The National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) has blamed the assaults on military installations in Nigeria on the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari's choice to pamper terror suspects.
According to the group, the so-called bandits have grown bolder as a result of the culture of impunity fostered by the Buhari administration.
“The Federal Government must reconsider its fight on terrorism,” the NAS Capoon, Mr Abiola Owoaje, said in a statement.
If the government wants to win the fight on terror, it needs to become serious about prosecuting terror suspects, according to the organization.
While describing the previous attack on the National Defence Academy and the recent attack on the Forward Operating Base in Mutumji, Dansadau Local Government Area of Zamfara State as embarrassing, it lamented that terrorism and other forms of heinous crime had flourished under the current administration due to the government's trivialization of terrorism.
“It is incongruous that a country ranked third in the Global Index of Terrorism appears unable to interdict terrorist sponsors and negotiate with criminal elements, and even unconstitutionally granting pardons to self-confessed murderers and ‘reintegrating' them back into society through a non-transparent deradicalization policy,” the statement said.
“As Commander-in-Chief of the security forces, President Buhari must do more to persuade Nigerians of his government's commitment to fighting terrorism. We emphasize that the government's terror-fighting policies should be rethought, with all discussions with criminal elements in the northeast and northwest being suspended. The latest revelations by Governors Matawalle and Masari about the unsuccessful bandit talks indicate that talking with bandits was always a losing strategy.”
“To that purpose, the hundreds of terror suspects held in various detention centers should be vetted, and those found guilty of mass murder and other crimes should be tried right away. Also, the 400 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators who were accused by the Attorney-office, General's Mr Abubakar Malami, of being terrorist supporters and financiers in May 2021, should be placed on trial right away. In November 2020, a similar trial and conviction of six Nigerian bureau de change operators for financing terrorism in the United Arab Emirate serves as a warning to the Nigerian government on how not to pamper terror suspects.
“Finally, and for the umpteenth time, we demand that the federal government and our security services take intelligence collection seriously in order to filter out internal collaborators, identify terror sponsors, cut off their sources of financing and supplies, and harshly punish those found guilty. Nigerians have had enough of excuses; President Buhari must act immediately to prevent terrorists from overrunning his government and our country.”
