Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said terrorists from the North East are moving to forests in Kaduna because they believe the forests in the state are better than Sambisa Forest in Borno State.
According to the Kaduna governor, information available to him indicates that the terrorists are making such remarks as, “the forests in Kaduna are even better than Sambisa, so let’s relocate to Kaduna.” This, he said, was a worrisome development.
El’Rufai who spoke while being presented the 2022 first quarter security report by Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said most of terrorists are of the Ansaru arm of Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, which had been terrorising the north east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The governor noted that he got the information from one of the victims of Abuja-Kaduna train attack on March 28, whom he said, was his classmate in school.
The people of Birnin-Gwari, the area of Kaduna State constantly under attack by the Ansaru terrorists, had raised a similar alarm a few weeks ago and called on both the federal and state governments to come to their rescue.
El’Rufai remarked that the rising presence of Ansaru and Boko Haram terrorists in the state and their growing interaction with armed bandits were responsible for the attack on the Abuja-Kadunan bound train on March 28, which led to the kidnap of the passengers still in captivity.
The governor said the terrorists are moving from the North-East to the North-West and are now recruiting young people into their fold in vulnerable communities across the state.
He expressed concern over the use of mines and improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, by the terrorists and called for the establishment of a military theatre command in the region.
