El-Rufai: Declare Bandits As Terrorists

Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, has asked the federal government tobandits in the country’s northwestern geopolitical zone as “insurgents” or “terrorists.”

iexclusive News Nigeria reports that the proclamation, according to the governor, would allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill “these outlaws without any serious international legal ramifications.”

At the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna on Wednesday, the governor spoke shortly after receiving the third quarter security report from the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan.

El-Rufai further stated that the recruitment of 1,000 youngsters in each of the country’s 774 local government areas would give a fatal blow to bandits and other criminal elements.

The governor stated the state government had written to the federal government since 2017 in support of the National Assembly’s vote to declare bandits terrorists, stating that “bandits don’t deserve mercy and they shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

“We in the Kaduna State government have always advocated for bandits to be declared rebels and terrorists.

We have been writing letters to the federal government since 2017 requesting this declaration because it is only with this statement that the Nigerian military will be able to fight and kill these bandits without fear of international repercussions.

“As a result, we endorse the National Assembly decision, and we will follow up with a letter of support to the federal government, urging it to identify these bandits and rebels as terrorists, so that our troops would have fair game,” the governor continued.

In his last report, the Commissioner stated that bandits killed 343 people, abducted 830 people, and injured 210 people, including women and minors, in the third quarter of the year in the state.

“The bandit operations that began in the last quarter are degrading bandits,” he said, “but they are not yet simultaneous across all of the affected states in the North-West region.”

That explains the constraints put on federal security agencies by our staffing and other resource shortages.

“There just aren’t enough boots on the ground to have a credible deployment, discourage crime, and restore order in most regions.” That is the reality with which we must contend.

“Many state governments in the North West and North Central have taken a unique approach to assisting security services in better protecting our citizens. In our instance, we have roughly 900 vigilantes working with security agencies who have been trained and verified.

“However, we still believe that commencing simultaneous operations in all states is the only option.”