The Federal Government says it won’t rule out the prospect of negotiating with bandits and other arm groups in the country.
National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), while insisting that the FG would continue to apply force, hinted that it is open to talking to these groups.
Monguno made this assertion on Thursday at a State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja.
He said, “The government is tackling the problem of insecurity, we’ve said this many times that there are two phases in solving this problem –the soft approach: talking, negotiating, and so on and so forth.
“While the government is not averse to talking to these entities, these human beings, I have to be very honest, the government has to apply its weight, that force that is required because you can’t even talk with people who are unreliable, who will turn out to do a different thing and people who will continue to hurt the society.
“So, basically, what the government wants to rely upon is to deal with this issue by using all the assets – military assets, intelligence assets to eliminate these people.
“If along the line, some of them are ready to come out and talk and negotiate, when the time comes, we will do that but for now, we can’t keep on dwelling on ‘Let’s dialogue’.
“Psychologically, it is not even good for us, it paints the picture of weakness, it paints the picture of incapacity and I, just like the governor of Kaduna State said, do not see any reason why we cannot, with what we have, deal with these elements.
“These are not people who are looking for anything that is genuine (or) legitimate; these are people who are just out to perform atrocities, to take calculated measures to inflict pain, violence on people.
“At the slightest opportunity, they go haywire. And so, it is important for us to realise that we are dealing with people who are not looking for anything, people who without provocation will give birth to their homicidal instincts. We must deal with them the way they have to be dealt with.”
