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Buhari blames ‘rules of engagement’ for inability to flush out bandits
BY KAZIE UKO
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed government’s inability to rest the menace of armed bandits in the country to the rules of engagement in dealing with cases of hostage taking by criminal elements.
Buhari who was reacting to the latest abduction of over 500 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State, said government has the capacity to deal with the bandits but for the fear that they would turn their hostages to human shield.
The President described as inhumane and totally unacceptable the incessant abductions of students while sending out strong warning to the bandits and their sponsors.
Reacting to the incident on Friday, President Buhari said: “This administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.
“No criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government. The only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.
“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.
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“Our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”
Buhari, whose reaction was captured in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that “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.”
He warned: “Let them (the 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.”
The President appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”
He also advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.