The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Tuesday confirmed the Federal Government’s readiness to deploy the Super Tucano fighter jets against bandits and terrorists in North.
The AGF said the FG is working on publishing a judgment made by the court which ordered the governmnent to proscribe the Bandits as terrorist.
Malami disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking as a guest on NTA Good Morning Nigeria Show.
Due to the conditions attached to the sale of the aircraft by the United States, the Nigerian military is being restricted to deploy the aircraft outside the North-East.
Malami, however, confirmed on Tuesday that the Military is ready to deploy the Super Tucano against Bandits in the North-East, North West and North-Central, having been declared terrorists by the court.
“Now, we are confronted with another threat in the North-West associated with banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and in all these, these people are using weapons to attack Nigerians, kidnap them and created a situation of serious security challenge and fear in the system. 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” He said.
Malami also responded to questions on why the use of the Super Tucano fighter jets and the declaration of bandits as terrorists has not been gazetted, he said the gazetting of a court order or judgement is a process but what matters fundamentally within the context of international convention is the judicial declaration and that has been obtained.