President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that the bandits are in the last phase of being crushed by security agencies. The President has, therefore, issued a strong warning to the criminals, to lay down their arms because “the clock of your ultimate destruction is ticking as you will no longer have a place to hide.”
The president’s warning, however, appears to be at variance with those appealing to the administration to grant amnesty to the bandits who kill indiscriminately, kidnap women and children for ransom. Sheik Ahmed Gumi, a medical doctor and prominent critic of the administration has been at the forefront of those appealing to the government to forgive the bandits for the crimes they committed.
it also comes on the backdrop of killing of over 30 persons in Sokoto state, by bandits, who went on rampage, on Monday, during a weekly market in Goronyo local government area of the state.
The incident happened barely 12 days after bandits killed dozens of people in a similar attack on Unguwar Lalle market in Sabon Birni local government area of the state. The two local governments have been under sporadic attack by bandits recently.
Narrating the account of the incident to Premium Times, a human rights activist in the state, Basharu Guyawa, said the bandits raided the market with a force of about 200 men.
“What we learnt is that over 150 to 200 of them (bandits) on motorcycles rode through the Gundumi forest to Goronyo town. They went straight into the market and started shooting sporadically. They were not selective in their shooting; they obviously came to kill,” Guyawa said.
The activist who said “the attack was horrendous”, added that nobody could ascertain the number of those killed in attack that locals said lasted for several hours.
But in what looked like the president’s direct warning to the bandits, the nation’s commander-in chief, in a statement by Garba Shehu, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said their days were numbered, as the security forces are closing in on them.
According to the statement, “the bandits are living in fool’s paradise of invincibility, but reality will soon dawn on them harder than ever before. The bandits are currently under desperate pressures because of the intense and sustained air and ground operations against them in their hideouts by our security forces.
“The cowardly attacks on innocent people by the bandits show a rearguard action of criminals under pressure.”
Meanwhile, a panel of United States policymakers has disclosed that bandits are working in collaboration with dreaded Islamic group, Boko Haram to destroy the country, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, WSJ.
“The bandits are a distant priority for U.S. policy makers focused on Nigeria’s jihadist threat, though American officials say they have intercepted calls from suspected Islamist militants in the northeast who are advising bandits in the northwest on kidnapping operations and negotiations,” the Journal said
Unlike Boko Haram, the administration has refused to designate Bandits as terrorists despite pressure from Nigerians.
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