Why we’ve not deployed ‘massive force’ against bandits —Buhari

The failure of security forces to move against bandits terrorising parts of the country has been linked to the possibility of having heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement on Friday.

Shehu qouted the president as saying, “We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits.”

READ ALSO: We must stop herdsmen from roaming around –Garba Shehu

According to the statement, President Buhari also described the latest abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State as inhumane and totally unacceptable.

The president insisted that no group was too strong to be defeated by government.

Revealing that Buhari noted that his “primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed”, he said further: “A hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.

“Let them (bandits) not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now