FG will not dialogue with terrorists, will not succumb to blackmail – NSA

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By Abba Gwale

The Federal Government has ruled out any form of dialogue with terrorists in the fight against insurgency, which has continued for more than a decade.

National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno, retd, said this yesterday while addressing journalists at the weekly presidential media briefing at the Council Chamber of State House, Abuja, yesterday,

He said the current service chiefs will deploy all necessary force to deal with terrorists and bandits operating in the country adding that dialogue with them suggests weakness and incapacity on the part of government.

Government’s declaration came on the heels of repeated calls by governors of the North-East states, led by Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and other stakeholders that mercenaries be engaged to help defeat Boko Haram.

“The President’s view and directive is that we will not engage mercenaries. When this administration came in, it’s true, we had these mercenaries helping out in the North-East. But the directive of the Commander-in-Chief is that we do not engage mercenaries when we have our own people to deal with this problem.

“This is basically a presidential directive. And there are so many issues when you come to the issue of mercenaries. It has to do with the issue of national pride also. I know you’d say can pride be more of a concern than our security? I do understand that,” the NSA said

The NSA said the government will not succumb to blackmail and the use of criminals by proxies to harass innocent citizens.

This came on a day Niger State Government shut all public secondary schools in the state for two weeks, following incessant attacks by bandits.

This is even as bandits who abducted 19 persons at Kutunku village in Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger State Monday, demanded N200 million ransom Wednesday night to free their captives

Bandits also went wild in Kaduna, killing seven persons, injuring several others, destroying properties and rustling cattle in Igabi, Giwa and Chikun Local Government Areas.

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