By Peter.
Former Minister of Sports and Youth Development Solomon Dalung has revealed a chilling first-hand encounter with a young bandit on TikTok, exposing the mindset driving Nigeria’s escalating banditry crisis.
In a recent interview with News Central, Dalung recounted the live interaction:
“I was on TikTok one day and a young bandit came up. He said he lives in the bush and is a bandit. I asked him: ‘Why do you kill people?’ He replied: ‘They killed our people and took our cattle. That’s why we took up arms and went into the bush.’ I said: ‘But you also kill Fulani people and rustle their cows.’ He answered: ‘The only Fulani we know are the ones in the bush. Anyone in the town is not Fulani. If we see them, we will kill them.’ The confidence with which he was speaking was quite scary.”
When Dalung asked how the cycle of violence could end, the bandit reportedly responded that they are open to negotiations and ready to drop their weapons — if the government engages them.
Dalung used the encounter to renew his long-standing call for a constitutional amendment allowing Nigerians to bear arms for self-defense, arguing that citizens in terror-ravaged communities are left defenseless against armed groups.
The revelation comes amid a surge in bandit attacks across the Northwest and North-Central regions, with mass abductions, killings, and cattle rustling now a near-daily occurrence in states like Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, and Benue.
Many Nigerians reacted with shock that bandits now openly livestream and interact on social media platforms, while others echoed Dalung’s frustration over the government’s failure to decisively tackle the crisis.
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