President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the latest killing of 15 people in Goronyo and Illela local government areas of Sokoto State, saying bandits would ultimately meet their waterloo.
The president had, on many occasions, vowed that his administration would crush bandits and insurgents.
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Buhari, in a statement on Tuesday by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, reassured Nigerians that his administration would not abandon them to their fate in the face of the existential challenge caused by banditry.
He said persistent and unprovoked violence against unarmed civilians must be met with fierce response by the government.
He said: “This needless and mindless violence against innocent people cannot go unpunished.
We’re taking delivery of military equipment to improve the capacity of our security forces to effectively deal with this issue.
“Our military is also deploying advanced technology to enhance surveillance and related operations to locate and crush these criminals and enemies of our common humanity.
“This administration will not tolerate this state of affairs where criminals deprive the people of their means of livelihoods and turn them into beggars and refugees.
“The bandits are living in a fool’s paradise if they believe that they can’t be crushed. The criminals cannot be lucky always; they will ultimately meet their waterloo. Evil cannot triumph over good no matter how long it takes”.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, has said in line with the core mandate of the Air Force and the military generally, the territorial integrity of Nigeria is being protected against the insurgents and bandits “who, in no distant time, will be completely wiped out.”
Amao stated this in Abuja on Tuesday during 2022 budget defense session, before the Senate Committee on Air Force.
He said the terrorists had been devastatingly decimated and degraded with attendant loss of fighters and weapons, making many of them to surrender voluntarily.
“Required onslaughts tactically and strategically are already mapped out to rout out the remnants of the insurgents attacking villages and military outposts in pretence of still being potent.”
Before the session went into closed doors, the chairman of the committee, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, had urged the military to use all the resources within its disposal to flush out the remnants of the insurgents and make the forests inhabitable for bandits, kidnappers and all forms of criminals.
“The Air Force and by extension the military generally deserved commendation from Nigerians as far as war against insurgency and banditry is concerned but Nigerians want these enemies of the nation to be completely defeated as soon as possible,” he said.
