From Desmond Mgboh Kano
A former member of the defunct Native Authority Police, Yusuf Abdulmalik has cautioned the Kano State government against granting amnesty to established criminals, warning that despite its seeming attraction, the trend was likely to boomerang in time to come.
Abdulmalik, a security expert and the Publicity Secretary of the Retired Army, Navy, Airforce Officers Association urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to immediately halt and reverse the recruitment of these so- called repentant thugs as constabularies.
The octogenarian expressed worry that the repentant criminals might one day revert to their old ways, adding that should this happen, they would become a more dangerous gang for the society to handle.
Abdulmalik, who is a retired Army Captain, was reacting to the recent amnesty granted to 220 repentant thugs, fifty of whom were absorbed as police constabularies.
He insisted that it was grave injustice to humanity for established criminals to be rewarded with a hero’s welcome and a governor’s recognition when they were actually supposed to be languishing in jail for their misdeeds.
He wondered how their victims had felt listening to them on radio or watching them on television happily being addressed by the state governor a few days ago.
“What this simply implies is that crime eventually pays” he declared
He observed that the law has established punishments for different crimes insisting that whoever commits a crime, be it murder. robbery or phone snatching must be punished according to the provisions of the law.
He observed that the victims of crimes in the state were crying for justice adding that they were looking forward to the arrest and prosecution of suspects fingered in their cases.