The minister of defence, Major General Bashir Magashi, has said that bandits currently ravaging the North West of the country have not been declared terrorists because the procedure for that has not been fulfilled.
Magashi said once the condition is fulfilled, government would declare bandits as terrorists.
He spoke yesterday while on an operational tour of military formations in Maiduguri alongside the service chiefs.
He said the primary purpose of their visit was to assess the progress of operations in the Operation Hadin Kai theatre and also to encourage the troops to assure them that government was ready to do the necessary things to ensure maximum victory in the theatre of operation .
“ We discussed how we can conduct the next phase of the operation which I think is highly classified and they’re not meant for discussion with the press. I must commend the troops for achievements recorded so far,” he said.