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Yusuf Ali (SAN) Backs Sheikh Gumi, Says There’s Nothing Wrong Negotiating With Bandits
By Joseph Ayinde
A prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Malam Yusuf Olaolu Ali, has said that there is nothing wrong with negotiating with bandits
He said this during an interview with the SUN newspaper
According to him, the Federal Government needs to explore all avenues, including engaging the bandits, just as he wants President Buhari to be more visible than he is at the moment.
He said, “Let me draw from what Tai Solarin said about education: ‘If the devil gives me money to fund education, I will take it.’ We have a problem. All solutions should be open as long as they don’t involve criminality itself. All options should be explored.”
Backing the moves of Sheikh Gumi, the distinguished silk added, “In a crisis situation, anybody who has any solution should be assisted. We may not necessarily agree with all the solutions.
If we have ten Gumis, you can imagine what we can achieve. For me, we should not be throwing away the baby with the bathwater. Some people are disagreeing with giving bandits a soft landing and amnesty. I think we should engage these people, whatever we can do. To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war, as we say in the Nigerian parlance.”
Yusuf Ali also advocated for the deployment of technology in fighting insecurity.
“I have said it before, and I am not tired of saying it: today’s security is more of technology. I remembered when kidnapping was not as prevalent as this, about three years ago, I suggested we should deploy specially equipped drones with cameras and Google map, and that there should be a ground force, a rapid response body, that would have access to helicopters,” he said
He suggested that “there should be a control centre where the pictures from the drones would be transmitted. Immediately there was a trouble spot, helicopters would be deployed with security personnel to the spot.
Secondly, I suggested that we should deploy CCTV strategically, powered by solar energy. For example, in the north, where it has become traditional for bandits to invade schools, there should be CCTV in these schools, because, as humans, there is a limit to where we can get at the same time; but, with the aid of technology, we will go a long way.
“Yes, the president meant to help by declaring there would be no more kidnapping —we are told in criminology that criminals are usually one step ahead of the law — so those who are determined to do evil will always look for ways to have their way. We shouldn’t be surprised that kidnapping is still going on, because it didn’t start one day.
They also want to show they are ahead of what we thought they were. The former IG witnessed a bombing at the Police Headquarters, Abuja, after he told the nation Boko Haram couldn’t do anything again.”
