Northern Elders Give Condition For Proscription of Bandits

Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has given condition for supporting the calls by some Nigerians on the federal government to label bandits as terrorists.

NEF said if labelling bandits as terrorists will substantially improve the capacity of the Nigerian state to eliminate the expanding scourge of insecurity, the authorities should go ahead.

This is even as the forum decried worsening security situation in the country, in spite claims by President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to the contrary.

The group said Boko Haram insurgency continues to be a major threat in the North East, while kidnapping and large-scale banditry in many other parts of the north are taking over lives of large portions of the population while the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) threatens to eradicate the influence of legitimate authorities in the South East.

In a statement in Abuja by the director, publicity and advocacy of NEF, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, yesterday, he said the measures put in place to contain its spread should be diligently monitored and evaluated, and those that merely worsen the condition of living of law-abiding population should be removed.

NEF said the governments should be sensitive to the possibility of severe food shortage in the next few months in many northern communities, in addition to escalating cost of living which will combine to confront the poor with intolerable conditions of living.

The forum regretted that arguments over labelling bandits as terrorists waste attention and energy.