrorists.
“In Borno state, we read news of repentant Boko Haram terrorists carrying out criminal acts recklessly. Many have returned to their comrades in the bushes, yet so much was spent in rehabilitating them while their victims wallow under beggarly conduct in IDP camps. Is Borno State free of Boko Haram today?”
The MBF prayed that the repentant bandits would not play prominent role in the 2027 general elections as armed thugs for political parties and politicians, lamenting that in Southern Kaduna, which is part of the Middle Belt, the bandits have displaced and are occupying several communities in Kauru, Kachia, Kajuru and Chikun LGAs.
The MBF state chairman explained, “In some areas in the aforementioned LGAs, they are holding scores as hostages. And in other areas, they place levies on farmers before they can farm and harvest their crops.”
He said from what they gathered among their youths on ground, there are thousands that are ready to volunteer as citizen guards in collaboration with the military and other law enforcement agencies to combat those he called ” cowardly” enemies of the state.
Middle Belt Forum in Kaduna rejects pardon granted bandits by Gov Uba Sani