Nigeria: Bandits ready to surrender firearms says arrested kingpin

Nigeria: Bandits ready to surrender firearms says arrested kingpin.

Bandits operating in the Northwest and North Central Nigeria are ready to surrender their firearms following a sustained aerial bombardment at some forest by the Nigerian military.

A bandit leader, identify as Bello Galadima, who was arrested on Tuesday by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps made the revelations during interrogation.

Confirming the story, a security source with information about the ongoing interrogation said, some of the kingpins after the arrest and killing of some of their comrades have agreed to cease their hostilities and lay down their arms.

The officer said: “Some of their top leaders together with no fewer than 20 other ‘Leaders’ of some bandits’ units have discreetly reached out to the military authorities, seeking for amnesty.

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“They have been terrorizing residents and villagers in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna, and other states in the Northwest and North Central for years now.

“I can confidently tell you that both Samailo and Danmaraki and some other relatively unknown but dangerous Heads of bandits’ gangs, who are feeling the heat of troops’ offensive in their dens, are begging the hierarchy of the Nigerian military to pardon them. They are ostensibly demanding for an amnesty to be granted them,” he said.

According to the officer who declined to give his name, the military authorities and the political leadership have not finally considered the bandit’s plea.

He said they are still weighing both the pros and cons of giving the bandits’ kingpins amnesty, knowing their past history of reneging their promise to quit banditry.