Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, said this in a statement released by his office on Wednesday.

Malami went on to say that the government had published the proscription order in the gazette and made it available to the public for easy reading.

Bandits would face trial under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011, according to the minister. The gazette proscribing bandits was issued on November 25, 2021, however, it was only unveiled on January 5, 2022.

It reads in part: “Notice is hereby given that by the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1370/2021 dated 25th November 2021 as per the schedule to this Notice and Activities of Yan Bindiga Group, Yan Ta`addan Group, and other similar groups in Nigeria are declared to be terrorists and illegal in any part of Nigeria, especially in the North-West and North-Central regions of Nigeria and are proscribed pursuant to sections 1 and 2 of the same Terrorism( Prevention) Act 2011.

“Consequently, the general public is hereby warned that any person or group of persons participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intentions or otherwise of the groups referred to in paragraph 1 of this notice will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and liable to prosecution.”

The minister’s statement that his office is in the process of labeling bandits as terrorists in accordance with international best practices prompted the official proscription of bandits.

On Tuesday, the AGF stated the process will be completed in a matter of days on NTA’s Good Morning Nigeria Show.

On November 26, 2021, Federal High Court Justice Taiwo Taiwo directed the federal government to declare the Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda bandit groups as terrorists.