Bandits must be wiped out, they've lost right to live: Nigerian governor

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said bandits terrorising Nigeria have lost their rights to life under the constitution and must be wiped out. He also said a situation where security agencies only responded to incidents of banditry was unacceptable.

The governor stated this at a town hall meeting on national security organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture held in Kaduna, with theme, “Setting Benchmark for Enhanced and National Unity in Nigeria”.

He said: “The bandits are at war with Nigeria and there is no other way to approach the current insurgency but for security forces to take the war to the bandits and recover forests where they are occupying.

“The security agencies mostly react to cases of banditry and abduction, we are in a war with these terrorist challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. “Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to the bandits and terrorist, recover and restore the forest to enable our law abiding citizens to engage in legitimate farming and livestock production,’’

El-Rufai stated that no one in a position of responsibility could deny the need for sustained action against criminals, adding that security operations that were more proactive would cripple the outlaws and reassure ordinary citizens. He said government must identify and deal with non state-actors and others challenging the existence of the country.

The governor advised that security forces should be increased and be well equipped to deal with insurgency, adding that judiciary must also be decentralised to serve justice.

“To address the banditry problem, we must implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP, already produced four years ago to enable accelerated investment in modern animal husbandry on operating rapid decentralization of herders in known locations,” he said.

Governor El-Rufai also stressed the need for security agencies to be proactive in the fight against banditry and other violent crime, saying a situation where they only responded to incidents of banditry was unacceptable.

He said security agencies must collaborate and take the fight to bandits and kidnappers because the country was at war with them.

“The situation in which the security agencies mostly only react to cases of banditry and abduction is unacceptable.

“We are in a war with these terrorists who are challenging the sovereignty and monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory.

“Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to them, recover and restore the un-governed forests these terrorists occupy, and enable our law-abiding citizens to engage in their legitimate pursuits,’’ the governor said.

He reiterated his position that bandits must be “wiped out” because they had lost their right to life, by virtue of the constitution. He said: “These bandits have lost their right to life under our constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. There is no other way to approach the current insurgency situation today as far as governmental action is concerned.’’

According to him, the country has found itself in near-anarchy because there are too many carrots without sticks.

“Notions of a common humanity, not to talk of a common citizenship are not as widely or deeply shared as it would appear. Identity politics holds sway. This reflects the absence of an elite consensus about who we are and how we should live together,” he said. The governor said more responsibilities should be given to states so that the federal government would not blamed for everything that goes wrong.

“Centralised policing in a federation is not only a contradiction in terms. The state governments today bear most of the burden of the running costs of the federal police anyway, so why not the sub-nationals of the state police now. So I repeat my persistent call for state police as soon as possible.

“To address the banditry prevalent in the north-west and north-central, we must implement the national livestock transformation plan already produced four years ago,’’ Governor El-Rufai said.