Defence minister fears link between Zamfara bandits and Boko Haram

The Minister of Defence, Brigadier-General Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd) has expressed fears there may be links between bandits attacking communities in Zamfara State and the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.

The Minister also raised questions on how it had become possible for the criminals to have smooth running of their operations despite the security at the Nigerian borders.

Dan-Ali who was speaking to journalists during a fact-finding tour to Zamfara state, said talks were going on between Niger Republic and Cameroon to block movement of arms at the borders.

“I just came from Chad and we have been talking to them. We have been talking to the neighbouring Niger Republic and Cameron to ensure that our borders are being well taken care of in terms of arms movement which I believe will have a drastic effect on the challenges of armed banditry in Nigeria,” he said.

Read also: Boko Haram kill 2 soldiers in ambush

He added that military men were being killed because of lack of the knowledge of the terrain while the recruitment of civilian Joint Task Force members could have come earlier

“The military don’t know the terrain that was why they are being killed, they are not trained to be killed, they are human beings too. The soldiers are trained to bring peace.”

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