The Federal Government has finally declared bandits as terrorists.
The declaration is contained in a gazette proscribing their existence and restraining any person or group of persons from participating in activities of bandit groups.
This follows weeks of footdragging, after Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, granted an ex parte application for Yan Bindiga (Hausa word for gunmen) and Yan Ta’adda (Hausa word for terrorists) to be declared as terrorists
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has now gazetted the court judgement.
States in the North-West geopolitical zone including Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina have been ravaged by banditry in the last year.
The bandits have murdered hundreds of innocent persons and kidnapped several others for ransom.
