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Nigeria’s growing reliance on so-called “peace deals” with bandits is raising serious moral and strategic concerns. Whatever arrangement that appears to reward marauding violent actors, without justice for victims, risks sending a dangerous message that crime pays.
For peace initiatives to carry legitimacy, they must be rooted in accountability. Disarmament, verifiable renunciation of violence, and genuine reintegration into society are non-negotiable. Without these, such deals risk becoming temporary truces that embolden criminal networks rather than dismantle them.
Comparisons with the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme are often misplaced. That intervention, while imperfect, was anchored on structured disarmament and a defined political grievance around resource control.
In contrast, many bandit groups today operate through decentralised, profit-driven violence such as kidnapping, extortion, and territorial control, largely detached from a coherent political ideology. Conflating both contexts oversimplifies the problem and weakens policy responses.
Equally troubling is the narrative framing of bandits as “victims of injustice.” While structural inequalities and governance gaps do exist, they cannot excuse the deliberate targeting of civilians, particularly farmers and rural communities who bear the brunt of killings, displacement, and economic loss. Elevating perpetrators into victims risks deepening resentment among affected populations and undermining trust in the state.
I paused to reflect after listening to a recent interview with a prominent bandit kingpin, Abdu Lankai, who was instrumental in negotiating a peace deal in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.
Following his release by a rival bandit group, Lankai reportedly lost nearly ten of his men in a violent clash linked to a failed reconciliation meeting with factions opposed to the peace agreement. In response, he vowed to avenge their deaths. Violence, as ever, begets violence.
However, accounts from credible sources familiar with banditry dynamics suggest that more complex triggers are at play. One source claimed the rival group launched the attack after intercepting a cache of arms allegedly linked to the Turji faction. Another indicated that one of Lankai’s associates had collected a large sum of money from the rival group under the pretext of supplying weapons, but failed to deliver.
Lankai rose to prominence among armed groups operating across parts of Zamfara State and neighbouring Maradi in the Niger Republic after embracing a peace arrangement that prohibited attacks in Jibia. While the area has since enjoyed relative calm, there are growing concerns about the fragility of such peace.
My worry now is, why should “repentant” bandits still retain full access to their weapons –the very instruments of terror? And to what end?
This is why I align with Yahuza Getso’s position on repentant bandits. He doesn’t believe there’s any such thing as repentance for people who dictate the repentance on their own terms. Without identifying the participants, recommendations, and agreed action points. If repentant bandits cannot provide us with intel about who is offering them medical attention, supplies, their informant networks and a judicial commission to establish their crimes and make recommendations, then we may just be on a wild-goose chase
In any case, the talk around justice raises difficult but necessary questions. Nigeria currently has thousands of death row inmates, yet executions are rarely carried out due to a mix of legal, ethical, and political constraints. This has led to debates about deterrence, victims’ rights, and the role of the state in enforcing capital punishment.
A justice system must not only punish, but also uphold fairness, accuracy, and the rule of law. Without justice, peace will continue to elude us as a people. That is why I support a full expansion of execution mechanisms, whether by shifting authority to the judiciary or involving the military. Once due process considerations are followed, anyone involved in causing the death of others needs to be put through the guillotine after properly extracting usable data from them to hunt down their associates and accomplices.
Ultimately, the crisis demands more than rhetoric or reactive policies. There must be a stronger political will to enforce the law and order, to conduct intelligence-driven security operations to dismantle criminal networks, to provide protection and restitution for victims, and to invest long-term in rural security, land governance, and economic stability.
Peace is not merely the absence of violence. It is the presence of justice. And without justice for victims, any “deal” with cold-hearted rascals risks becoming yet another chapter in a cycle of impunity.
