I will beg bandit for negotiation, allow us buy ak-47, Katsina gov begs FG 

Katsina State Governor Dikko Umar yesterday made a case for Nigerians to be allowed to carry AK-47 and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) to protect themselves from terrorists and other criminals.

He wondered why the generality of the people are denied that right when hoodlums have free access to the deadly weapons.

“If a bandit can go to the market and buy AK-47, RPG, and all of those weapons, what of the people that want to protect themselves? They too should equally be allowed to do so. These people are holding it illegally, we are trying to hold it legally. Why can’t the government allow the people to hold this thing and equally confront the challenges?”Ridda told  reporters  in Abuja on a day the military insisted they were  winning the war against terrorists and oil thieves.

The Defence Headquarters said  in the last one week alone, troops of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) seized 6,009,500 litres of stolen crude oil, 425,715 litres of illegally refined diesel, 38,100 litres of kerosene and 4,500 litres of petrol in the Niger Delta.

“We must protect ourselves. It is even against our religious belief to allow someone to just come and kill us and take our property just like that. We have to put efforts to protect ourselves and that is the aim of the government,” he said.

The governor who recently inaugurated 1500-strong Community Watch Corps in the state to combat terrorism vowed to give the war whatever it would take.

He told reporters how some people have even been threatening his life and declared that such threats would not deter him.

He said:”I have told you before, I will only die once not twice and it is only a coward who will sit back and allow someone to kill him.

“I will not go begging bandits to come for negotiations. It is so disheartening and demoralizing.”

“When you are negotiating with bandits it is a sign of weakness for me. Let us deal with the situation, if they are weak, let them come out, let us negotiate and we will reintegrate them back into society.

“They are our people, our brothers, but we cannot protect a criminal. A criminal is a criminal regardless of his religion or ethnicity. This country has gone beyond the level of sentiments. It is unfortunate when you hear people saying all sorts of things because it is not their brothers that were killed, my brother by the same father and mother was killed by these bandits. So nobody can drag me into sentiments, we are beyond that. And my determination to drive this thing is 100 per cent and I will do it and I don’t mind the consequences because God is with us.”

He said some traditional rulers in the state were under probe over their alleged “romance” with bandits, stressing that whoever found to be a sponsor or ally of bandits would not be spared no matter how highly placed.

However, the Defence Headquarters said that its troops were winning the war against terrorists and oil thieves, as they have killed and captured the criminals’ leaders and facilitators in several operations across the country.

It said troops operations have also denied terrorists, insurgents and oil thieves safe havens, by destroying their command-and-control centres and training facilities.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, said in a statement yesterday that “accordingly, the insurgents and terrorist are in perpetual mourning as they constantly bury their dead and would continue to do so.

“Our communities across the country have risen to the occasion in exposing these elements and it is making a tremendous impact on operations as they no longer have a hiding place.

“The actions and activities of the armed forces in the ongoing counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations are integral to the plan of focussing military pressure on these terrorist and extremist to cause them to submission.

“The operations are yielding desired results ranging from denying safe havens to these groups, to the destruction of their command-and-control facilities as well as training facilities.”