Bandits terrorising us are terrorists, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) backs FG By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

*…as Prof Usman, Olawepo-Hashim, Gen Haruna give panacea to banditry *Declaring them terrorists is not for judiciary, says Brig-Gen ID Bello The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has said that the declaration of bandits as terrorists was long overdue because those who terrorise a whole country had no other name. “It is long overdue. The court has done well. “What else do you call people who have terrorised a whole country for such a long time?” Emmanuel Yawe, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, asked Vanguard on Friday night. In a related development, General IBM Haruna(rtd), observed that the reason why the wrong prescriptions are made in Nigeria “is because the leadership had been blamed.” According to him, “first, they probably are short-sighted. In order to fortify their positions which, perhaps, they did not merit.” However, in his reaction to the declaration of bandits as terrorists, Brigadier General Idris Bello(rtd) wondered how a court assumed the role and responsibility of the Federal Government. He said: “It’s definitely of no consequence because it’s the purview of only the Executive and the Legislative arms of government and not that of the Judiciary.” Kaduna-Abuja Road of hell Also, former Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Prof. Usman Yusuf, said the Kaduna-Abuja Road had become a highway to hell. He said in an interview that “they have not been able to secure this highway in the last six years. “A nation that has a standing military and a standing police force cannot secure a highway of 166 kilometres. “We should do better. We are not doing as we need to do. These hundreds of female soldiers that were brought with all the funfare, where are they? “We must do better. There are three main villages along that place that are troublesome—Jere, Katari and Rijana. “You mean we cannot dominate these places? Do we not see our security forces dominate Anambra State for their election? “So protecting the ballot box is more important than protecting people? “So government needs to do more. It’s not doing as it needs to do. “Banditry is a social problem. There is a role for the military, there is no military solution to this,” he said. ‘We need special forces’ On his part, former Presidential candidate and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, said Nigeria should’ve developed the capacity of her special forces to be able to rescue people who are abducted with minimum casualty and apprehend the perpetrators. He said: “So this is to complement this bombardment that you’re seeing and all that. “Those are kinetic action. But you also need some police action where those people who do this kind of things can be identified in communities and punished adequately. “Once kidnappers see that when they kidnap you don’t have to pay ransom because people get released, there would be no incentives for their kidnapping. “This would reduce, progressively. So it’s very important for us to have our special forces trained. “This is something I believe should be on the front burner for government.” Vanguard News Nigeria