It’s Time To Treat Bandits As Terrorists, Senate Tells Buhari

The Nigerian Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop treating bandits and kidnappers in the country with kid gloves.

In a series of resolutions during plenary on Wednesday, the upper chamber urged the President to declare bandits as terrorists and treat them the same way Boko Haram insurgents are being treated.

The Red chamber called on the Federal Government to wage total war against the bandits, including bombing all their locations to annihilate and eliminate them.

According to the Senate, all known leadership of the bandits should be declared wanted and the military should arrest and prosecute them.

The Senate observed a minute of silence in honour of the fallen heroes and civilians who lost their lives in the unwholesome activities of the bandits.

Naija News reports that the Senate resolutions followed a motion by Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir (APC-Sokoto East) and eight others.

Gobir noted that his district has now become a safe haven for bandits due to the current onslaught against them in Zamfara State.

He recalled that the killing of 21 security personnel last Saturday in Dama and Gangara and some civilians from the neighbouring villages by rampaging bandits.

Gobir said the gruesome murder of the officers portrayed the seriousness of the problem which he said requires concerted and urgent action by the declaration of total war on banditry.

He also lamented that most of the bandits have now relocated to Sabon Birni and Isa local government areas due to the sustained military operations at the Zamfara axis.

The lawmaker said while the crackdown on the bandits was taking place in Zamfara, no concrete measures have been taken in Sokoto, leaving it totally exposed to the activities of the bandits.

According to him, the present military onslaught on the bandits is not well coordinated because it is only being orchestrated in Zamfara State instead of all the front line states ravaged by banditry.

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