Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has ruled out amnesty and negotiations with bandits who have killed many and destroyed property in the state.
The governor confirmed the killing of over 50 people by bandits in Kerewa, Rago, Marina, Zariyawa, Hashimawa, Gidan Musa Saidu and Unguwar Barau villages in the Igabi and Giwa local government areas of the state on Sunday.
A former lawmaker, Shehu Sani, who is unhappy with the killings, attacked northern governors for “playing the ostrich, afraid of confronting the Federal Government and taking independent action to protect their people”.
But El-Rufai, who visited Kerewa, Rago, Marina, Zariyawa, Hashimawa and Gidan Musa Saidu to assess the damage done to the communities by bandits on Monday, vowed that the government would deal with the gangsters.
He said, “We have asked the security agencies to just wipe them out and we will not rest until the bandits are completely wiped out.
“It is our duty to wipe them out. The security agencies are taking the war to the forest and we are eliminating them.”
The governor said the bandits could have done more damage to the communities if the military had not intervened.
He said, “The security agencies are doing the best they can, but they find it difficult to get to remote areas in good time due to poor access roads while the natives also find it difficult to get to them due to poor GSM network.
“But I’m g rateful to the air force, army, police, and the Department of State Services for always being prompt; it would have been worse if not for their prompt intervention. They would have wiped out the villages, but people are still there.”
He assured families who lost beloved ones that those who carried out the attacks would be apprehended and punished.
Some of the villagers told the governor that the bandits invaded their villages in large numbers in the early hours of Sunday.
Sani, who, on Monday, condemned the killings, lamented that the North had turned into a region of “endless funerals”.
The ex-lawmaker representing Kaduna Central in the Senate lamented that killing and kidnapping and other security agencies had become daily occurrences in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Niger states.
Sani said, “The mass killing of innocent people in Kerawa village and the surrounding villages in Kaduna State by suspected bandits stands unreservedly condemned.
“Northern governors are still playing the ostrich, afraid of confronting the Federal Government and taking independent action to protect their people while the killings and the kidnappings go on.
“The North has become a region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement.
“Bandits in the North have become a state; they impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without much challenge.”
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