Na’Allah Muhammad Zagga
Negotiating with terrorists and bandits on your knees is a bad strategy that will backfire disastrously. This strategy creates only a false sense of security. Once terrorists or bandits realise that you have no other options, you automatically put yourself at their mercy.
Gov Masari of Katsina State spent N30 million in the name of peace deal with the bandits, but in the end, they reneged on their commitment. Frustrated, Masari abandoned the policy, saying the bandits are unreliable partners for peace. Once you pamper criminals with money, they will hold you by the balls.
Banditry is now a fast thriving industry that makes armed robbery unfashionable. The parents of the abducted Greenfield University students coughed up N180 million for the freedom of their children. Students of the Tegina Islamic school got their freedom after their helpless parents shelled out over N30 million. Again, the parents of the kidnapped Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna had to pay over N30 million for the first batch of the captives the bandits agreed to release, holding back 87 hostages out of 121.
The bandits are raking in millions from helpless parents who had to sell every available assets, including their farms, in order to save the lives of their own children. The appeals on the bandits to give up their arms has repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. They are feeling bolder because of impunity. Deterrence is only effective if there are consequences.
How many bandits and terrorists have been prosecuted so far? On the contrary, the terrorists are being offered prisoner of war status by the government, and Information Minister Lai Mohammed said they won’t be prosecuted because they have “rights” under international conventions, but those conventions don’t protect fighters who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. So, what about the rights of the victims? Does that mean the so-called rights of mass murderers are greater than the rights of victims and their families?
Of course, you can’t shoot a terrorist that surrenders or shows the white flag in the battlefield in line with IHL, but those conventions don’t protect captured or surrendered terrorists from being prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Boko Haram terrorists deliberately target civilian populations or noncombatants and kill them. They kill our captured soldiers or behead them and release video footages to celebrate their war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Boko Haram terrorists have no regard for international humanitarian law. And those international conventions don’t protect terrorists from prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
