A federal high court in Abuja has declared the activities of some banditry groups as terrorism.
The ruling yesterday specifically declared the activities of the “Yan Bindiga Group” and the “Yan Ta’adda Group” and other similar groups in any part of the country, especially in the Northwest and Northcentral geo-political zones, as “acts of terrorism and illegality”.
The court restrained “any person or group of persons from participating in any manner whatsoever, in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise of the Yan Bindiga Group and the Yan Ta’adda Group under any other name or platform however called or described.”
Justice Taiwo Taiwo gave the orders in a ruling after listening to Aminu Kayode Alilu, from the Federal Ministry of Justice, who argued the motion ex-parte filed by the Federal Government to that effect.
Justice Taiwo listed terror activities to “include, but not limited to banditry, kidnappings for ransom, kidnapping for marriage, mass abductions of school children and other citizens, cattle rustling, enslavement, imprisonment, severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, other forms of sexual violence, attacks and killings in communities and commuters and wanton destruction of lives and properties in Nigeria.”
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, said President Muhammadu Buhari approved his action, which objective is the banning of Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda groups and other terrorist groups in the country.
Buhari also charged security agencies to rekindle the anti-terror war and rid the country of terrorists.
