The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El Rufai has urged the President Muhammadu Bihari led federal government to declare bandits as terrorists.
Bandits have been kidnapping hundreds of Nigerians for the past two years and demanding ransom for their release. Many victims have been killed, including some whose relatives paid millions of Naira for their freedom.
El Rufai said it was necessary for federal government to designate bandits as terrorists in order to legally empower military and other security agencies to deal with them in accordance with international laws.
The governor spoke at the presentation of the Kaduna State Security Incidents Report for the Third Quarter of 2021 in Kaduna on Wednesday, saying “we in the Kaduna State Government, have always aligned with 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 the declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in 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 they will be fair game for our military. This is the view of the Kaduna State Government,” he said.
The Governor also called for a consensus between the Federal Government and the the 36 states on an emergency programme of recruitment into the security agencies.
He said government can change the game significantly by hiring 1,000 willing youths from each of the 774 LGAs in the country into the security agencies.
“This will be a surge in numbers that is unprecedented since the civil war. An influx of 774,000 new boots on the ground will be a significant blow against criminals and an employment boost,” he said.
He announced that next Saturday, the two Local Governments of Birnin Gwari and Zangon Kataf were elections were postponed for security reasons ,will be having their own Local Government elections.
He said many state governments in the North-West and the North-Central have adopted an unconventional approach to help the federal security agencies to better protect our communities, adding that there is no alternative to launching simultaneous operations.
” I will also like to announce that this Saturday, the two Local Governments of Birnin Gwari and Zangon Kataf will be having their own Local Government elections. They were postponed for security reasons, but I believe that the security agencies and the State Independent Electoral Commission have agreed that it is possible to hold this election this weekend. Our hope is that we will be able to conduct this election as well as bye elections in two or three Local Governments, so that we swear in the new Local Government Chairmen, to start their tenure from the 1st of November 2021.”
“I would like to observe that if elections do not take place as scheduled on this date, we will have no option than to appoint Administrators to manage these Local Governments for the next three years. So it is in the interest of everybody to allow elections to take place, otherwise I will appoint people to manage those local governments,” the governor threatened.