Baba Yusuf warns bandits will enter Nigerian legislature as Nigerians pay them taxes for mediation
Baba Yusuf, political strategist and Group CEO of Global Investment and Trade Company, warned on Arise News that bandits will soon enter the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives. He stated this progression occurs because Nigerians in the North are already paying bandits taxes and going to them for mediation and protection.
Yusuf criticized the government's handling of insecurity, noting that while Nigerians die in bandit attacks, politicians play politics with the crisis. He described terrorists killing soldiers, wearing military uniforms, visiting for government-mediated talks then facing no consequences, and even sending attack notices in advance.
He referenced the Plateau State victims' promise - where President Tinubu told widows attacks 'will never happen again' only for violence to recur the next day - as evidence of state weakness. Yusuf argued bandits are 'daring the state' and 'taunting Nigeria' through social media where they operate openly.
'The ruling party makes it look as if it's no issue, and then the opposition uses it to posture while people are dying every day,' Yusuf said. 'This is an existential issue that we should take seriously across party lines.'
Will Nigerians continue relying on bandits for mediation and protection, or demand concrete government action to restore state authority in affected regions?