Terrorists’ surrender due to hunger, not conviction
By Samuel Ogunsona
The Governor of Kaduna Mallam El Rufai has said that many terrorists who surrender do so not out of conviction but due to starvaion imposed on them by after militaary blockade of their supply lines.
The governor who spoke in Abuja on Thursday said the Nigerian government has continued to block the terrorists from accessing food forcing many of them to surrender.
El Rufai said “So, despite the military operations and everything, this banditry has become a business. It’s an industry. The money these guys are making is so much that they will not stop. If we continue the piecemeal approach to this banditry, it will continue to grow. We need to pursue the financing and logistics chain of the banditry as well because the amount of money these bandits are making is enough to destabilise this country. It is a lot of money.
“What needs to be done is, at the same time, bomb the forests, camps and have ground troops as a blocking force consisting of the Army, the police, Air Force and Navy Special Forces and just wipe them out once and for all”.
He added, “But it has to be done across the five states and Niger State at the same time. What we’ve been doing over the years is, they go to Zamfara, we chase them out; they go to Sokoto, we chase them out; then they move to Kebbi, Katsina or Kaduna. And they move seamlessly because of the forest ranges. We know where the camps are, have the maps and know everything. We have their phone numbers. We listen to their conversations sometimes.”
