Kaduna state Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai has said there is nothing like repentant bandits.
He also said his administration’s policy is to dispatch the terrorists attacking innocent people to their creator to answer for their crimes against humanity.
The governor said this Tuesday while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
Answering a question on his stance on repentant bandits, the governor said: “There is nothing like repentant terrorists. The only repentant bandit is the one that is dead. Our intention in the state is to kill them (terrorists), let them go and see God.”
El-Rufai, who was accompanied by Commissioner for Internal Security Samuel Aruwan, said the whereabouts of the bandits were not hidden but that the military was mindful of the collateral damage it could cause the civilian community.
“If the security forces cannot go to the bandits’ location, the state was helpless,” he said.
The governor said he asked for the intervention of the president for more deployment of security forces and a comprehensive operation.
The governor charged the security agencies to carry out aggressive operations against the terrorists, even as he stressed the need for recruitment to be ramped up in the military and the police as the few number cannot successfully carry out operations in the 36 states of the federation.
He listed there categories of those behind the nation’s insecurity to include the Boko Haram elements, the bandits, and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), noting that the recent declaration of bandits as terrorists by the court had given the military more power to wage war against them.
Northern youth
In a related development, the Northern youth under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), have staged a peaceful demonstration in Zaria, Kaduna state, to protest the incessant killings and kidnap for ransom by bandits, especially in the north western part of the country.
Blueprint reports the protesters in their hundreds converged on Kwangila and trekked to PZ area in Sabon Gari local government area of the state.
They carried placards with different inscriptions like “Zaria Peace Walk Against Security, “End insecurity, “North is bleeding” and “secure north” chanting various songs.
Addressing journalists on their mission CNG Deputy Coordinator in-charge of North-west, Comrade Sani Saed Al-Tukry, said the whole of the north was bleeding as nowhere was safe.
Citing Zaria-Kaduna road which was strategic gateway to many states across the country, he said it had become the epicentre of terrorism.
Al-Tukry said no day passes by without one unpalatable incident of kidnapping of innocent citizens with reckless abandon, saying “it has been a tale of blood, tears and gnashing of teeth which must not be allowed to continue.”
They urged the federal government to order security agencies to mount and sustain special operations on all roads, particularly Zaria-Kaduna, Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Birnin Gwari-Niger, Birnin Gwari-Funtua-Katsina-Zanfara-Sokoto.
He further stated that the terrorists’ enclave must be dismantled and murderous elements eliminated or arrested to face the full wrath of the law.
“The federal government must carry out special operation in Northern Nigeria to destroy terrorists’ enclave. The North today is like a sinking ship that is about to capsize. There is need for unified stance guided by an agreed national interest irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliation.
“The national security architecture should significantly improve Nigeria’s chances of mitigating the spate of violence or terrorism across the country so that together we can join hands to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign,” the youth further said.
APC tackles PDP
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has carpeted the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for its “insensitive and below the belt suggestions” of bandits and kidnappers’ activities across the country.
Specifically, the APC accused the opposition of politicising insecurity.
In a statement Tuesday in Abuja and signed by its national secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, the APC described PDP’s comments as “heinous and callous.”
Akpanudoedehe bemoaned the attempt to convert teary circumstances to politically motivated ones, stressing such an act by the PDP amounts to “throwing caution to the wind instead of showing sympathy for the people who were affected by such tragedy.”
He said: “Suggestions by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the President Muhammadu Buhari government is insensitive to the heinous activities of bandits in parts of the country should be seen for what it is — politically motivated, callous and insensitive to victims and our gallant troops battling to end their criminal activities.
“The regrettable attempt to turn a tragic situation into an object of politicking crosses the line of political decorum. True to form, the PDP continues to expose its desperate politics in which all is fair, including unguarded statements mocking the travails of citizens and efforts of security services to score political points.
“The PDP playing politics with the evil activities of bandits, insurgents and other criminal rings which had their roots in PDP’s shabby handling of their criminal activities during their formative stages, has exposed PDP as unpatriotic, banal and a wobbling opposition”, he said.
Continuing, the party scribe said: “While the PDP wallows in its delusions to score cheap points, the President Buhari-led APC administration has strengthened our security services, particularly the Armed Forces through military procurement and strategic training which has led to great successes against insurgents, bandits and kidnappers.
“This includes the dispatch of high-level security/assessment delegations and delivery of relief items to affected citizens by the National Disaster Management Agency (NEMA).
“A case in point is the recent bandit attack in Sokoto State. Hours after the visit to the state by the federal delegation, our gallant Armed Forces, elements of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force operations which neutralised dozens of the bandits and kidnappers, restoring calm in the affected area and the government of Sokoto state commendation of the federal government’s prompt deployment of elite troops who smoked out the bandits and eliminated many of them.
“The APC assures Nigerians that President Buhari has not and will never relent in ensuring normalcy in all parts of the country.”
