Bandits and terrorists are being emboldened in their criminal activities because President Muhammadu Buhari is treating them with “kid gloves.”

This was the position of Afenifere, the pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, on Monday.

The organisation, which lamented the continued terror attacks on citizens of the country, explained that Mr Buhari’s body language has shown he is not ready or committed to ending insecurity in the country. 

“Because of the kid-glove manner with which government is dealing with them, terrorists and kidnappers have been so emboldened that they now attack security institutions at will and malevolently go into houses of their victims to deal with fellow Nigerians – all under the watch of government and security agencies. 

In the statement signed by spokesman Jare Ajayi, Afenifere said “President Muhammadu Buhari needs to come out and let perpetrators of terrorism and kidnapping know that he has had enough. He should let them realise that the pact he signed with Nigerians was not to come and see to the serial termination of their lives but to ensure their security, improve their welfare and move the nation to a desirable next level.”

Afenifere challenged Mr Buhari to demonstrate that he was serious about ending the spate of killings and abduction in the country as the Commander-in-Chief.

Less than a year to the end of his second and final term in office, insecurity has worsened under Mr Buhari. Aside from the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, banditry has spread across the North and beyond in the last seven years of the incumbent regime.

In 2019, a report from the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) ranked Nigeria as the third-worse nation ravaged by insecurity and prone to terrorism.