TACKLING BANDITRY IN THE NORTHEAST

All the critical stakeholders must unite to contain the criminal elements

Despite the best efforts of the military that has taken the battle to insurgents and bandits, the Northwest of Nigeria is still lurching towards chaos. Last week, the chairman of Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Sharifu Kamarawa, told visiting Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, that bandits led by Kachalla Bello Turji practically run a parallel government in some communities across several local governments in the state. “The problem is in the eastern part of Isa. There are places that are still under the control of bandits. They appoint and depose village heads there,” Kamarawa said while appealing for the establishment of a military camp in the area.

Kamarawa’s portrayal of the situation in his domain is not only dire but also reveals that the response by the federal government to this festering and dangerous security situation is not enough. Bandits, who mainly operate on motorcycles, are freely roaming many of the major streets and have turned a large swathe of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and recently, Sokoto States into their fiefdom. Several villages have been displaced on account of this onslaught, while economic activities, particularly agriculture, which is the mainstay of the affected region, are being paralysed. 

Last Saturday in Kebbi State, a traditional ruler was abducted alongside his two sons and six others by bandits in Kanya, Danko/Wasagu local government area. “Yes, nine persons were abducted including the traditional ruler,” spokesperson for the Kebbi State Police Command, Nafiu Abubakar, confirmed. “One person was shot dead and three who sustained bullet wounds are responding to treatment at the General Hospital Riba.” Such is the level of desperation in the Northwest that many of our citizens are reportedly fleeing to neighbouring Niger Republic for abode and safety.

Until recently, the North-west zone was a template and shining example of geo-political stability and peaceful co-existence among Nigerian communities. In the eye of the public, the zone was insulated from the security challenges to lives and property that have become the frightening badge of other parts of the region, notably the North-east and North-central zones. Sadly, while the Boko Haram insurgents are still fighting over the control of the North-east and the killings by sundry armed militia and herdsmen are yet to abate in North-central, scores of bandits are now gradually taking over the north-west, thus putting the entire northern region at risk.

In Zamfara State, where this crisis is prevalent, bandits and other criminal elements who specialise in cattle rustling have killed many innocent people. Their bestiality now makes many people in the communities to now sleep with only one eye open out of fear of attack and abduction. As of now, the cattle rustlers have extended their tentacles to other states in the North-west, with the affected state governments and security agencies becoming helpless. Unfortunately, Matawalle has been battling his successor, Governor Dauda Lawal, with accusation and counter accusation on who is behind the banditry. That is rather unhelpful at a period when all stakeholders should unite to confront these criminal elements as common enemies.

The federal government has responded to this new danger by deploying military troops in the zone. But we are yet to see the impact. However, as we have always stated, the current culture of impunity in our country will not end until people with criminal tendencies realise that the law can, and will, always catch up with them.