The Commander, 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, Brigadier General Sani Ahmed has said it would be very difficult to end banditry activities in the northwest except if bandits’ informants are eliminated.
Ahmed stated this on Monday during a public speaking engagement with some selected schools in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, saying that bandits’ informants remain deadlier than the bandits themselves.
He said informants supply the bandits with information on how to go about their nefarious activities, pointing out that the informants also supply food items, fuel and other essential commodities to the criminals.
“These bandits informants are locals and they live, eat and mingle with other community members, yet they are the people giving the bandits information and guidelines on how to attack their own communities”, he lamented.
“The ants that are eating flowers are also living in the same flowers they are destroying”
Ahmed, however, said the military has no plans of revealing its strategy to neutralize the ravaging bandits and their informants, insisting that military personnel would be in danger if such plans are made public.
He, however, traced the root cause of criminalities to drug abuse, stressing that most of the criminals are drugѕ addicts, pointing out that they had already sold their conscience to the devils.
The Northwest military boss advised parents to always monitor the movement of their children and instil morals.