A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has warned that granting amnesty to bandits would only encourage criminality and worsen insecurity in the country.
Naijaonpoint reports that Shittu gave the warning on Wednesday while featuring on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, in Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.
Reacting to the recent decision by the Katsina State Government to release about 70 suspected bandits under a peace arrangement, the former minister said such actions were counterproductive.
“If you give amnesty to hundreds of criminals, you might as well open the prisons. It sends the wrong message,” Shittu said.
He argued that offering amnesty to armed criminals would embolden others to take up crime in anticipation of similar concessions, insisting that decisive law enforcement, not negotiations, was the solution to insecurity.
Shittu, an indigene of Oyo State, served as Minister of Communications under the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on the wave of defections from opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress, Shittu blamed internal crises within the opposition, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party.
According to him, political instability naturally pushes politicians towards platforms perceived as more organised.
“Nobody desires a one-party state, but when parties mismanage themselves, people will move to where there is stability. That is simple arithmetic,” he added.