Former Senator representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has said that terrorists and bandits operating in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria and killing people are not foreigners, but northerners and Muslims.
Reports that Sani stated this during a public discussion on insecurity, stating that northerners must be honest about the situation and lead the solution.
According to Sani, bandits in the North-West are not from Senegal, Mali, Morocco, Guinea or Guinea-Bissau, but are Fulani from the North-West of Nigeria.
The former lawmaker called on leaders in Northern Nigeria to take direct responsibility for tackling the region’s security crisis and stop externalising the problem.
He said, “The terrorists killing people in the North East are not from Congo, Malawi, Libya or Egypt; they are northerners, and they are Muslims. We must be honest about this.
“The bandits in the North-West are not from Senegal, Mali, Morocco, Guinea or Guinea-Bissau, they are Fulani from the North-West of Nigeria.
“It is for us to solve this problem, not anybody else, they are not speaking Chinese or Spanish. They speak Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri. These are our languages.”
Speaking on the number of bandits and terrorists involved, the chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna said the active fighters are not as large as many assume.
He added, “The total number of bandits and terrorists is not more than 5,000.”
