Bandits collecting taxes doesn’t mean they’ve taken over – Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the fact that bandits were imposing levies on communities in some parts of the country does not mean they have taken control.

Lai Mohammed said this during a press conference, on Thursday, in Abuja, while reacting to an article by London-based The Economist magazine titled, ‘Insurgency, secessionism and banditry threaten Nigeria.’

The minister said the magazine was wrong to claim that terrorists had carved caliphates for themselves in the North East.

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While answering questions from journalists on banditry in the North West where bandits now impose levies on communities, Lai Mohammed argued that imposing levies does not mean criminals are in charge, adding that it takes place in many parts of the country, including in the South where touts commonly referred to as ‘Area Boys’, impose levies.

His words, “Do you know how many places in this country where Area Boys collect taxes? And there is no terrorism or banditry there. I don’t want to mention names.

“In many of our cities, they carve out their own territory. So, it is not indicative of the bandits have taken over.

“No. I know many areas in Nigeria both in the South and the North where these kinds of things happen. So, it is not the same thing.”

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The minister urged the media to stop glorifying negative reports published by their foreign counterparts.

He said The Economist Intelligence Unit, which is a sister organisation of The Economist magazine, had predicted in 2019 that the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would win the election but the prediction turned out to be false.

“President Muhammadu Buhari won re-election by over three million votes. So, The Economist and other arms of the group are not infallible,” the minister argued.

Alhaji Lai MohammedMinister of Information and CulturePresident Muhammadu Buhari
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