The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has stated that the absence of a recognized name for bandits has led to the federal government’s inability to proscribe them.
He made the disclosure during an interview on AIT’s Kaakaki programme on Wednesday. He stated that proscribing bandits was less important, rather the focus should be on how they are treated.
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“You proscribe known groups with names. You can’t just proscribe an unknown group legally,” he said.
“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 also pointed out that there is a difference between the bandits and the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that has been proscribed by the Federal Government.
He 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.”
