Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), has raised the alarm that bandits are relocating in large numbers from Sokoto State to Benue State following the Christmas Day airstrikes reportedly carried out with support from the United States.
Aondoakaa made the disclosure on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television, monitored in Abuja.
The former AGF said the displacement of the armed groups has led to widespread occupation of rural communities in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
“Following the Sokoto airstrikes, bandits have fled to the Benue region, overrunning villages. In Ukum LGA, 10 out of 13 wards have been overtaken by bandits,” Aondoakaa said.
He described the situation as alarming, particularly due to the strategic importance of the affected areas.
Aondoakaa warned that the bandits are now dangerously close to Zaki-Biam, home to one of Nigeria’s largest agricultural markets.
“The main market in Nkum, which is the Zaki-Biam main market that produces yams for the country, they have settled less than three kilometres away from the main market, and that is alarming,” he said.
The former justice minister urged the Federal Government to extend the same level of military collaboration with the United States that led to the Sokoto airstrikes to other locations where bandits are regrouping.
“There should be the same corroboration between the Nigerian government and the US government to flush them out anywhere they are trying to concentrate in a group,” Aondoakaa said.
He also linked recent attacks in Oyo State to the movement and concentration of bandits, stressing the need for swift aerial intervention.
“It extends up to the attack that happened in Oyo. Anywhere there is concentration, the bandits are concentrating, there’s need for either the Nigerian Air Force to move in, or if they do not have the capacity, then they should have the same corroboration that happened with the US government to flush them out to avoid them causing mayhem,” he added.