The Minister of Defence, Major-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtf) on Friday, explained why the Federal Government has not declared bandits wreaking havoc in the North-West part of the country as terrorists.

The National Assembly and other prominent Nigerians including the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had a few weeks ago urged the federal government to declare the bandits as terrorists.

Magashi, who made the clarification in a chat with journalists in Maiduguri, Borno State, said the need to follow the right procedure was responsible for the federal government’s delay in declaring the bandits as terrorists.

He stressed that the bandits would be classified as terrorists once the procedure had been completed.

The minister said: “We are not declaring them terrorists because there is a procedure for doing that.

“When the procedure is followed, they will be classified as terrorists. We are waiting for the procedure to be completed.”