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Accuses Kaduna Govt of Paying N1bn to Bandits
- Safiu Kehinde
Former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of empowering bandits.
El-Rufai made the allegation while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics yesterday.
He alleged that the government was empowering bandits by paying them a “monthly allowance,” sending “food to them in the name of non-kinetic, describing it as a kiss-the-bandits policy.
El-Rufai reiterated that the only solution to banditry is to eliminate the perpetrators as he held that negotiating with them shows sign of weakness.
“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits.
“It’s not the government of Kaduna State; it’s a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Kaduna is part of it. Kiss the bandits; that’s the new policy,
“My position has always been [that] the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s kill them all. Let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing, and then the five per cent that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated.
“You do not negotiate from the position of weakness. You don’t empower your enemy; you don’t give him money to go and buy sophisticated weapons.
“That is why the insecurity problem has not gone away and will not go away as long as this policy continues.” He said.
As against claim of the policy working in Kaduna state as evident in the reduction of insecurity in the state, El-Rufai said that three schools had been attacked within the two years of Governor Uba Sani’s administration as against his tenure where same figure was recorded in eight years.
El-Rufai alleged that the state government recently paid N1 billion to bandits after the first school attack.
“They can deceive, they can cover up, they can do propaganda, but those that live in Katsina, those that live in Zamfara, those that live in Kaduna, those that live in those states, they know what is happening.”
“Only three schools were attacked in eight years. This government has been around for two years, and three schools have been attacked. They paid the bandits N1 billion the first time the school was attacked and students abducted.
“Let the governor or anyone come and deny. When the time comes, we will reveal everything,” He added.