Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has stated that banditry in the Northern region should be seen beyond kidnapping.
Speaking on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television, Mohammed said that banditry is actually about resources.
His comments come against the backdrop of the incessant insecurity confronting the country.
He said, “People must see banditry beyond kidnapping. Banditry is actually about resources.
“I was also concerned that we had a town hall meeting in Katsina on banditry. We had the Ministers of Interior, Defense, and everybody. And the first thing the then governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari, told us was that the first recorded history of banditry in Katsina State was in 1891.
“So anybody who thinks that banditry is a latter-day development has gotten it wrong, and people must see banditry beyond kidnapping or the stealing of cows.”
Meanwhile, Mohammed has insisted that there was no massacre at the Lekki Tollgate during the mass protest over the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on October 20, 2020
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, he said people lost their during the protest but not at the Lekki Tollgate.
He said: “Our position on EndSARS was very clear. At no point did the Federal Government say there were no casualties during EndSARS; there were casualties.
“We reported them, we admitted them. Thirty-seven policemen lost their lives. Six soldiers lost their lives during EndSARS.
“Nobody speaks about this, but we admitted it. We give the numbers that lost their lives in Kano, in Abuja, everywhere, but what we said and what we still insist on, that there were no massacres at the Lekki tollgate.
“And I think this is where I disagreed with the CNN. The CNN was not at the lucky tollgate. CNN relied on poorly sourced stories to write its story.”
According to Lai Mohammed, the Lekki Tollgate saga “is the only massacre in the whole of the world where there are no bodies”.
He disclosed that he devoted a whole chapter to the event in his book, ‘Headlines And Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined An Administration’.
He also said that the book sets out to correct erroneous beliefs in the public space.
“This is the only massacre in the whole of the world where there are no bodies. People died in Alimoso, people died everywhere, but there was no massacre at the tollgate, and I challenge anybody to come and tell me today that ‘my son or my daughter was at the tollgate, he didn’t come back home,” he stated.