The National President of the Arewa Youths, Danbature Abdul, has strongly urged the Federal Government to adopt a comprehensive dialogue-driven approach as its primary strategy for tackling the persistent banditry and insecurity ravaging the country.
Speaking on the limitations of purely kinetic military operations, Abdul argued that a total shift toward negotiations and political engagement is necessary to bring a lasting end to the bloodshed.
Abdul emphasised that the government must look beyond the battlefields and investigate the structural socio-economic grievances and root causes driving the security crisis.
He asserted that a hundred per cent commitment to dialogue would yield far better results for the nation than continuous warfare, as it would allow authorities to properly diagnose the problems and deploy sustainable solutions.
However, the youth leader warned that past administrative missteps have severely undermined the trust required to bring armed groups to the negotiating table.
He cited a controversial past incident in Benue State where a leader of an armed faction was allegedly assassinated shortly after coming out of hiding to attend a state-sponsored peace dialogue.
According to Abdul, such incidents create a dangerous precedent, destroying the confidence of other elements who might otherwise be willing to surrender and negotiate with state authorities.
Furthermore, the Arewa youth leader cautioned the public and security agencies against the dangerous trend of ethnic profiling, explicitly warning against the stigmatisation of the Fulani ethnic group.
He stressed that it is entirely improper to label an entire tribe as terrorists due to the criminal actions of a few individuals.
Abdul maintained that there are millions of peaceful, law-abiding Fulani people across Nigeria who are eager to cooperate with the state, urging the military to actively collaborate with them to harvest the actionable intelligence needed to permanently crush kidnapping and terrorism networks.
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