General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff, has voiced concerns regarding the activities of bandits and their collaborators.
In an interview with Daily Trust, General Musa highlighted alarming trends, including reports of medical doctors providing treatment to terrorists in remote areas where they operate.
Additionally, he accused some women in the North of facilitating transactions with bandits by arranging encounters with other women for financial gain. General Musa emphasized the need for collective support from Nigerians to effectively address the issue of banditry, noting that the military faces challenges in rooting out the bandits due to collaboration within society.
He underscored the complexity of the situation, describing it as an unconventional warfare driven by criminality rather than ideology like Boko Haram.
General Musa called for a united effort involving not just the military but also the broader community to combat this menace. He highlighted the involvement of various individuals in funding and aiding the bandits, including informants who provide intelligence on troop movements.
Despite some positive outreach efforts, General Musa lamented that certain individuals continue to engage in nefarious activities, such as providing medical assistance or facilitating transactions with bandits.
When questioned about video clips showing bandits with musicians, General Musa acknowledged the phenomenon, attributing it to individuals seeking financial gain without considering the moral implications of their actions.
General Musa said, “We are dealing with an unconventional warfare, which has to do with ideology. And you cannot look at somebody’s face and know what ideology is in his mind.
“But banditry is pure criminality, which is different from Boko Haram.
“Criminals work together, so good people must equally join hands to fight evil. The mistake we make is thinking that only the military should do it. No.
“Who are the people funding those guys? People are trading with them. There are informants – those who call to tell them the movement of troops.
“That’s their business and they make good money.
“In fairness, people are really reaching out to us. And it has helped us a lot. But we still have some people trading with them.
“We have doctors who go to the bush to treat them. In the North, we have women who carry their fellow women to go and give them at night to get money. It is that bad.”
Additional – ”It is true. And this is because maybe if the man goes to sing somewhere they might give him N5,000 and he could sing for those guys and they could give him N100,000 or N200,000, he forgets that it is blood money”.
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