All Progressives Congress League of Professionals (ALP) has decried the comments credited to former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, that the federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is empowering bandits.
El-Rufai had on Sunday alleged that the federal government was empowering bandits by paying them a monthly allowance and sending food to them in the name of a non-kinetic approach, describing it as a kiss-the-bandits policy.
In a press statement signed by the ALP national coordinator, Comrade Marlin Daniel, cautioned El-Rufai and all opposition elements to desist from dragging the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Senator Shehu Umar Buba, the chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, as well as all the gallant efforts of security personnel in the country.
He said, “The success in the fight against terror recorded under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nuhu Ribadu, including the arrest of the kingpins of the Mahmuda Sect, cannot be contested, and anybody trying to downplay such feats, including strong legislative backing from the Senate, is an enemy of the country.
”We boldly say that the ONSA does not coordinate a policy of payments and incentives to bandits. Neither ONSA nor any agency under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals.
”In fact, the federal government, through ONSA, has consistently discouraged Nigerians from paying ransom to criminals. It is also on record that from inception, the federal government has adopted a dual strategy: decisive kinetic operations and community engagements to address local grievances.
”The impact of these approaches in areas such as Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, and other parts of Kaduna that once suffered untold terror in Kaduna State under El-Rufai but are now experiencing relative peace should remind him that ONSA under Nuhu Ribadu, with full support from Mr. President, has done what he could not do.
”The efforts of our gallant military and security agencies in capturing or eliminating notorious bandits have been widely reported in the media. Recently, leaders of Ansaru, who previously established bases in Kaduna, were apprehended. It is therefore unfair and insulting to the memories of our security personnel for El-Rufai to deny the sacrifices made by the military,” he said.
