Sokoto South Senator Aminu Tambuwal on Friday confirmed engaging bandits through backdoor channels when he was governor of the state.
Tambuwal disclosed this while noting that banditry in Nigeria is a combination of both foreign and Nigerian elements.
He made the remarks while appearing on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today.
According to Tambuwal: “We did engage bandits through back door channels.
“Bandits are a combination of foreign elements and Nigerians. With the problems in the Sahel, particularly in Libya downwards, we have been having this problem and people don’t remember that this problem did not start today.
“Remember when Chad was like a state, there was an influx of arms into the country as far back as the 80s, so this problem has been there for a long time in the Sahel.
“Our borders are not properly manned, so you can’t say that there are no foreign elements in this banditry, there are, it’s criminality, it’s business to them and they are making money out of it.
“Boko Haram, you can say that they have a command structure and they are ideologically driven but banditry, yes they have some leadership but even among them, they fight themselves, so it’s hard to understand.”
We negotiated with bandits during my tenure in Sokoto – Tambuwal
