From Cross Udo, Abuja
Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai yesterday said that the military had been reluctant to engage bandits in full military combat especially in the Northwest because of the fear of being dragged before the International Court of Justice, ICC even as he revealed that the state had spent huge amount of money to curtail the activities of the criminal elements.

The Governor stated this when he featured on the weekly ministerial press briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the presidential villa, Abuja.

He said while he had campaigned for the bandits to be classified as terrorists, there were some push backs on the ground that they did not have a recognized leadership structure.

He, however, expressed delight over the court ruling, which recently declared the bandits as terrorists and therefore made the war against the enemies of the state “a fair game.”

According to him, to deal with the criminality permanently, there must be a simultaneous ground and air attacks in all the states hosting the criminals to prevent them from escaping.

The Kaduna state governor said the locations of the terrorists are known, adding that they must be wiped out at once rather than the present piecemeal approach if the problem must be solved.

He said the Fulanis who are involved in the criminality will never abandon the business on their own because they make more money from it than they would have made from legitimate cattle business.

The governor affirmed that kidnapping and terrorism had since become business but with the added element of collaborating with Boko Haram even as he said the effort to tackle the menace had been uncoordinated.

He said some state governors had the impression that negotiating with the criminals would end the problem but later realized that it was a mistake.

He revealed that northwest state governments began a process of cooperation and co-financing the military operation against cattle rustling.

He regretted that the operation was not sustained because some of them backed out after some successes were recorded only for kidnapping to take over.

The Governor further reveals that no fewer than 1,192 citizens of the state have been killed and 3,348 kidnapped by bandits in 2021.

El-Rufai also confirmed that 891 persons were injured, and 13,623 animals rustled between January and December 2021 across the state.

He said the state government had so far spent N21 billion on logistics support to security agencies fighting bandits in the state in the last seven years.

According to him, the activities of bandits in the Northwest zone are far more serious than insurgency in the Northeast part of the country.

He noted that the number of people killed, kidnapped, or injured as a result of the activities of the bandits in Katsina and Zamfara States were three times more than the affected citizens in Kaduna.

“I am persuaded that the banditry in the Northwest is far more serious than Boko Haram both in terms of the numbers of the people affected.

“I have shown you the numbers in Kaduna. I can assure you that the numbers in Zamfara and Katsina are up to three times this if they are keeping taps. The numbers in Sokoto, Niger and Kebbi States will be about this.

“We are talking of tens of thousands of people getting killed, getting kidnapped. It is far more serious than Boko Haram.

“The only thing is that these guys don’t occupy territory, they are in the forests and ungoverned spaces.

“So, they do not attract the kind of single-minded attention that Boko Haram does. And because Boko Haram’s ideology is religious, intentionally religious, it elicits more passion but really, this is a far more serious problem.

“Because, this is a situation largely in which people of about the same ethnicity, same religion are killing each other, stealing each other’s property, creating an industry out of criminality.

“It’s very, very serious and it requires single minded attention.’’

El-Rufai, who stated that the locations of the bandits operating in Kaduna and other neigbouring states are known to the state government, called on relevant security agencies to urgently check the activities of the terrorists.

He, however, urged the Federal Government to provide more sophisticated weapons to security officials to enable them neutralise the bandits and other terror elements across the country.

“Yes, we know where these bandits are, we have the maps. But somebody has to go in and kill them. I can’t do that. If that somebody doesn’t have enough men, doesn’t have enough fire power, doesn’t have technology, no one is going to commit suicide.

“This is why under this administration, Nigeria’s Governors Forum collaborated with the federal government to take money from the excess crude account to buy super Tocano jets and other armaments to strengthen our defence system,’’ he added.

El-Rufai stated that the logistics support being provided by the state government was aimed at complementing the effort of the armed forces and other security agencies towards finding solutions to the security challenges troubling the state.

The governor also revealed that the state government in the last seven years had also spent N10 billion on purchases of technological gadgets and communication equipment to boost the fight against terror elements and other criminals in the state.

On the non-kinetic measures being taken to address the security challenges, he said his administration had since established the Kaduna Peace Commission, formed a farmer-herders reconciliation committee in all local governments of the state, among others.

“Some of the security challenges that have endured in Kaduna have to do with ethnic and religious intolerance. Banditry is a new phenomenon. The one that Kaduna has been famous for is ethno-religious crisis.

“We have managed to contain that to a large extent and now the ethnic enclaves particularly in Kaduna and people now Muslims and Christians live together now because everyone feels safe.

On the identity of sponsors of insurgency across the country, the governor revealed that all known financiers of activities of Boko Haram had been apprehended and taken into custody, saying they will soon be prosecuted.

“I am sure there is a reason for not naming and shaming them. Most of them (Boko Haram financiers) are in custody and they are going to be tried and you need to be very careful how much you reveal before putting them on trial.
“Virtually all of them are in custody. I can assure you that because the operation involved my state, so I was being briefed as it was going on.

Amid Russian bombs, global outrage fear grips Nigerians in Ukraine

“We know their names and everything. They will be on trial soon and their trial is likely to be public so you will know them, but they are everywhere including Lagos and Port Harcourt, everywhere all over Nigeria.
“I was shocked to know that one of them was based in Zaria and the kind of money involved.

“I am sure there is a good reason why the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, did not mention their names and the reasons have to do with the fact that they are going to be tried,’’ he said.

El-Rufai further maintained that despite the security challenges troubling the state, his administration had been able to deliver democratic dividends to its citizens.

He narrated the achievements of his administration to include human capital development, provision of free primary and secondary education, health sector reforms, social development, job creation and infrastructure development.