Declare bandits as terrorists, El-Rufai urges FG

The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has asked the Federal Government to declare bandits in the North-West geo-political zone of the country as “insurgents” or “terrorists”.

The declaration, the governor said, would able the Nigerian military to attack and kill “these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.”

The governor who spoke shortly after 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, also said the recruitment of 1,000 youths each across the 774 local government areas of the country would deal a deadly blow to bandits and other criminal elements in the land.

Backing the National Assembly’s resolution to declare bandits as terrorists, the governor said the state government had since 2017 written to the federal government on that, pointing out that “bandits don’t deserve mercy and they should not be allowed to live.”

“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,” the governor added.