By Muhammad Mamman
Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has taken aim at former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai over his explosive claim that the Federal Government and Kaduna State are “paying bandits,” insisting the ex-governor cannot distance himself from the insecurity crisis.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today and monitored by OBSERVERS TIMES on Tuesday, Baba-Ahmed argued that El-Rufai, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was complicit in the very system he now seeks to disown.
“El-Rufai cannot run away because he is part of it,” he said. “From 2013, he was one of the architects of the APC. Suddenly, he wants to absolve himself and blame others? No. We suffered under his misrule in Zaria, and we are victims of what he created.”
Baba-Ahmed accused the ruling APC of deliberately weaponising insecurity for political gain.
“Insecurity has been politicised and orchestrated by the APC,” he declared. “I think El-Rufai is right that the government has been paying them [bandits]. But insecurity has always been the APC’s game plan to cling to power. That is my firm opinion.”
He also faulted the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for dismissing El-Rufai’s claims without thorough investigation.
“If ONSA treats this lightly, then Nuhu Ribadu was never a policeman. El-Rufai should be making statements to the police and the courts. If the government’s policy truly is to pay bandits, then we don’t have a nation,” he warned.
El-Rufai’s Explosive Allegations
El-Rufai had triggered controversy on Sunday Politics when he alleged that both the Federal and Kaduna State governments were “empowering bandits” through monthly allowances and food supplies — a policy he derisively dubbed “kiss-the-bandits.”
“What I will not do is pay bandits or send them food in the name of non-kinetic measures,” he said, insisting that “the only repentant bandit is a dead one.”
Government Pushback
The Federal Government, however, swiftly rejected his claims. ONSA described them as “baseless” and contrary to verified facts.
“At no time has the ONSA, or any agency of government, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals,” spokesperson Zakari Mijinyawa said, adding that the government’s dual approach of military action and community engagement had yielded results, including the elimination of notorious bandit leaders and the capture of Ansaru operatives.
The Nigerian Armed Forces also distanced themselves from El-Rufai’s allegations. “The armed forces of Nigeria do not pay criminal groups,” said General Emeka Onumajuru, Chief of Defence Operations. Instead, he noted, the military runs a formal Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme under Operation Safe Corridor.
Similarly, the Kaduna State Government branded El-Rufai’s remarks as “malicious lies designed to incite unrest and legitimise criminality.”
Commissioner Suleiman Shuaibu accused the former governor of trying to destabilise the state after his allies’ defeat in the 16 August by-elections.
