El-Rufai: simultaneous bombing of forest can end banditry

He urged traditional institutions to mobilise their networks to expose them and support the security forces with local intelligence.

The governor said: “My first official action as governor was to summon an emergency security meeting on May 30, 2015, to identify the security threats across the state and find answers to them.

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“One outcome of that meeting was the decision to collaborate with the governors of the other states in the Northwest and Niger State to fund a joint military operation to clear the Kamuku-Kuyambana forest swathes in the Birnin Gwari axis of cattle rustlers hibernating in the ranges that cover Niger, Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara States.

The governor said he was “convinced that comprehensive, simultaneous military and security operation in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Plateau and Niger states is vital to stopping the terrorists and reasserting the authority of the Nigerian state in the ungoverned spaces.”