Nigerian govt empowering bandits, says El-Rufai

A heated exchange has broken out between former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) over how the federal government is handling insecurity in northern Nigeria.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, El-Rufai criticized the Tinubu administration’s strategy, accusing it of “empowering bandits” rather than eliminating them. According to him, the government is allegedly pursuing what he described as a “kiss-the-bandits” policy — one that pays criminal gangs allowances and even provides them with food under the cover of non-kinetic engagement.

“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits. It’s not the government of Kaduna State; it’s a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser,” the outspoken former minister of the FCT said.

El-Rufai, who governed Kaduna State for eight years, insisted that negotiations embolden terrorists and argued for a more ruthless military response.

“My position has always been [that] the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s kill them all.

“Let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing, and then the five per cent that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated,” he declared.

The former governor further alleged that the security crisis persists because government policies arm criminals instead of weakening them.

He challenged officials to deny his claims, promising to “reveal everything” when the time comes.

But the Office of the National Security Adviser swiftly rejected El-Rufai’s allegations, describing them as false, baseless, and insulting to the sacrifices of Nigeria’s armed forces.

In a statement signed by Zakari Mijinyawa, ONSA said neither the NSA’s office nor any arm of the Tinubu administration had ever paid ransom or granted inducements to bandits. Instead, it pointed to decisive military operations that have killed or captured notorious bandit leaders and dismantled their networks.

“This claim is baseless. At no time has the ONSA, or any arm of government under this administration, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals,” the statement read.

ONSA noted that operations in Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, and other parts of Kaduna State had restored relative peace compared to the height of insecurity in previous years. It listed bandit kingpins such as Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow Janburos, Buhari, and Boka as among those eliminated, while Ansaru terrorist leaders who once set up camps in Kaduna had been arrested.

The office accused El-Rufai of disrespecting fallen soldiers by dismissing their sacrifices.

“For a former governor to deny these sacrifices on national television is both unfair and deeply insulting to the memories of our security personnel. The fight against banditry is a collective struggle, not a platform for political point-scoring,” ONSA said.

Backing ONSA’s position, the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has previously presented statistics showing a drastic reduction in killings, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks compared to the last administration.

In July 2025, while addressing northern leaders at a Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation session in Kaduna, Ribadu disclosed that under the Buhari administration, Kaduna State alone recorded 1,192 killings and over 3,348 kidnappings, while Benue State lost over 5,000 lives in the same period.

He contrasted that with what he described as “remarkable progress” in the past two years of the Tinubu presidency, attributing the gains to a unified security strategy and the president’s directive for inter-agency coordination.

According to Ribadu, security operations in the North-West have led to the release of 11,259 hostages between 2023 and 2025. He also confirmed that several bandit leaders and their gangs had been killed in Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina States.

Ribadu had also appealed to citizens in April to stop paying ransoms to kidnappers, warning that such payments fuel criminal enterprises.

While El-Rufai insists that negotiation and inducements embolden terrorists, the federal government maintains that its mix of “kinetic and non-kinetic” strategies is gradually yielding results, even though challenges remain.