There’s Nothing Like Repentant Bandit,Terrorist – El-Rufai

• None should be speared

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said Boko Haram, bandits and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra are in the same category.

El-Rufai also said the term “repentant bandits” was a misnomer and did not exist.

He stated that the goal of the Kaduna State Government was to kill bandits wherever they were found.

The governor said this to State House correspondents on Tuesday shortly after meeting with the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

El-Rufai, who was in the Villa to brief the President on the Sunday’s attack on Kauran Fawa, Marke and Ruhiya of the Idasu Ward of the Giwa Local Government Area of the state, which left no fewer than 40 persons dead, was accompanied by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan.

“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; let them go and see God,” the governor said.

He added that the locations of the bandits were not a mystery, but that the military was only toeing the line of caution because of potential collateral damage an all-out raid could pose to innocent civilians.

According to him, terrorists are of three types namely; Boko Haram insurgents, bandits and members of IPOB.

He said the recent declaration of bandits as terrorists had given the military more impetus to engage them in real warfare.

While, calling on security agencies to be more aggressive towards terrorists, El-Rufai also sought the intervention of the President for the deployment of more security personnel in the troubled region.

The Federal Government has designated both Boko Haram and IPOB as terrorist organisations. However, it has yet to formally declare bandits as terrorists despite a court order to that effect.