Dalung: Dispersing Boko Haram in north-east led to banditry, kidnapping

Solomon Dalung, a former minister of sports and chieftain of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), says the spread of criminal groups across Nigeria is linked to the war against terrorism in the north-east.

Speaking on Politics HQ, a programme on News Central, Dalung said the dispersal of Boko Haram from the north-east led to the rise of banditry and kidnapping in the north-west, Plateau, and beyond.

He said what started as a localised issue has evolved into an organised criminal enterprise, with kidnapping for ransom becoming a “political economy”.

Dalung said the sophisticated criminal activity is now sustained by those seeking to seize land rich in mineral deposits.

“The genocidal elimination of native communities, to grab their land which is very rich in minerals deposits, and then the sponsors who sustain this criminality, that are interested in the minerals deposits,” he said.

He added that Plateau, famed for mining for centuries, has long been a source of wealth, yet the government has largely neglected the area.

Dalung also accused the government of being “economical with the truth” regarding the origins of the criminal groups, stating that people arrested in connection with the crimes have provided information about their sponsors.

He recalled a televised interrogation where a bandit said the guns they used were hired by their bosses, and narrated “details of how ransom is distributed”.

“When they asked him ‘how much have you collected for ransom?’, he said ‘in one of the instances, we collected N100 million. How much were you given?’ he said N200,000,” Dalung said.