The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has said that military operatives fighting banditry in the northwest region need no permission from high-ranking officers before launching attacks on identified bandits.
The minister’s instructions are coming barely some days after a jet fighter ‘accidentally’ killed hundreds of Muslims observing Maulud in Tudun Birni village of Kaduna State.
Matawalle in a Hausa interview with DCL Hausa monitored by WikkiTimes said the military need not go through a the rigorous hierarchy before launching an attack on possible bandits’ enclaves, even though a similar incident had killed hundreds of worshippers in Tudun Birni, Kaduna State.
He said the numerous successes recorded by the military in killing bandit kingpins across the northwest region is a testimony of their commitments to end banditry in the region.
“We have directed our gallant troops to, henceforth, for the sake of urgency, identify and clamp on bandits’ enclaves even without ‘on-the-spot’ order from what we called ‘the top’, capture them on target and hit them heavily to the extent they could not have any hiding place in the bushes,” he said.
The minister, however, debunked claims that soldiers on warfront were not adequately taken care of, saying all their entitlements had been settled apart from other motivational packages for them.
“And on the issue of welfare for the troops, there would be no complain again as witnessed before that all have been well treated with a view to encouraging them to be well focused and embark on their missions until Zamfara is banditry-free,” he said.
WikkiTimes recalled that there were series of airstrikes by the military on innocent people, especially in Zamfara, Kaduna, Borno and Niger States, but all were claimed to be accidental and yet the minister gave the military the go-ahead to launch attacks without consulting their superiors.
