National Security Adviser Gen Babagana Monguno Rtd. Said he was not around when Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle of Zamfara discussed the issues of the release of 6000 soldiers to Zamfara state noting that it may be the that the decision was reached when the Governor met with the President.
General Monguno made the statement while in an interview with the BBC Hausa service on Friday.
On the issue of dialogue with the bandits Monguno said “if you want to embark on dialogue you does that with people who are honest and those with genuine demands”.
He said “it will be wrong to dialogue with people who are not promising and even where you want to do dialogue you don’t waste time reconciling with these type of people whose passion is to kill innocent lives.
He said as a government even where the dialogue become the option it has to be to an extent that the bandits would agree that government is above their supremacy in all ramification.
“These bandits don’t have genuine demands and all they know is to take arms and kill people” Monguno added.
On the ongoing negotiation with the bandits by Zamfara State Governor Monguno said the Federal government has not shut down its doors completely for negotiation, but the emphasis was that the dialogue shall be done with genuine and honest people.
As for the supply of necessary weapons for the Nigerian military to fight these bandits and insurgents Monguno said, to the best of his knowledge the President has released a huge sum of money for the supply of arms and weapons, but they are yet to arrive in the country.
He noted that the President will surely investigate the circumstance behind the reasons for the non-delivery of the weapons even as he said he was not suspecting that the money released for that purpose have been badly mismanaged.
He added that even state governors have to complaint bitterly about the huge amount of money released by the Nigeria’s Federal government on arm supply without much to be seen.
He said the new service have also confirmed that the arms and weapons ordered for by the federal government have not been supplied and delivered to the country.
