Sani Shinkafi, a former Committee on Prosecution of Bandits Related Offences Chairman, have suggested that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) should refrain from assigning corps members to states plagued by bandit attacks.
Shinkafi’s recommendation comes over two weeks after armed bandits abducted eight NYSC members along a highway in Zamfara state, later demanding N4 million ransom for at least one of the victims.
“I’m calling on the leadership of NYSC to stop posting youth corps members to Sokoto, Kebbi, and even Zamfara,” he said.
Shinkafi criticized Governor Dauda Lawal for his refusal to engage in a “peace dialogue” with reformed bandits.
He argued that the previous administration’s approach of engaging in dialogue with the terrorists was beneficial in securing the release of abducted individuals in Zamfara.
“If this type of situation happens, we used to reach out to these repented bandits, and these repented bandits would work with security agencies to either rescue them (victims) or collect them from their captors without paying any ransom.
“But this administration, I am telling you, many people were killed, many people were kidnapped. More than 2,000 people were killed and kidnapped. No place in the 14 local governments of Zamfara is safe,” he said.
