Kaduna Where Insecurity Thrives Despite Heavy Military Presence

Despite the concentration of military establishments in Kaduna State, Wale Igbintade writes that the state is fast becoming a hub of terrorist activities outside the North-east, as evidenced by the recent abductions and other security breaches

With over 90 people kidnapped last Sunday in Kajuru-Station community in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) in Kaduna State, there is no doubt that terrorists are still on an abduction spree in the state.

The attack came barely two days after 15 women and a man were abducted in the Dogon-Noma community of the same local government. A week before the abductions, about 61 people were abducted at Buda in the same area.

The latest abduction, according to residents, happened around 10 p.m., when most people would have either retired to bed or about to go to sleep. The merciless gunmen operated without restraint as they tormented their helpless victims.

One of the residents, Aminu Kajuru, who holds a traditional title in the emirate, lamented that the area is now under terrorists’ siege.

He said since last year bandits kidnapped the Emir of Kajuru, Alhassan Adamu, and members of his family, the area has remained under constant attack.

“For months our monarch was in the hands of the bandits before he was eventually released and since then, the situation has degenerated. From our estimation, over 100 people had been kidnapped as of today (Monday) when the bandits stormed our area,” he reportedly said.

A youth leader in the area, Harisu Dari, revealed that the terrorists also looted shops and stole food items and other valuables before disappearing into the forest. He said the bandits had ordered residents to come out of their houses before they were abducted.

In Kajuru and other areas of the state, no day passes without abductions of residents. The people have increasingly been subjected to unabated terrorism, banditry, killing of farmers by herders, and several abductions as security agents seem to have been overwhelmed and overstretched.

Today, this major industrial centre in Northern Nigeria which had flourishing manufacturing businesses is now a shadow of itself due to insecurity.

The situation, according to the people, does not mirror the reputation the state has as the home of some of the most critical military command and control centres in Nigeria. 

These establishments include the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), 1  Division Nigerian Army, Command and Staff College and Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI), both at Jaji; the Nigerian Army School of Artillery (NASA), and the Nigerian Navy School of Armament Technology, both at Kachia; Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology; Nigerian Military School and Nigerian Army School of Military Police, both in Zaria.

The state is also home to a depot of the Nigerian Army, a training centre for old soldiers. The existence of NDA, 1 Division, Air Force Base, and some military cantonments in Kaduna has earned the historical capital of Northern Nigeria the name and fame – The Garrison Town.

Apart from these military establishments, Kaduna also has a Police Training College. Yet, terrorists’ activities have wrapped the residents of the state in fear and anxiety.

Residents said they had expected that with these age-old military establishments, the state should be virtually terror-free. According to them, the array of military establishments should either scare terrorists away from the state or, at worse, confine terror activities to the state’s farthest fringes.

They also expected the existence of this enviable cluster of military establishments to critically advise the military authorities to deploy every relevant strategy to ensure that the spate of terror activities in the state do not constitute the most humiliating slight on the establishments which have been revered over the decades across West Africa. 

Terror activities across the state are worsening by the day, rendering many parts of the state highly inhabitable.

Insecurity has also rendered all routes leading to the state capital, Kaduna, virtually the most-dreaded for travellers in the now terror-troubled North-west geopolitical zone.

In 2021, bandits killed 1,192 people in the state and kidnapped 3,348 others, according to a report by a Lagos-based geopolitical advisory outfit, SBM Intelligence. Deaths from insecurity in the state in 2020 were three times higher than those recorded in the North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa battling terrorism, according to the report.

Despite the concentration of security architecture in the state, terrorists attack public and private institutions, as well as communities with impunity. On March 11, 2021, 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry, Afaka-Kaduna, were abducted when bandits invaded the school in the middle of the night.

On April 20, 2021, 23 students of Greenfield University which was formerly located along the Kaduna-Abuja Road, were abducted when bandits attacked the institution.

Also on July 5, 2021, bandits broke into Baptist Bethel High School, Kaduna, and made away with 121 students.

In August 2021, they attacked the country’s foremost military training institution, the NDA in Kaduna City, five months after an attack on Kaduna Airport’s FAAN Quarters.

Bandits had also ambushed a train heading for the city from Nigeria’s capital Abuja after bombing the rail track. At least eight passengers were killed in that incident, while 168 others were kidnapped. It took over seven months before they were freed.

A week after they attacked the train, the bandits raided a military facility in Birnin Gwari, killing 10 soldiers and injuring an unconfirmed number of others.

The attacks have left Nigerians questioning why a state that boasts of numerous elite military agencies, and concentration of weapons can be repeatedly besieged by bandits.

Though the security forces have been relentless in the fight against the terrorists with success stories recorded by the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Air Force, security experts argue that the bandits are emboldened by the government’s lack of political will to frontally engage them, as well as  exclusionary or sluggish response to intelligence. They said the situation is compounded by the expansion of the security crisis across the North-west region and mismanagement of equipment and personnel.

While all these happened under Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency, the terrorists have returned with much ferocity under Bola Tinubu’s government.

In less than a month, bandits have killed approximately 20 people and abducted over 400 individuals, plunging the state into a state of panic.

On February 28, 2024, bandits invaded Anguwan Auta, a community in Gonin Gora in Kakau ward of Chikun Local Government Area, killed two people and abducted three others. About four days later, the criminals returned to the area and abducted 13 people. This made hundreds of youths in the area protest and block the busy Kaduna –Abuja highway which passes through Gonin Gora.

On March 7, 2024, the bandits invaded and abducted 287 pupils and teachers of the Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School, Kuriga 1, in the same local government area.

A few days later, the terrorists returned to invade Buda Hausa community in Kajuru LGA and abducted 61 people who are still in captivity. According to the resident, Dauda Kajuru, the kidnappers stormed the community in large numbers and carried out the attack. He lamented that since the removal of an Army Commander popularly known as (Tega), banditry activities have resumed in full force around the Kajuru communities.

This was also followed by another incident in Dogon Noma-Ungwan Gamo community where they took away 14 people in the same local government area. 

To release the abducted 287 pupils and teachers of the Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School, Kuriga 1, the bandits are demanding N1 billion as ransom, while they demanded N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans and 150 brand new motorcycles for the release of the victims they picked up at Gonin Gora.

But President Tinubu has vowed not to pay ransom to the kidnappers. He directed security agencies to ensure the release of all the victims.

For peace to return to the state, and even other parts of Nigeria, many are calling on the president to equip and order the recruitment of more people into the over-stretched armed forces. They also advised him to possibly seek help from foreign countries.

Beyond these, the state government needs to ensure good governance and proper distribution and utilisation of resources in the state.