We will deal ruthlessly with those causing unrest in Nigeria – Buhari

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said his government would deal ruthlessly with bandits, hoodlums, killers and all those causing unrest in the country.

Buhari said he had given a directive to the security agencies, especially the police, to be ruthless with anyone or group causing unrest in any part of the country.

He said this in an exclusive interview session on Arise Television.

It was Buhari’s first exclusive interview since he was re-elected in 2019.

“We have given the police the directive to be ruthless with people stealing other people’s belongings and destroying others’ property. You will see that there will be a difference in coming weeks,” Buhari said.

The president also spoke on issues bordering on infrastructural development, unemployment, 2023 election, and many other.

Buhari said the people of the North-West are one, yet they are killing each other. He said the situation was giving him concern as the people of the North-West were suffering a lot of casualties.

He said two South-West governors approached him saying that some farmers were killed by herders, but he asked them to go back and re-arrange their security networks.

He said in the First Republic, herders had the grazing routes and those whose animals grazed on people’s farms were arrested.

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“I asked people to go back to the First Republic and dig out the gazette. There were grazing routes and grazing areas. When they were moving North to South or South to North, they moved through grazing areas. If they moved through people’s farms, they were arrested,” he said, noting that grazing areas in those days had facilities and even veterinaries.

The president also defended his appointments, which many see as lopsided in favour of a section of the country.

Buhari said all the appointments he makes are strictly based on merit and not based on ethnic or regional balance.

But he would not speak on the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria which has generated a lot of heated debate.

“I will keep that to myself,” Buhari said.