Some Northerners under the platform of the Concerned Scholars for Peace and Development, CSPD have thrown their weights behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed efforts to tackle banditry in the region.
Recall that following the incessant attacks by bandits and terrorists in the region, President Tinubu directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle and service chiefs to relocate to the North West.
The Minister and the military bosses arrived in Sokoto State last week with a vow to tackle the security challenges in the region.
Speaking on the renewed fight, the CSPD in a statement on Tuesday by its President, Dr Zaharadeen Mohammed Kabir, warned saboteurs and collaborators not to distract Matawalle and the Armed Forces.
The group specifically disowned a Sokoto State-based Islamic cleric, Mallam Bello Asada, for accusing the Federal Government of sponsoring bandit leaders, describing the claim as false and politically motivated.
The scholars urged the Federal Government to be wary of individuals who come out to discredit, distract, and blackmail state actors when the state takes the war to the bandits.
“It’s obvious that some are Islamic clerics during the day and bandits at night,” Kabir said. He added, “The witch cried at night, and the child died in the morning. We don’t have to look for who, of course, killed the baby.”
Kabir called on the FG to investigate people who seem to be in pain over the decisive actions of the government against the bandits.
“It’s obvious that Asada has more to tell the security agencies about the banditry because he is disturbed by the bounty placed on the bandits’ leader and fears he will soon be exposed.”
The CSPD urged the President not to succumb to distraction but to go all out for the bandits until they all surrender and give up their evil ways.
