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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has said there is nothing like repentant bandits and that the state’s policy is to dispatch the terrorists attacking innocent people to their creator to answer for their crimes against humanity.
He made his position known when he addressed State House Correspondents, yesterday, after he met President Muhammadu Buhari to brief him on the recent attack by terrorists in the state that claimed the lives of about 40 persons.
El-Rufai, accompanied by the Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, said the whereabouts of the bandits were not hidden but that the military was mindful of the collateral damage it could cause the civilian community.
According to him, if the security forces cannot go to the bandits’ location, the state was helpless.
He said he asked for the intervention of the president for more deployment of security forces and a comprehensive operation.
El-Rufai charged the security agencies to carry out aggressive operations against the terrorists, even as he stressed the need for recruitment to be ramp up in the military and the police as the few number cannot successfully carry out operations in the 36 states of the federation.
Asked his position on repentant bandits, he said: “There is nothing like repentant terrorists. The only repentant bandit is the one that is dead. Our intention in the state is to kill them (terrorists), let them go and see God.”
El-Rufai also explained there are three types of terrorists, the Boko Haram elements, the bandits, and the Indigenous People of Biafra, adding that the recent declaration of bandits as terrorists by the court has given the military more power to wage war against them.
