Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, says what the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has done to bandits is worse than declaring them terrorists.
Speaking with BBC Pidgin on Saturday, Shehu said there is a subsisting order by the president to shoot any bandit on sight.
The spokesman said even the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that has been outlawed does not have such an order against it, adding that there is no preferential treatment for the bandits.
“What the Buhari administration has done to the arms-wielding bandits is worse than being declared as terrorists,” he said.
“Do you know that there is a subsisting order by the President that any arms-wielding, AK-47 bandits should be shot on sight.
“I am saying yes, IPOB has been proscribed by law of the land, there is no shoot-on-sight order on IPOB. There is nothing to suggest that these bandits are treated preferentially.”
The presidential aide said progress has been made in taking out these bandits.
“The Nigerian Air Force is busy bombing locations, the military is there on the ground, exchanging fire for fire, taking them out in hundreds, that is certainly not treating them (bandits) lightly,” he said.
“Before President Muhammadu Buhari [assumed office] many Nigerians could not worship on Fridays, mosques were being bombed, on Sundays churches were being bombed, motor parks and public gatherings.”