Why Bandits Are Targeting Kaduna – El-Rufai

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, on Sunday, disclosed that bandits and kidnappers are targeting the residence of the state because of his administration’s position not to negotiate with criminals.

El-Rufai while speaking with Channels TV noted that his government would not negotiate with criminals attacking communities in the state.

He described those who consider the option of negotiating with bandits as irrational and emotional.

He said: “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.”

The governor said the only option in a civilised society to deal with criminals was to apply the full weight of the law.

“There is no civilised society that can sit back when its sovereignty is challenged when its monopoly of coercive power is challenged. The first thing to do is to wipe these bandits out. This is war, we must fight them to the end. We must wipe them out. That is the first order of business.”

“When you wipe out 95 per cent of them and if five per cent are ready to repent and go back to normal civilian life, then we can talk but you don’t talk to criminals the moment they start. There is no other option. There is no society that sits and negotiates with criminals, nowhere in the world. You are empowering them, you are emboldening them,” El-Rufai said.

El-Rufai while reacting to the abduction of 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna on the 11th of March 2021, said the state government is using technology and coercive instruments to locate the kidnapped students and pursue the bandits.