PDP Chieftain Urges FG To Negotiate With Bandits To End Insurgency

Posted by Tolulope Ogugua Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Sunday, March 14th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A diplomat and chieftain of the PDP, Dr Orefo Onochie, has advised the Federal Government to consider the option of negotiating with insurgents, presently terrorizing Nigeria, if that would make the bandits to sheathe their sword

Speaking in an interview in Abuja , Onochie said that negotiating with the bandits would prove a wiser option in the long run.

According to him, there is nothing wrong in negotiating with bandits if that can end banditry, insurgency and kidnappings in parts of the country.

The former Nigerian envoy to the Philippines and Algeria argued that Nigeria should not continue to be held hostage by terrorists, especially in the north

He also expressed worry over what he described as the persistent cases of kidnappings and killing of farmers by herdsmen in farming communities in parts of the country.

The PDP stalwart recalled that the Federal Government during the administration of former President Umaru Yar’ Adua had negotiated and rehabilitated Niger Delta militants.

Onochie said that some of the militants were later to become engineers and pilots after undergoing trainings abroad.

He stressed that the same gesture could be extended to the bandits to ensure lasting peace in Nigeria, noting that: “cost of rehabilitation will certainly be less than the total cost of fighting for 11 years”.