Hunt down bandits, other criminals, Buhari charges security agents

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday charged the security agents to hunt down criminal bandits and kidnappers wherever they are, saying the current security situation in the country was unpredictable.

The president also ordered the security agents to be on the alert to the threats posed by the hoodlums.

Buhari, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the call while reacting to recent security development in some parts of the country especially the heightened acts of banditry and kidnapping.

He said: “In view of the unpredictability of the security situation, our security forces and the communities affected should be ever more alert because these murderous and remorseless criminals would take advantage of your complacency and strike again.

“The bandits should under no circumstances be allowed to hold the country to ransom on account of security loopholes which they seek to exploit to strike at their victims. The criminals always look for loopholes in our security system in order to remain in business and active, but we shouldn’t give them space to achieve this diabolical objective by pre-empting them.

“Complacency is a hidden or unnoticed enemy that we shouldn’t take for granted, because doing so could weaken our strategies.”

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He called on security agencies and communities under threats of bandits’ attacks and kidnappings to be more vigilant and alert in the light of the latest incidents in Enugu, Zamfara, Adamawa, Katsina and Kaduna States.

The president, however, noted that the affected communities also have a responsibility to help the security agencies with the critically important human intelligence in order to stop the bandits in their tracks.

He said “the bandits maintain networks of informants among the communities they attack,” adding that “by identifying and reporting these informants to the authorities, it would be by far easier to foil the bandits before they reach their intended targets.”

President Buhari commended the security agencies for their dedication and sacrifices and directed them to “redouble their efforts in order to make life uncomfortable for the bandits.”

“You should spare no effort in breaking the backbone of these savage mass killers and don’t hesitate to attack them with merciless intensity until they are crushed and ultimately defeated,” he concluded.

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