The new Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, has said bandits never abide by terms reached after negotiation.

According to him, such should be banned, adding that his supervision as defence minister will work with the National Security Adviser to put a stop to such negotiations.

Musa said this while he was being grilled by senators before he was confirmed as the new defence minister to replace Abubakar Badaru.

He said, "If you negotiate with them (bandits), they will never abide by it. It is just a momentary tactic; what they do is try to buy time to acquire more arms, and then they will come out again. We have seen it repeatedly. There are even localities that have done that, they still come after them. "

General Musa also stated that his supervision will also look at the powers given to the service chiefs, CDS, and the ministry. "There are a lot of gaps that are affecting our operations," he told the senators.

"We will possibly withdraw all military men out of the checkpoints and let the Police and Civil Defence handle those aspects so that we can go into the buses and take out these criminals."

He also expressed delight that Nigerians support his nomination as defence minister, vowing not to disappoint them.

"I went to social media, and I was shocked with the response to my nomination as Minister of Defence, I can’t afford to fail myself, my family and Nigerians," he said.

ASA