The Conference of Speakers in Nigeria has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits terrorising Nigerians in different regions of the country as terrorists, saying bandits are enemies of the Nigerian state.
The Chairman of the conference and Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, made the pronouncement at the end of the third quarter general meeting of the Conference of Speakers in Katsina on Saturday.
It would be recalled that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had made similar call on the President last week.
It would also be recalled that Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, President Buhari’s home state had also sometimes last month called on the President to declare bandits in Nigeria as terrorists and enemies of the nation.
In what looks like joining voices with others who had called on Buhari to declare bandits terrorists, Sulaiman said the call was one of the resolutions on their 5-point communique reached at the end of the Speakers Conference deliberations.
According to the speakers’ chairman, they have come to realise that the mode of operations employed by the bandits is not in anyway different from that of terrorists and as such should be treated as one.
Other resolutions reached in the course of the deliberations included working out a legislative framework to complement federal government efforts in the fight against insecurity in the country.
Also, the conference resolved to come up with appropriate laws that will address the fundamental issues responsible for the insecurity experienced in the country.
The communique also harped on the need to create employment opportunities for the teeming youths as a means to curb the insecurity situation bedeviling the country.