'The only repentant bandit is the one that is dead' - El-Rufai

Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has once again taken a public stance against negotiating with the bandits that have turned his state into a killing field.

A Federal High Court last month ordered the government to declare bandits as terrorists after many years of armed gangs preying on many rural communities in the northern region.

Governors in the region have in the past granted amnesty to some of the biggest bandits who have expressed willingness to surrender arms, but many of the deals were short-lived, ineffective, and controversial.

El-Rufai has repeatedly campaigned for the bandits to be handled solely through military intervention, and pressed his position again after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, December 21, 2021.

"There is nothing like repentant terrorists. The only repentant bandit is the one that is dead. 

"Our intention in the state is to kill them. Let them go and see God," he said.

The governor also praised the court's order to declare bandits as terrorists, but it's not been gazetted by the Federal Government almost a month later.

Kaduna is one of the worst affected by banditry and violent attacks in the northern region, with 1,825 people killed and 4,525 kidnapped between January 2020 and September 2021, according to the government's own records.

At least 38 people were massacred days ago in a string of attacks on Kauran Fawa, Marke, and Riheya villages in Idasu, Giwa local government area.

The terrorists also burnt houses, trucks, and cars, as well as agricultural produce at various farms.