Why bandits have not been proscribed by FG – Lai Mohammed

By our reporter| Bandits operating across Nigerian states have not been prescribed because they don’t go by any name, minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed said on Wednesday.

Mohammed who stated this while appearing on AIT’s Kaakaki programme monitored, further said proscribing the bandits is not what really matters but how they are treated.

According to him, there is a difference between the bandits and the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that has been proscribed by the Federal Government.

He said, “You proscribe known groups with names. You can’t just proscribe an unknown group legally.”

“Secondly, it’s not whether they are proscribed or not, it is the way they are treated. Does the government actually treat them with kid gloves? The answer is no.”

”When a group is championing a course for the disintegration of Nigeria… A group like IPOB (that) does not even recognise Nigeria as a state, sets up its own army and think it is a sovereign state is different from bandits and criminals. Please, don’t compare apples and oranges.”

“Security challenges are one thing. Challenging the sovereignty of Nigeria is a completely different thing. Don’t let us dwell on semantics,” he said.

“Don’t armed robbers threaten the security of lives and property? They do. Is there anywhere in the world that armed robbers have been proscribed?”