Army chief: We’ll talk to bandits in language they understand

Faruk Yahaya, chief of army staff, says bandits, insurgents and kidnappers will be treated “in the language they understand”.

He stated this on Wednesday at the closing ceremony of the chief of army staff combined second and third quarters conference, held in Abuja.

The army chief’s comment comes amid increasing attacks by gunmen across the country, leading to killings and abductions.

In June, President Muhammadu Buhari had also asked the military to “treat bandits in language they understand”.

According to Yahaya, the military remains committed to its duty of ensuring peace and security in the country.

“I would like to seize this opportunity to advise those fuelling the crises being witnessed across the country to desist from their unpatriotic acts, as we remain committed to ensuring peace returns to every part of the country in no distant time,” NAN quoted Yahaya as saying.

“The Nigerian Army, within the ambit of rule of law, will talk to the terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other perpetrators of violence in the language they understand.

“We will ensure that all peace-loving citizens of this country go about their legitimate businesses and live their lives without fear or intimidation.”

He also advised military commanders to be more proactive, adding that complacency will not be tolerated.

“Laissez-faire attitudes on the part of commanders would not be tolerated. Like I have always said, failure is failure, irrespective of the circumstances,” he said.

“To that end, I have directed the appropriate departments to come up with modalities for the evaluation of the performance of commanders in the course of their command.

“Commanders must be proactive in the conduct of their operations. You must take the fight into the identified and known enclaves of terrorists and criminals to neutralise them.”