Declare Bandits As Terrorists – House Of Rep Charges Buhari Again

President Muhammadu Buhari has been charged again by the House of Representatives Committee on Army to declare bandits terrorists to aid the Nigerian Army to fully clamp down on them.

The call was made on Friday by the Chairman of the committee, Abdulrazak Namdas, when the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Farouk Yahaya, appeared before the committee to defend the 2022 proposed budget.

This is the second time the committee will be reaching out to the president to declare bandit terrorizing the northern region of Nigeria as a terrorist group.

Recall that the House of Representatives on September 30, 2021, asked President Buhari to declare bandits and their sponsors as terrorists.

Namdas while speaking on Friday said, “My committee members have said I should repeat what I said yesterday before TRADOC yesterday, that they are a training institution and we charge them to train more on terrorism and banditry because these are actually challenging issues.

“That was the main reason why we in the National Assembly – both the House and the Senate – have passed a resolution urging the President to also designate bandits as terrorists so that it can enable the Army to tackle the challenge headlong. We know at the moment that there are technical challenges with using our equipment because of certain conditions.

“At least, we urge the President to please help sign this because right now, the activities of bandits are getting even more sophisticated – more than even what is happening in the North-East.”

The Chairman of the committee further stated that the morale of officers and men of the Nigerian Army is low in terms of accommodation, noting that they could only be the best if they were psychologically stable.

“It is our hope that the Armed Forces Fund Bill currently awaiting concurrence at the Senate when passed and assented to by the President, will help tackle some of these major challenges.”

Namdas while addressing newsmen after the meeting, condemned the amount allocated to the Nigerian Army in the 2022 Appropriation Bill for capital expenditure as inadequate.

He said, “In 2021, the capital (expenditure) was N29bn; today, in 2022, it is N28bn. So, instead of moving up, it is going down. Actually, the money is very small. There is a need for us to sit down and see how we can help the Army move forward.

“Agreed, we have done enough in the supplementary budget, but the capital component of it for the whole of 2022 is N28bn. We can’t do much with the money.”

Namdas added, “Another challenge we are faced with is that, even if you have 100 per cent of the money on the ground, you have to place an order. Army equipment is not something you buy over the shelf.”

“Even when you placed (an order for) Tucanos, it took you how many years to get here? Even if your budget this year and you go and inspect certain things, you will not see them immediately because they come based on the timing that is allowed.”