El-Rufai calls for carpet-bombing of forests in north to end banditry

Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has suggested that forests in northern Nigeria should be carpet-bombed to end banditry in the region.

Carpet-bombing will damage wildlife and forests in targeted areas. But the governor said the possible damages can be rectified.

El-Rufai speaking in an interview with Arise TV said: “I’ve always believed that you know, we should carpet-bomb the forests; we can replant the trees after. Let’s carpet-bomb the forests and bomb all of them.

“There will be collateral damage, but it’s better to wipe them out and get people back to our communities so that agriculture and rural economics can pick up.”

The Kaduna State governor, whose state and many others in the north have suffered banditry attacks – kidnapping, killing and displacement of residents – said more investment in security personnel, technology and military equipment will see bandits wiped out “once and for all”.

El-Rufai is of the view that prolonged inability of security operatives to curb banditry in the northwest region is due to a lack of unencouraging factors.

He said the military and other security agencies “are doing their best but they are overstretched” and advised a more strategic approach to the fight against them.

“These bandits operate in the periphery because their hiding place is in the forest. It’s a major problem,” El-Rufai said.

“The reality is we don’t have enough boots on the ground to address the myriad of security challenges that we face, and these security challenges are asymmetric, widespread, and there’s no part of Nigeria that doesn’t have one security problem or the other.”

El-Rufai’s suggestion comes days after Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said the government was deploying new measures to tackle insecurity across the country.

Mohammed said about 427 bandits have been neutralised under Operation Hadarin Daji, the conduct of offensive clearance operations, raids, and air operations in the North West Zone.

The minister added that 257 bandits were arrested, 897 civilians were rescued and 3,087 livestock were also rescued in the zone.