THE Nigerian Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits who are causing mayhem in the North-West as terrorists.
The lawmakers also called on the president to declare all known leadership of bandits wanted and prosecute them.
This was followed by the Senate’s adoption of a motion sponsored by a lawmaker representing Sokoto East Senatorial District Ibrahim Gobir and eight others on the floor of the red chamber on Wednesday.
Gobir drew the attention of his colleagues to a recent attack by the terrorist elements on a military base in Sokoto that left at least nine soldiers, three mobile policemen and three personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) dead.
He lamented that losing such a high number of security operatives would deplete the number of personnel the country needed to tackle insecurity.
Gobir also said that most of the bandits had now relocated to Sabo Birni and Isa local government areas of Sokoto due to sustained military operations in Zamfara.
“The present military onslaught on the bandits is not well coordinated because it is only being orchestrated in Zamfara instead of all front lines ravaged by banditry. The operation should be holistic,” he said.
Apart from the killings and kidnappings of innocent villagers and school children for ransom, the bandits have also launched daring and deadly attacks on security outposts in recent times.
The ICIR had reported in July how a bomber jet of the Nigerian Airforce was shot down to the consternation of security agencies and Nigerians.
In August, the terrorists carried out an attack on the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) killing two military officers dead. The one kidnapped during the attack only regained his freedom after 24-days in the den of the insurgents.
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