The insistent activities of killer-bandits in the North West have been a source of anguish for the innocent people living and travelling in the region. The perpetrators continue to unleash mayhem on helpless citizens. They mercilessly murder, rape, steal, kidnap, and destroy the properties and farmlands of their unsuspecting victims with impunity.
“Terrorism is a dead-end street,” Pope Francis famously warned. The bandits in Nigeria have reached the end of a cul-de-sac on which they have been travelling, with just a slim chance of surviving any counter-offensive devised against them; due to the fact that the dry season has arrived and the clearing of the bushes that serve as their hideouts has started.
There has never been a better time for the Nigerian military to strike and send these terrorists to their graves than now. The killer-bandits have been ridiculing the government’s determination to keep this vital promise of preserving Nigerian residents’ lives and property. Now is the moment for the military to retaliate and rid the country of these unscrupulous elements.
Local communities should be prevented from holding any peace talks with the assailants because they will go back to the trenches at their convenience, especially during the rainy season when the bushy areas of the forest are dense. Therefore, it’s time for a collective effort by our security agencies and the communities to ensure these killers meet their waterloo.
Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi, Azare, Bauchi State
