TheCable

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says security operatives should “carpet bomb the forests” to wipe out bandits.

The governor spoke in a chat with Arise TV on Monday.

El-Rufai attributed the prolonged inability of security operatives to curb banditry in the northwest region to a “lack of enough boots on the ground”.

He added that more investment in security personnel, technology and military equipment will see bandits wiped out “once and for all”.

“These bandits operate in the periphery because their hiding place is in the forest. It’s a major problem. The security agencies are doing their best but they are overstretched,” he 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.

“Ramp up the number of boots and more technology and more investment in armament and wipe these guys once and for all.

“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.”