Nigeria brands bandit gangs ‘terrorists’ in bid to curb violence

Closely armed gangs have lengthy plagued Nigeria’s northwest and north-central states, raiding villages to loot and kidnap for ransom, however violence has turn into extra widespread.

• Bandit gangs had been labelled as terrorists within the official gazette.
• They’re identified for high-profile assaults of faculties and faculties to kidnap scores of pupils for ransom.
• Bandit violence has its roots in clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers over land and sources.

Nigeria’s authorities on Wednesday labelled prison bandit gangs blamed for mass kidnappings as terrorist teams in an try to discourage violence within the nation’s northwest.

Closely armed gangs have lengthy plagued Nigeria’s northwest and north-central states, raiding villages to loot and kidnap for ransom, however violence has turn into extra widespread.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s authorities, already battling a greater than decade-long jihadist battle within the northeast, had been beneath strain to do extra to halt assaults from the prison gangs.

Within the official gazette on Wednesday, the federal authorities labelled actions of Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda – references within the Hausa language to bandit gunmen – “as acts of terrorism and illegality”.

“I feel the one language they perceive – we’ve got mentioned it totally with the regulation enforcement companies; the safety chiefs, the Inspector Basic of Police – is to go after them,” Buhari advised Channels Tv, in accordance with its web site on Wednesday.

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“We labelled them terrorists… we’re going to cope with them as such.”

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The official gazette referred to prison gangs who perform mass kidnapping of college youngsters, abduction for ransom, cattle rustling and destruction of property amongst different crimes.

The definition will imply more durable sanctions beneath the terrorism prevention act for suspected bandit gunmen, their informants and supporters reminiscent of these caught supplying them with gasoline and meals.

Nigerian every day newspapers typically carry tales about bandit raids on villages and communities, the place they steal cattle, kidnap households and terrorise residents.

Safety forces have introduced a crackdown, together with air raids and a telecoms shutdown in elements of the nation’s northwest in an try and flush prison gangs from their forest hideouts.

On Tuesday, police introduced they’d rescued almost 100 kidnap victims in two raids on bandit camps in northwestern Zamfara state.

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Final yr, bandit gangs made worldwide headlines with a critical of high-profile assaults of faculties and faculties to kidnap scores of pupils for ransom. A few of these college students are nonetheless being held.

Nigeria’s bandit violence has its roots in clashes between nomadic cattle herders and sedentary farmers over land and sources. However tit-for-tat assaults have through the years spiralled into broader criminality.