Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State, has sharply criticized the Federal Government for what he calls a “soft landing” approach towards bandits terrorizing various parts of Nigeria.
He accused the government of empowering these criminals by providing them with monthly allowances and food supplies under the guise of “non-kinetic” strategies a practice he dubbed the “kiss-the-bandits” policy.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, El-Rufai condemned the policy, emphasizing that it is a national directive driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), affecting Kaduna and other states. “What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits,” he said.
Adding fuel to the controversy, it has emerged that over the two years this government has been in office in Kaduna State, three schools have been attacked. After the first incident, the government reportedly paid the bandits N1 billion as ransom. Despite these payments, attacks continued, and critics argue that this only encourages further banditry. “They are paying bandits and they are apologizing,” the former governor lamented.
El-Rufai criticized the government’s focus on rehabilitating bandits instead of holding them accountable for their crimes, which he believes is the root cause of Nigeria’s ongoing insecurity crisis. He stated firmly, “The only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s kill them all. Let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing, and then the five percent that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated.”
He further warned against negotiating from a position of weakness, highlighting that funding bandits only enables them to acquire more sophisticated weapons. “That is why the insecurity problem has not gone away and will not go away as long as this policy continues,” El-Rufai asserted.
Despite the rising insecurity in northern Nigeria, including recent attacks in Katsina, Benue, and Plateau states, the Federal Government has yet to respond directly to El-Rufai’s accusations. However, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, recently stated that attacks from Boko Haram, banditry, and communal conflicts in the North have drastically decreased during President Bola Tinubu’s administration compared to the previous government.
Ribadu cited statistics showing that during the former administration, Kaduna State alone witnessed 1,192 deaths and over 3,348 kidnappings, while Benue State recorded over 5,000 deaths. He attributed the recent improvements to President Tinubu’s directive for a unified security approach and credited ongoing operations in the Northwest with rescuing 11,259 hostages as of May 2025.
Additionally, Ribadu confirmed that security forces had neutralized several bandit leaders and their gangs in Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina states. He also urged Nigerians to stop paying ransom to kidnappers and bandits to help curb the menace.
The debate over Nigeria’s security strategy continues, with El-Rufai’s comments and the Kaduna ransom payments igniting fresh controversy over how best to tackle the country’s persistent banditry and insurgency challenges.
