Dialogue with criminals not a military option -Buratai

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said that the military will not engage in dialogue with bandits or any criminal to bring an end to insecurity.

Buratai stated this at a news conference to mark the commencement of the Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) 2020 on Wednesday at the Army Special Super Camp, Faskari, Katsina State.

He said that dialogue with criminals was not a military option in dealing with insecurity, adding that he did not believe in dialogue with bandits.

“May be when I drop the uniform, I may consider that but for now, it is not the military option,” he said.

Buratai, however, explained that if the civil authorities decided to go for dialogue, the military would have no option than to support them to achieve peace.

As far as the Nigerian army is concerned, dialogue is not an option; it is not on our table; it is absolutely political decision.

“Some newspapers quoted me as saying that the troops should move into the bush and defeat them tactically; that is our mission and that is what we want to achieve. Anything short of that will only prolong the insecurity.

“So we are determined to deal with them in the bush or wherever they are, even in the town and cities. We will deal with them accordingly,” he said.

Buratai also described as false the allegations that the troops were not always responding to distress calls from some communities during attacks by bandits.

He said that the allegations were being promoted by those who had decided to politicise the security situation in the affected places.