The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said that terrorists operating as bandits and kidnappers are using the ransoms collected to fund their operations.
Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, said this when he spoke with State House correspondents on Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He saidL: “There is a direct correlation between insurgency in the North East and what we are seeing manifesting itself as banditry in the North West or kidnapping in the South West.
“Some of the people involved in these are also the ones responsible for insurgency.
“They are using the resources they make from kidnapping for the activities they are conducting in the North East.
“So, we need to take a comprehensive look at all these things and not treat them in compartments.
“We must treat them as a comprehensive issue and then tackle them collectively.
“I don’t think we are naive enough to think that it is simply a military action that will resolve all these security challenges.
“They have root causes and the root causes require political will, political action on our part against poverty, inequality and disconnections between our youths and the government.”