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The Benue State Government has called on bandits to put an end to killings and embrace peace.
The government also invited the bandits to a peace parley to understand their grievances and chart ways for the resolution.
The Commissioner for Information Culture and Tourism, Mathew Abo, who made the call also indicted the bandits of being unfair to Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration.
He explained that the government had on several occasions invited the bandits for talks but they were insisting that the governor should declare amnesty first, while they continued to kill.
The commissioner spoke against the backdrop of the latest killing of 18 people, carried out on Friday in the Mbache council ward, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area.
The Chairman of the Katsina-Ala LGA, Justine Shaku, who confirmed the killing described the killers as ‘terrorists’.
Abo said the government would fulfil its promise as they collaborate for peace in the state.
He said, “What is the promise of the governor to the militants? Have they sheathed their swords? Immediately after the governor won the election and was sworn in, the militants started attacking; you don’t do that; they were supposed to wait for the government to take shape and every other thing would follow.
“The process of granting amnesty is not something you rise up one day and do; you have to start from somewhere; you have to work it out before the result is out.
“I think they are not being patient. We have been asking them what exactly their problem is and what they are agitating for, but no one has been able to come out and tell us.
“If you call them for a meeting to negotiate, none of them will come because they said, ‘Grant us amnesty first’, they are afraid that if they come out they will be arrested.
“So where do they want us to negotiate with them? It’s like they don’t have a direction. If they can come out and articulate their demands, the government will look at the demands and know what to do."
