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Honourable Bello El-Rufai, member of the House of Representatives for Kaduna North, has raised questions over what he called inconsistent sentencing of terrorists in Nigeria, contrasting the 20-year jail term given to an Ansaru militant with the life sentence handed to IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
He raised the concern during a debate at the House plenary on Thursday, while comparing the 20-year sentence given to a convicted Ansaru terrorist with the life imprisonment handed to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
El-Rufai referred to the recent conviction of an Ansaru terrorist identified as Husseini Ismail by a Federal High Court in Abuja and wondered why similar offences attracted different punishments.
“I believe there was a conviction recently of a terrorist, Boko Haram, his name is Husseini Ismail. He was convicted for 20 years by a high court. He was vicious terrorist. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was convicted, I think last week, and his own conviction was a life sentence,” he said.
He added, “I don’t understand why one terrorist is getting 20 years and the other is getting a life sentence. I think Pastor made a good point; there’s this idea that justice is served differently, and it affects the problem.”
The lawmaker commended President Bola Tinubu for unveiling what he described as a clear national security overhaul plan but stressed that implementation remains Nigeria’s greatest challenge.
“The President has rolled out a clear plan that we commend. Many of my colleagues have rightly spoken about this, and I agree. But our problem is not in making plans, it’s in executing them with clear timelines,” he stated.
He urged the National Assembly to insist on concrete timelines for the implementation of the security measures.
“This parliament must insist upon those timelines based on the President’s recommendations,” he said.
Bello also stressed the need to improve the welfare and salaries of security personnel, noting that Nigeria is severely understaffed when compared to global standards.
“One police officer manages 600 Nigerians. The UN recommends that the ratio should be one to 400. We are understaffed. The president has tackled that; that’s one point in terms of a short-term solution. But we must increase immediately the basic salaries and welfare of police officers and soldiers, and we must find the money to do that,” he added.
The lawmaker further advocated the introduction of state and community policing, insisting that Nigeria’s security problems cannot be effectively managed from Abuja alone.
“We cannot be sitting in Abuja and expecting operations to be efficient in Benue. We have to go back to communal policing. When a guest comes to a community, everybody knows him. We must get traditional leaders involved and go back to state policing. The fear that governors will abuse it always shocks me because they already have all that power,” he stated.
He also raised concern about the growing population of uneducated and unemployed youths in the North, warning that the region was becoming a breeding ground for criminality and extremism.
“The North has an issue. We are not sending our children to school. Of late, you have bandits on TikTok holding money. Young people younger than myself have no employment and no skill because we have neglected them. Mr Speaker, people go on TikTok and see a criminal holding minted cash, it suddenly becomes exciting and you want to emulate him,” he said.
He concluded by warning that economic growth would remain impossible without security, stressing that protection of lives and property remains government’s primary responsibility.
“We can do whatever we want in terms of foreign direct investment, internally generated revenue, or investments, but we are failing in our primary duty, which is to protect the people we serve. Recruitment should not be by allocation. Each state should provide the exact numbers needed. It should be digitised. We should look for young Nigerians that want to join the Army to serve, not because it’s just another job,” he said.
The younger El-Rufai has been widely hailed for his stance, sparking calls for a review of the sentence slammed on the Ansaru terrorists. Nigerians are demanding a judiciary that truly dispenses justice without fear or favour.
