The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has condemned the decision of the Katsina State Government to facilitate the release of about 70 suspected and convicted bandits saying there is no justification that the action was necessary to sustain peace deals. The coalition described the move as a dangerous precedent that undermines justice, weakens security efforts, and erodes the authority of the state.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, CNG acknowledged the urgent need to halt killings, kidnappings, and destruction in Katsina State and the wider North-West region. However, the group insisted that peace built on appeasement and judicial compromise is neither sustainable nor just.
CNG faulted the state government’s comparison of the bandits’ release to wartime prisoner exchanges, describing the analogy as flawed and misleading. The coalition noted that Nigeria is not engaged in a conventional war with a recognized adversary, but is confronting criminal elements responsible for widespread killings, sexual violence, displacement of communities, and the destruction of rural livelihoods. CNG warned that such actions send a dangerous signal that violence is rewarded, justice is negotiable, and the state lacks resolve, just as it criticised the government’s silence on the plight of victims and their families, noting that thousands have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods to bandit attacks.
The coalition stated that releasing suspects or convicts without transparent truth-telling, judicial closure, restitution, and compensation amounts to a betrayal of victims and a grave injustice to society. It added that peace efforts that ignore justice only deepen fear, resentment, and insecurity. It urged the Katsina State Government to immediately suspend any plans to release suspected or convicted bandits under peace arrangements and to respect ongoing judicial processes, including trials and sentences. CNG also advocated a security-first strategy focused on decisively degrading the operational capacity of bandits before any dialogue is considered
