Reactions have continued to trail Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s suggestion that forests inhabited by bandits be carpet-bombed.

The Council of Imams and Ulamas in Kaduna State through its Secretary-General, Dr.Yakubu Yusuf Arigasiyu, believed that the issue of segmented attacks would not yield any positive result, stressing that there is a need for clear tactical plan to understand the strategic locations of these bandits and deal with them once and for all.

According to the Imams and Ulamas, the military know of this and nobody should tell them what to do, stressing that perhaps it is because of personal benefits some people are getting out of it they do not want to see to the end of this calamity.

They believe that three months is too much for the Nigerian military to make banditry history in Nigeria.

According to Dr.Yakubu Yusuf Arigasiyu, “I really appreciate and support the suggestions made by his Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State.”

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The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN) in Northern states and Abuja, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, while commenting, observed that what many groups including CAN have been calling on the governor to do since 2018 but he (Governor) has always viewed the suggestions as coming from those he has scores to settle with.
He explained that if El-Rufai had done what he is saying now over three years ago, Kaduna state would have been safe and the many lives and properties lost would have been averted.

According to Rev. Hayab, “The Governor’s call now may be coming from fear he is having that he will soon be out of office and be a free citizen like us not knowing what his fate would be with these evil people.”

The state chairman of CAN believed that Governor El-Rufai is championing that they (bandits) should be wiped out completely for self-protection and interest first, not a sign of concern for the suffering of the masses, adding that the governor knows that many will support this suggestion though it is coming late after the state had suffered many losses.

Rev. Hayab added that CAN Kaduna State is urging him (Governor El-Rufai) to go ahead and wipe the bandits and terrorists out of the forest but with less noise since they seem to know what he discusses even in his bedroom, stressing, “We believe the best way to get at these enemies of the people and the state is by action, not noise making.”

On his part, Anthony Sani, immediate past Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), agreed with the strategy of taking the fight to the bandits and smoke them out of their hideouts in the forests, pointing out that such tasks are not as easy as the governor sees it.

He explained, “This is because the bandits and gunmen are all over the forests across the nation while there are not enough trained and equipped security personnel who are well-motivated to secure the whole country. As a result, the spread of the security personnel to man all the communities across the nation are too thin for any serious engagements in asymmetric conflicts.This is not conventional conflicts requiring only the use of hard power of military war but that of guerrilla war where some of the enemies live among the people.”

In the same vein, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum ( AYCF) told Governor Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufai that carpet-bombing has never been a successful military operation in history.

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Alhaji Yerima Shettima, President of the AYCF, in a statement explained that what the governor was advocating as a means of exterminating the bandits occupying the ungoverned forests, could best be described as his personal opinion.

He explained that he sees Governor the El-Rufai suggestion as his personal opinion and not drawn from any example known to historians studying conflicts, insurgencies and banditry bombing campaign.

“So, it is easier said than done and I thought El-Rufai would seek the opinion of historians or run a random search in the archives to find where carpet-bombing has ever succeeded,” he exclaimed.