The Labour Party (LP) vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Datti Baba-Ahmed, says Nasir El-Rufai’s allegations that the Federal Government is paying bandits should be taken seriously and that the former governor of Kaduna State should be questioned over his claims.

He spoke during an interview on Channels Television.

“If the so-called office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) would take this statement with levity, then Nuhu Ribadu was never a policeman; he is not a qualified lawyer; he should not be in that office,” he said, dismissing the rebuttal by the NSA’s office over El-Rufai’s comment.

When asked what he would have done differently if he were the NSA, Baba-Ahmed said, “Nasir should be writing some statements to the police, to the courts.”

On Sunday, El-Rufai alleged that the Federal Government and Kaduna State were paying a “monthly allowance” to bandits and sending “food to them in the name of non-kinetic.”

The former minister described the move as a “kiss-the-bandits” policy.

“What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits. It’s not the government of Kaduna State; it’s a national policy driven by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Kaduna is part of it. Kiss the bandits; that’s the new policy,” the former chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

While the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, and the Kaduna Government have denied the claims, labelling them as baseless, Baba-Ahmed has downplayed the rebuttal.

“That is not a reaction,” he said of the NSA’s denial. “Are people understanding the gravity of this statement?”

He added: “A national policy is the official position of a government; an official declaration that this is what we shall be constitutionally doing, what we shall be legally pursuing. That is what we call a national policy — it is made public, celebrated, and broadcast to the whole world. Was such a thing held? Why did Nasir say it?”