Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has taken a sledgehammer to the Tinubu administration’s security strategy, branding it a reckless policy that treats criminal gangs like partners instead of enemies of the state.
Speaking in his characteristic blunt style, El-Rufai alleged that the government has quietly resorted to paying bandits “monthly allowances” and even supplying them with food in the name of a non-kinetic approach to ending insecurity. For him, this is not a peace initiative but a payoff scheme that rewards lawlessness.
“What kind of government pays killers to stop killing? That is not governance, it is nonsense — and dangerous nonsense at that,” El-Rufai fumed. “You don’t rehabilitate criminals by feeding them. You disarm them, you dismantle their networks, and you make it clear that the state will not bow to violence.”
The former governor argued that far from pacifying the bandits, such policies only embolden them, reinforcing the idea that the state can be blackmailed into generosity. “Today it is rice and allowances. Tomorrow it could be land, weapons, or official recognition. Where does it stop?” he asked.
Critics say El-Rufai’s warning echoes a growing frustration among Nigerians who see the government’s approach as an embrace of impunity. Many argue that appeasement, dressed up as policy, creates a vicious cycle — once bandits discover that violence earns them food and money, abandoning crime becomes even less attractive.
With insecurity still tearing through rural communities, the debate over “dialogue versus force” remains fierce. El-Rufai’s outburst, however, leaves little room for ambiguity: in his view, Tinubu’s so-called “non-kinetic” method is nothing less than kissing the very hand that pulls the trigger.