Magashi said due process has not been followed in declaring bandits as terrorists, Nigerians express shock
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Defence Minister, retired Major General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), has claimed that bandits have not been declared terrorists because due process has not been followed.
Magashi, who stated this on Friday, in Maiduguri, while fielding questions from newsmen, did not explain what the procedure for declaring them terrorists.
Magashi said: “We are not declaring them terrorists because there is a procedure for doing that.
“When the procedure is followed, they will be classified as terrorists. We are waiting for the procedure to be completed,” Magashi said.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been reluctant in declaring the bandits terrorists despite calls by Nigerians, including the National Assembly and governors of Katsina and Kaduna State, that he should declare them so.
Magashi is the first person in the administration to explain the reluctance of the government in labeling the bandits as terrorists.
Nigerians have also been asking whether the same procedure Magashi alluded to were followed in declaring the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) terrorists
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A campaigner against human rights violations, and executive director of the Rule of Law Advocacy and Accountability Centre ( RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma said: “Indeed. different standards for different groups in different parts of Nigeria. They didn’t waste time or give excuses to declare IPOB terrorist at a time they had not fired any shot.”
Another activists, Arthur Judah Angel, also said: ” Arrant nonsense! IPOB was declared terrorist group without waiting for procedure, no due process, and this is coming from the defence minister himself. Sad.”
On Twitter, @BuchiMenkiti said: “Unbelievable. Laughable. The Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (Rtd), said that the need to follow due process has been the reason Bandits havent been classified as Terrorists. Aren’t these guys enablers and conspirators?”
