INCESSANT ATTACKS ON RURAL COMMUNITIES   

Security agencies should do more to secure the countryside

The spate of attacks on rural communities across the country has gradually brought the average citizen to the Hobbesian state where life has become nasty, brutish, and short. That operatives of the various security agencies usually arrive scenes of attacks only after many people had been killed has only heightened the sense of foreboding. And the inability to bring attackers to justice, according to Amnesty International, only helps to fuel dangerous conspiracy theories that escalate the violence. It is therefore incumbent on the authorities to find a solution to the growing lawlessness across the country, but most particularly in rural communities.     

The latest surge in crimes is posing a serious challenge, and indeed adding to the growing feeling of unease that the new administration is still not doing enough to protect the people. This feeling is not without justification. Even with all its strategic importance as the seat of power, Abuja is also getting more than a fair share of attacks and threat which are causing fear and apprehension among residents. “The Nigerian authorities have left rural communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen”, said an Amnesty International report published last year.  

The failure to protect rural dwellers is put squarely at the doorsteps of the federal government that has lost the capacity to rein in sundry cartels of gunmen who terrorise the countryside. A day after the last Christmas, bandits invaded the palace of the district head of Pandan-Gwari in Bwari area council and whisked him away alongside five of his subjects at gunpoint. Their whereabouts remain unknown even though the criminals have reportedly made a ransom demand of N50 million. Meanwhile, the seven farmers kidnapped at Achimbi community in Kuje area council regained their freedom at the weekend, following cash payment of N6 million by their families. 

Today, in Kwali, Abaji and Kuje local governments of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), armed robbers have now been joined by kidnappers who abduct people in broad daylight. Last year, according to a report in a national newspaper, at least 36 people were killed, and 339 others abducted in the FCT. When residents of the capital city of a country move around with a sense of foreboding, and also feel uncertain about the capacity of the authorities to deal with such challenge, there is cause to worry.  

To make matters worse, where members of these marauding gangs are arrested, the impunity in the justice system works to set them free. This gives the impression of a conspiratorial nexus between the invaders and rogue operatives within the security agencies. For most of these cases, that the perpetrators have never been brought to justice leaves rural communities feeling completely abandoned to their fate. The impact on their means of livelihood compounds the situation. Since it is impossible to carry out farming activities under an insecure environment, it is also no surprise that domestic agricultural production has been stifled while access to regional markets remain blocked.    

This is why we align with the call on the federal government to urgently deploy security forces into the hinterlands, including consistent aerial surveillance to track down the purveyors of the carnage, and end the wanton waste of lives and property. Government at the federal and state levels should also muster the courage and political will to halt the incursion of non-state actors into the education space as the rate at which they abduct students for ransom is alarming. It is imperative for government to secure life and property of all citizens.