Declare Bandits As Terrorists, Senate Tells Buhari

The Senate has reached a resolution to ask the Muhammadu Buhari administration to declare bandits as terrorists.

The resolution was reached during Wednesday’s plenary after a motion moved by Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir, the Senator representing Sokoto East senatorial district, on recent killings in the state.

Several people were reported to have been killed in the Sabon Birni area of the state on Tuesday.

Besides declaring leaders of the bandits wanted, the Senate also wants the Federal Government to carry out holistic bombing of their enclaves in the region.

Gobir, at the plenary, had revealed that bandits were taking refuge in his senatorial district due to the current onslaught against them in neighbouring Zamfara State.

He said the military’s operation in the region ought to be “holistic instead of restrictive in order to produce effective and the desired results.”

Meanwhile, in July, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) made similar request to the Federal Government to declare bandits and kidnappers as terrorists, saying “Nigeria will not live in peace, if this banditry and kidnapping continue, however the North is the worst hit.”

Speaking through its National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, the ACF had said “…Kidnapping and banditry should be declared as terrorism, and those involved should be seen as running terrorist organisations. We are not happy that Leah Sharibu, the Chibok girls and all the students kidnapped in Kaduna and other places are still in captivity.”

The north has increasingly witnessed large-scale kidnapping and cattle rustling, amongst others, in recent times by criminal gangs.