Agroup of terrorists on Saturday held a peace parley with the people of Fankama village in Katsina State, northwest Nigeria.
Fankama is in the Faskari Local Government Area of the state.
Pictures of the meeting shared on Sunday by Jagaban Matasan Arewa, whose Facebook profile describes him as a senior special assistant to the Minister of State for Petroleum, show the terrorists attended the meeting heavily armed.
“Yesterday, Saturday 16/09/2023, there was a meeting between terrorists and people of town in Fankama village in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
“As seen in the pictures here is the young man with the weapons and military equipment. No regret but the joy is that there was peace and understanding. May Allah make it easy for us to have peace,” he said in the post.
According to the June 2023 International Review of the Red Cross, the number of bandit groups in the North-West is a subject of conjecture.
The report noted that one of Nigeria’s authoritative researchers on banditry opined that there were around 120 bandit camps in the region and bandits were in possession of more than 60,000 AK-47 rifles.
One of the stakeholders appointed by bandit groups as liaison with the government stated that there were more than 100,000 armed bandits in the North-West region, the report added.
