The news that the Katsina State Government, under Governor Dikko Radda, has initiated the release of 70 suspected bandits in the name of a “peace deal” is not merely worrisome, it is a catastrophic blow to the rule of law and a terrifying confirmation of the suspicions held by many Nigerians.
By negotiating with bloodthirsty marauders and treating them as “warring factions” in a legitimate conflict, the state government has effectively institutionalized criminality and abandoned its primary duty: the protection of its citizens.
The Commissioner for Internal Security, Dr. Nasir Muazu, has attempted to justify this move by comparing it to “prisoner exchanges” during the Nigerian Civil War or the Boko Haram insurgency.
This comparison is fundamentally flawed and insulting to the intelligence of Nigerians. Banditry is not a secessionist movement or an ideological war; it is a campaign of organized crime, rape, and mass murder.
To equate the release of hardened criminals, who have burned villages and shattered lives, with international diplomatic protocols is to provide a legal shield for terrorism. When the state treats those who have committed capital offenses as “repentant” partners rather than criminals to be prosecuted, it sends a clear message: violence pays.
For years, observers have alleged that some northern governors are the silent financiers and facilitators of banditry. While these claims were often dismissed as hearsay, the Katsina “swap deal” lends them terrifying weight. By securing the release of 48 individuals facing trial and another 22 in high courts, the government is essentially replenishing the manpower of the very groups terrorizing the Northwest.
This move does not bring peace; it buys a temporary, fragile silence at the cost of justice for the victims. It emboldens the bandits, knowing that no matter how many people they kidnap or kill, the government will eventually open the prison gates to “consolidate a peace deal.” This is not governance; it is a ransom payment in human form.
To the resilient people of Katsina: your ancestral lands are being used as bargaining chips by an administration that seems more interested in placating the tormentors than protecting the tormented. If you truly wish to take back your heritage from these marauders, you must realize that peace cannot be built on the graves of justice.
You must vote wisely. The current trajectory is a path to permanent subjugation. Seek leaders who prioritize the enforcement of the law over the appeasement of criminals. Demand an end to the “negotiation” industry that has turned your state into a hunting ground. Until the ballot box is used to hold leaders accountable for these questionable alliances, the cycle of blood and betrayal will only continue.
Nigeria cannot afford to normalize banditry. The release of these 70 suspects is a concern for every meaningful Nigerian, for if justice is auctioned in Katsina today, no state in the federation is safe tomorrow.
Comrade Godwin Anyebe is a Journalist and a Rights Activist.
