Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), National Security Adviser reveals that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is not ready to negotiate with bandits, terrorists, and other terrorist-instrumental groups disrupting the nations’ peace.
The retired general asserts that dialogue with insurgents makes the government look weak and incapable of securing its people’s lives and properties. He further reveals that Buhari’s administration would not hesitate to deploy maximum force to combat insurgent groups.
NSA said this during a State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja.
He said, “The government is tackling the problem of insecurity; we’ve said this many times that there are two phases in solving this problem –the soft approach: talking, negotiating, and so on and so forth.
“While the government is not averse to talking to these entities, these human beings, I have to be very honest; the government has to apply its weight, that force that is required because you can’t even talk with people who are unreliable, who will turn out to do a different thing and people who will continue to hurt the society.
“So, basically, what the government wants to rely upon is to deal with this issue by using all the assets – military assets, intelligence assets to eliminate these people.
“If along the line, some of them are ready to come out and talk and negotiate, when the time comes, we will do that, but for now, we can’t keep on dwelling on ‘Let’s dialogue
“Psychologically, it is not even good for us, it paints the picture of weakness, it paints the picture of incapacity and I, just like the governor of Kaduna State said, do not see any reason why we cannot, with what we have, deal with these elements.
“These are not people who are looking for anything that is genuine (or) legitimate; these are people who are just out to perform atrocities, to take calculated measures to inflict pain, violence on people.
“At the slightest opportunity, they go haywire. And so, it is important for us to realize that we are dealing with people who are not looking for anything, people who, without provocation, will give birth to their homicidal instincts. We must deal with them the way they have to be dealt with.”.’
