The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai on Thursday said Nigeria must decisively deal with banditry and terrorism besetting the northwest through simultaneous ground and air attacks in all the states where the criminals have a presence.
He, however, stated that the fear of being dragged before the International Court of Justice (ICC) has prevented the military from engaging the bandits and permanently wiping them out.
Speaking during the weekly ministerial briefing at the State House, Governor El-Rufai revealed that the locations of the terrorists are known, and their communications regularly intercepted and as such can be wiped out inspite of the civilians instead of adopting a piecemeal approach to solving the security challenge.
According to him, banditry has become a multi-million naira business in the North West, which far outweighs the challenge of Boko Haram in the North East.
He regretted the lack of capacity of Nigeria’s security agencies in the areas of adequate personnel and equipment, and underlined the need to recruit more hands and procure sufficient hardware.
2023 aspirations
On politics, Governor El-Rufai disclosed that he has zero ambitions or aspirations, not even for the office of the Vice President. He said he was compelled by the President to be Governor of Kaduna State.
He further clarified that the zoning formula presented to the President involving a swap in positions (which the Governors agreed to), has nothing to do with the presidency yet.
He noted that they have simply sent a signal about the direction of zoning but the conversation on zoning of Presidency would only begin in earnest after the convention and primaries are held.
For now, he said discussions are that the Presidency is zoned to no particular place in the South.
According to him he will support any APC candidate from whichever region, as long as he has the right convictions. He however noted that he will ultimately follow the President’s choice of candidate.
The Governor also promised to sack more under-qualified secondary school teachers in the state as over 7,000 teachers have been employed to replace them before the year runs out.
According to him, a total of 40,000 civil servants have been hired in the last five years.
