‘There’s Nothing Like Repentant Terrorists’ — El-Rufai Wants All Bandits Killed

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that the wish of his administration is for all terrorists and bandits to be killed.

Governor El-Rufai said he doesn’t believe that terrorists can repent of their sins and as such must be sent to “their creator to answer for their crimes against humanity.”

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The governor shared this view after holding a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

It was learnt that El-Rufai, who was in company with the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, sought President Buhari’s help in dealing with bandits terrorizing residents of the state.

“…we hope to see the end of this insecurity,” El-Rufai said, adding “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.”

THE WHISTLER had reported that at least 40 persons were confirmed dead after the terrorists invaded three communities in Giwa Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.

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Asked if there was not enough intelligence to help prevent such attacks, the governor said: “Yes, we receive security reports, we know a lot about the bandits and where they are and their activities.

“But you must understand that the intelligence has to be acted upon. And if the security forces are unwilling or unable to reach the locations where these bandits are, then there is nothing we can do as a state government.

“Federal security forces are not under our direct control. We support them, we work with them, the intelligence is being provided, but the truth of the matter is that our military and police are very few in number and they are overstretched.”

El-Rufai, however, warned that caution has to be taken in dealing with bandits to avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians.

“Even if you know where the bandits are, you don’t want to go and bomb all of them because they may have civilians in custody.

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“You may have collateral damage that you may not want to handle. And without the declaration of bandits as terrorists, it might even be referred to as abuse of their human rights.”

The governor further said that the recent declaration by the Federal High Court describing bandits as terrorists will enable the security forces fight them without limits.

“So, no one will be dragged to the international court because you killed bandits,” he said, adding that the state had continued to attract investments despite the insecurity.

“Kaduna state is a huge state. We have 46,000 square kilometers. I joke with my colleagues from the South East, Kaduna state alone can feed the five states of the southeast two and half times.

“It’s a huge state. So, the fact that there is insecurity in one part does not mean there’s insecurity everywhere. It’s not Lagos, it’s not a small place at all.

“Yes, we’ve had investment summit and they have been very successful.

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“In the last five years, we have attracted nearly three billiondollars in investments in spite of all these stories about insecurity because investors know that large parts of Kaduna state are quite safe, they are safe as anything,” he said.

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