Nigeria-Thursday 8 April,2021: Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Thursday, asked the nation’s security forces to take the war to the terrorists so as to recover the un-governed forests that had been taken over by them.

The governor noted that a situation whereby security operatives merely react to cases of banditry, was unacceptable.

El-Rufai maintained that bandits had lost their rights to life and as such must wiped out, adding that taking the war to the bandits was the only way out of the security challenges across the country.

“We are in a war with these terrorists who are challenging the sovereignty and monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory,” he said.

The governor stated these at the Federal Government Town Hall Meeting on National Security which took place at the Kaduna State University, in the state capital on Thursday.

He argued that taking the battle to the terrorists “will not only cripple the outlaws, but will also reassure ordinary citizens, bolster the morale of the security agencies and provide an alternative focus for the energies that are being dissipated on fractious endeavours.

 “These bandits have lost their rights to life under our Constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. There is no other way to approach the current insurgency situation today as far as governmental action is concerned,” he added.

El Rufai lamented that the national level security response to challenges of terrorists has been uncoordinated and ineffective.

He said, “none of the military services nor other security agencies has been suitably expanded in numbers and equipment for over a decade since the insurgency in the North-East pushed things to a new low.

“This country does not have enough soldiers, uniformed police and secret police to project state power across its vast swathes, particularly the forests.

“The limited number of boots on the ground are not well equipped and are significantly lacking in the technology that can make their limited numbers matter a lot less.”