The National Assembly Thursday said it would next week transmit its resolution, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits as terrorists, to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
The Senate had, on September 29, passed a resolution, urging Buhari to declare bandits as terrorists and wage a total war against them.
It also asked the President to give orders to the military to eliminate them by bombing their hideouts.
The resolutions followed a motion by Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC, Sokoto), who lamented that Sokoto East Senatorial District has now become a safe haven for bandits, following a crackdown on them by the military in Zamfara.
The following day, the House of Representatives passed the same resolution, following a motion by Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos).
Benson, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Defence, said declaring bandits as terrorists would facilitate their prosecution under the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011 (As Amended).
“Such an order will officially bring the activities of bandits and their sponsors within the purview of the Terrorism Prevention Act. And any person associated with such groups can then be prosecuted and sentenced to penalties in the Act,” he said.
Speaking while responding to Daily Trust inquiry, National Assembly’s Director of Information, Rawlings Agada, said: “The transmission of the resolution is almost at the final stage of the Clerk to the National Assembly’s approval to go to the SGF’s office.
“Hopefully between tomorrow (Friday) and Monday next week, it should be in the SGF’s office.”
First published in Daily Trust