There have been numerous efforts from the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Nigerian Military to win the war against terrorism for close to two decades now. Despite these efforts, terrorism has been persistent in the country, with the issue of banditry as a prevalent challenge. After many demands on the Federal Government, bandits were officially proscribed as terrorists recently, which called for extreme measures from the Nigerian Army to tackle their excesses and menace.
In 2021, the Nigerian Army recorded ample successes against the notorious Boko Haram group also against Bandits, in the Northern region of the country, part of the achievement of the army was that many of the terrorists surrendered to the Nigerian Army. You will recall that to further inflict more defeat on insurgents in the country, the Federal Government in 2021 acquired Super Tucano Fighter Jets, from the United States of America, to assist in the long-time fight.
There have been several controversies about the deployment of these fighter jets to combat Bandits, in the disturbed region. The Federal Government has approved the deployment of the jets to the region, to curb the increasing attacks of Bandits in some states of the region. Recently, there have been just too many attacks in some states, especially, Zamfara State, despite the victories of the Nigerian Army. Northern Governors has expressed excitement over the move of the Federal Government.
The Chairman of the Northern Governors’ forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, expressed their appreciation on behalf of the Northern Governors after a closed-door, meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. He said the Northern Region, has been happy with the prescription of bandits as terrorists. The governor disclosed that in the issue of security, they are starting to see progress on some of the issues, they raised when they had a meeting with the President last year