Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that any bandits operating in the state will “most likely end up dead”.
The governor spoke on Sunday while featuring on Channels Television programme, “Politics Today.”
According to him, the solution to this problem of banditry and kidnapping is to intensify military operations from the air or the ground and wipe all of them out.
Kaduna has been under intense attack by bandits, with cases of invasion of communities, killings and abductions occurring almost on a daily basis despite various security operations going on in the state.
The governor however declared that the bandits would be flushed out in a matter of weeks.
“I think that the bandits and their leaders decided to collectively target Kaduna state because of the position we have taken that we will not negotiate with them, that we will not give them a penny of taxpayers’ money.
“And whoever comes to Kaduna for the purpose of banditry or kidnapping is most likely going to end up dead.
“We believe that the solution to this problem is to intensify military operations from the air or the ground and wipe all of them out. We do not think any bandit deserves to live.
“And we have made that very clear to the security agencies. I am very pleased that the new chief of air staff has continued the bombardment of bandits in Nasarawa, Kaduna, Niger and Zamfara and the bandits are on the run”, El-Rufai said.
He added that with the collaboration among security personnel, “we will get rid of these bandits in a matter of weeks”.
He said two weeks ago,
parents of the 39 abducted students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna, staged a protest demanding the release of their children, stating however, that it be detrimental for the state to negotiate with the bandits.
“We commiserate with those that have lost loved ones but the solution is not to put your own personal interest at the head of public interest.
“And what is in the public interest is to ensure that you don’t empower your enemies by giving them money to buy more advanced weapons”, the governor said.
