Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the Federal Government of providing support to bandits responsible for widespread insecurity in the country.


Speaking in an interview with Channels TV on Sunday, August 31, El-Rufai alleged that the government was effectively “empowering bandits” by paying them monthly allowances and supplying food under what he described as a misguided non-kinetic strategy.


“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits.


It’s not the government of Kaduna State; it’s a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Kaduna is part of it. Kiss the bandits; that’s the new policy,” he said.


The former governor strongly criticized what he termed a policy of rehabilitating criminals instead of holding them accountable, arguing that such measures only fuel ongoing violence.


“My position has always been that the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing, and then the few who still want rehabilitation can be rehabilitated.


You do not negotiate from a position of weakness. You don’t empower your enemy; you don’t give him money to go and buy sophisticated weapons. That is why the insecurity problem has not gone away — and will not go away — as long as this policy continues,” he added.


El-Rufai insisted that residents in states such as Katsina, Zamfara, and Kaduna know the reality of the situation, warning that attempts to cover up the truth would eventually be exposed.