By Our Correspondent
Armed bandits operating in parts of northern Nigeria have appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Nigerian Army to halt ongoing aerial bombardments and military offensives against their camps, claiming they are ready to embrace peace.
In a video and audio messages circulating on social media on Sunday, the armed men, who spoke in Hausa, said continuous airstrikes and ground operations were killing their members and civilians, thereby worsening the security situation rather than resolving it.
The bandits claimed they were no longer interested in violence and were willing to lay down their arms if the Federal Government and the military stopped what they described as âconstant bombingâ of their hideouts.
âWe are begging President Tinubu and the Nigerian Army to stop bombing us and killing our people. We want peace,â one of the speakers said, while others nodded in agreement.
They further alleged that several of their members had been killed in recent airstrikes across forest areas in the North-West and parts of the North-Central, insisting that dialogue would be more effective than military action.
The Nigerian military has, however, repeatedly maintained that its operations are targeted at terrorist enclaves and criminal gangs responsible for mass killings, kidnappings and attacks on communities, stressing that pressure will not be relaxed until such groups are completely neutralised.
As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency and the Defence Headquarters had not officially responded to the banditsâ claims or their call for peace talks.
The appeal comes amid intensified military operations ordered by President Tinubu to dismantle banditry networks and restore peace to communities long plagued by violence, abductions and displacement.
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