Tinubu Lacks Powers To Declare Bandits, Kidnappers As Terrorists

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no power to brand any group in the country as terrorists, according to a security expert, Kabiru Adamu.

Adamu spoke on Channels Television programme Politics Today on Monday, amid the ongoing onslaught against bandits and kidnappers by the security agencies after President Tinubu branded them as terrorists.  Experts say security agencies now have more reason heighten their crackdown on the criminals after the president’s remark.

Adamu, however, insisted that neither the president nor his  cabinet members have the power to brand a group as a terrorist organisation, saying only the court has the power to do so.

Adamu spoke in response to President Tinubu’s recent declaration, to the effect, that bandits, armed groups and kidnappers have now been branded as terrorists by the federal government, saying security agencies have been ordered to go after them because they are enemies of the country.

Tinubu made the remark last Friday when he presented the budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly, stating that his government will go after the criminals and their sponsors, saying a new legal framework is been designed for that purpose.

H said: “Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists.

“Bandits, militias, armed gangs, armed robbers, violent cults, forest-based armed groups, and foreign-linked mercenaries will all be targeted.

“We will go after all those who perpetrate violence for political or sectarian ends, along with those who finance and facilitate their evil schemes.

“We will usher in a new era of criminal justice. We will show no mercy to those who commit or support acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and other violent crimes.

Also on Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris also reinforced President Tinubu’s remark.

In his reaction, the popular security expert disclosed that, only the court, as provided in the Nigerian law have the power  to designate a group as terrorist.

Adamu: “The law that determines who a terrorist is in Nigeria is the Terrorism (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, as amended in 2022. It defines what constitutes terrorism and also provides procedures for determining who or what qualifies as a terrorist group, or who is supporting and financing terrorism.

“That law assigns the responsibility for such determinations to a competent court of jurisdiction and places the duty of petitioning for these determinations on the Attorney General of the Federation.

“So, even the president does not have the power to determine whether a group is a terrorist organization, nor does any member of the executive arm. That authority resides with the judiciary, through a competent court of jurisdiction.”

Following President Tinubu declaration of bandits and kidnappers and other armed groups in the country as terrorists, experts insist that security forces now have the authority to go after them full-throttle, unlike in the past when they were somehow legally restrained.