Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said any bandit operating in the north-west state will most likely end up dead.
Speaking on Sunday during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, he said bandits do not deserve to live.
According to the Governor, bandits are targeting Kaduna State because he had vowed not to negotiate with them.
El-Rufai said: “I think that the bandits and their leaders decided to collectively target Kaduna state because of the position we have taken that we will not negotiate with them, that we will not give them a penny of taxpayers’ money.
“The first thing to do is wipe these bandits out.
“Whoever comes to Kaduna for the purpose of banditry or kidnapping is most likely going to end up dead.”
The former FCT Minister stated that the solution to this banditry problem is to intensify military operations from the air or the ground and wipe all of them out.
“Nigerian Army and security agencies, as an immediate step, need to acquire advanced weaponry to combat insecurity.
“ We don’t think bandit deserves to live,” El-Rufai added.
Meanwhile, El-Rufai has denied appointing any individual or group to negotiate with bandits on its behalf.
The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, warned that the government would prosecute anyone negotiating with bandits on its behalf.
The Kaduna government also urged residents to reports any individual or group negotiating with bandits.
Naija News recalls that bandits had in March stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state and abducted 39 students comprising 23 females and 16 males.
The gunmen, a few days later, kidnapped teachers from UBE Primary School in Rama, a village in Birnin Gwari LGA of the state.