By Gabriel Atumeyi
A United States based Nigerian academic and newspaper columnist, Prof. Farooq Kperogi, has challenged the Nigerian media to stop down playing the danger posed by criminals in the North-West, notoriously known as ‘bandits’.
365Daily had earlier reported that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday said bandits in Zamfara State shot down its Alpa Jet during an operation in the North-West zone.
It said the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo, successfully ejected from the plane and maneuvered his way to safety where he was thereafter rescued by a Nigerian Army Unit in Zamfara.
Kperogi, who took to his verified Facebook page, said the criminals are not bandits but terrorists since they possess the capacity to down a NAF fighter jet.
Kperogi wrote: “People who have the will and the means to shoot down an Alpha Jet aren’t “bandits”; they’re terrorists.
“The Nigerian news media should stop minimizing the dangers these monsters pose to the country by calling them “bandits.” This isn’t mere criminality; it’s well-practiced terrorism!”