El-Rufai Asks FG To Declare Bandits As Terrorists

Ganiyat Ganiyu

The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has asked the Federal Government to declare bandits in the North-West as terrorists.

El-Rufai said this would allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill “these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.”

He made the remark while receiving the third quarter security report from the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna on Wednesday.

El-Rufai said, “We in the Kaduna State government had always urged for the declaration of bandits as insurgents and terrorists. We have written letters to the federal government since 2017 asking for this declaration because it is this declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.

“So, we support the resolution by the National Assembly and we are going to follow up with a letter of support for the federal government to declare these bandits and insurgents as terrorists, so that, there will be fair game for our military.

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“The operations against the bandits that began in this last quarter are degrading bandits, but are not yet simultaneous across all the affected states in the North-West region. That explains the limitations that our personnel and other resource deficits have imposed on federal security agencies.

“There are simply no enough boots on the ground to have credible deployment to most places, deter crime, and restore order. That is the reality that we face.

“Many state governments in the North-West and North-Central have adopted a non-conventional approach to help the security agencies to better protect our communities. In our own case, we have about 900 trained and vetted vigilantes personnel working with the security agencies.

“However, we still observed that there is no alternative to launching simultaneous operations in all states.”