By Igho Akeregha Abuja Bureau Chief
The Federal Government has finally declared bandits as terrorists, after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), gazetted a court judgement that ordered the government to do so.

This came just as a whopping N2.29 trillion has been designated in the 2022 budget to combat insecurity.

It would be recalled that the activities of the bandits are more pronounced in states in the North-West geopolitical zone including Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kaduna since last year.

The bandits have extended their nefarious activities to North Central and other zones in the country.

They have killed hundreds of innocent persons, kidnapped several others including schoolchildren, with some still in their custody, while some are nursing injuries sustained during the attacks.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 25, 2021, had granted an ex parte application by the Federal Government for Yan Bindiga (Hausa word for gunmen) and Yan Ta’adda (Hausa word for terrorists) to be declared as terrorists but the government was foot-dragging until after a month.

However, the AGF, in an interview on Tuesday, said his office was in the process of gazetting the court judgement, adding that the process would be concluded in a matter of days.

Also, a document released by Malami’s spokesman, Umar Gwandu, yesterday, showed that the AGF office had gazetted the court order.

The document titled, ‘Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Order Notice, 2021’ is contained in Volume 108 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette.

It read in part, “Notice is hereby given that by the Order of the Federal High Court Abuja, in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1370/2021 dated 25th November 2021 as per the schedule to this Notice, the Activities of Yan Bindiga Group, Yan Ta’adda Group, and other similar groups in Nigeria are declared to be terrorism and illegal in any part of Nigeria, especially in the North West and North-Central Regions of Nigeria and are proscribed, according to sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.

“Consequently, the general public is hereby warned that any person or group of persons participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intentions or otherwise of the groups referred to in paragraph 1 of this Notice will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and liable to prosecution.”

On the N2.29trn budgeted to fight insecurity in the 2022 budget, a document detailing a breakdown was released in Abuja yesterday by the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed.

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The breakdown showed that the Buhari administration prioritised the Defence and Security sector with an allocation of N2.29trn representing 13.4 per cent of the total budget estimates.

The amount is the recurrent and capital expenditure provision for the Military, Police, Intelligence, and Para-Military.