Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General to the Federation (AGF), has explained the reason why the Nigerian federal government is yet to designate the raging armed bandits as terrorists despite a court order proscribing them. ayokinews.com reports
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, AGF Malami stated that the President Muhammadu Buhari led Nigerian government is only being careful in a way of following international practice.
“Government has a responsibility to act but within the context of acting, you’re equally expected to operate within the confines of international best practices associated with engagement, and one of such best practices is that you can only use maximum force on groups, individuals that are declared terrorists and that is where the application of the Terrorism Act comes in place,” he said.
“Whatever military hardware you acquire, there are limits within the context of the international convention as to how it can be used, when it can be used, and against who it can be used. And that is how the idea of looking at the activities of the bandits, cattle rustlers, kidnappers come into being.
“Our assessment took into consideration that they are causing a major threat to the territorial peaceful co-existence and causing a major threat to lives with weapons, the idea then came about that indeed they (bandits) have satisfied the criteria of being declared terrorists within the context of the law so that whatever military hardware at the disposal of the federal government can best be used against them within the context of the international convention and within the context of the law.”
AGF Malami further stated that the court order will be gazetted in a matter of days, as stipulated in its processing.
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