Former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has made explosive claims, alleging that the Federal Government is operating a secret policy of paying bandits and providing them with supplies under a “non-kinetic” approach to insecurity.
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics,’ El-Rufai asserted that the arrangement is being coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), and he and others have evidence to back up the claims.
“The Nigerian government has a policy of paying bandits facilitated by the Office of the National Security Adviser. They give cash to bandits and send food to them too. We have the evidence,” El-Rufai said. He rejected what he called this “dubious approach,” vowing he would never support or engage in negotiations with terrorists. “What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It is nonsense. We are empowering bandits,” he declared.
The former governor stated that the policy was a national one driven from Abuja, not initiated at the state level. “It is not the government of Kaduna State, it is a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Kaduna is part of it. Many states are objecting, but that is the policy now—kiss the bandits. That is the new policy,” he alleged.
El-Rufai, a long-time advocate for a military-first approach, reiterated his hardline stance. “My position has always been that, the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let us kill them all, let’s wipe them, let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing,” he said, adding that negotiating from a position of weakness only empowers enemies to buy more sophisticated weapons.
He warned that as long as this alleged policy of appeasement continues, insecurity in northern Nigeria would persist. “That is why the insecurity problem has not gone away and will not go away as long as this policy continues,” he argued.
On the rising attacks in Kaduna, he accused the current state administration of failing to contain banditry and alleged that huge ransoms have been paid in secret. “This governor has been around for two years and more schools have been attacked. And they pay the bandits. They paid them a billion naira the first time a school was attacked and students were abducted,” El-Rufai stated, challenging anyone to deny his claims and promising to reveal evidence when the time is right.
