TO THE MARAUDING GROUPS: WHATEVER THE INJUSTICE DONE TO YOU, THE VULNERABLE CITIZENS DID NOT DESERVE THIS TREATMENT

To the marauding groups, what wrong have the masses done to you ? if it is for the adversity and cognition of being neglected by the government please, know that the vulnerable masses inflicting havoc upon are also experiencing the affliction of being neglected by the same government.

The prevalent mayhem of banditry and kidnapping the country is facing particularly the northern part of the country is very unprecedented. The most vulnerable parts of the north hit harder by the heinous activities are the north-west and north-central especially states like Nassarawa, Benue, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara Sokoto and Kebbi. The phenomenon which evolved from communal/ farmers’ herders’ clashes and metamorphosed into cattle rustling have now escalated to a full blown endemic. The phenomenon didn’t stop there, after exhausting the available cattle around the area, these groups have delved and resorted into kidnapping for ransoms in addition to gun running/ proliferation of small arms & light weapons as well as illegal gold mining and other precious metals. These are more lucrative illicit enterprises that harvest or fetch more fund than the previous crimes.

Banditry in Nigeria is a serious crime that poses a security challenge to democratic governance and peaceful coexistence. It is a type of organized crime that includes kidnapping, armed robbery, arson, shooting, murder, rape, cattle-rustling, looting, population displacement and the exploitation of environmental resources. Some of the factors that have led to the rise and persistence of banditry in Nigeria are under-governed spaces, a weak security apparatus, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, socioeconomic conditions such as poverty and unemployment, cattle rustling, and illegal mining activities.

Bandits have continued to inflict pains and sorrows on families whose loved ones are often kidnapped and sometimes killed in gruesome manners. The group are very oppressive in their operations, inflicting tyranny on people and communities they live around. At home or on transit, in the night or in broad day light, in the market places, religious or social gatherings, no where is safe. Today, traveling across the length and breadth of this geographical area has become a suicidal mission because of high risk and threat of attacks by bandits, kidnappers and other criminals armed groups. The ever busy Gusau-Funtua road that linked many northwestern states has become a nightmare for travelers due to the rampant and prevailing mass abduction. No day will come and pass without people being ambushed and abducted by these marauding groups. From Funtua to Gusau there are over 20 military and other security checkpoints, yet bandits have continued to operate unabated, kidnapping innocent commuters and placing them heavy ransoms.

One may ask what is the government and its security are doing? Well, there is no gainsaying that, the security are doing their best to curtail the menace. As stated above, there are several checkpoints along the road assessing the motorists, and whenever these criminals attacked or blocked the road, the security used to come and disperse them. However, many people have argued that whatever they (security) are doing to quench this pandemonium is not enough; in fact, some have even accused them of complacency and conniving with criminals to unleash havoc on citizens. Recently, the National Security Adviser Mallam, Nuhu Ribadu was quoted to have said, numerous weapons now used by terrorists and bandits in Nigeria originally belonged to the federal government. Addressing the origin of these arms, Ribadu pointed fingers at corrupt officials within security agencies, noting that they facilitated the distribution of these weapons to non-state actors.

For instance, whenever there is an incidence of kidnapping along this Funtua-Gusau road, you will find out the distance between the scene and the military or police checkpoint is just a nearby distance of not more than one or two kilometers away. But these criminals will conduct operations, finished and flee into the bush freely without being apprehended. Even on instances where the security come for the rescue nothing tangible will come out, the least they can do is to disperse the criminals into the bush, because the security will come from a far distance with siren, firing gun shots sporadically on the air as if they are alerting the bandits to leave the scene. Before the security operatives arrive at the scene, the criminals have fled into the bush with the abductees. This had happened on several occasions.

An eyewitness and victim told me, when he was abducted, as soon as the bandits heard a nearby gun shots by the military, they hurriedly ushered them (the victims) into the bush before the military arrived at the scene. The victim continued that, they were hearing military noises on the road where the incidence happened. He said, the distance between their position (bandits along with the abductees) and the place where the military are is only few meters away, but the military didn’t follow them. A female student was once informed me, on her way from school in Kano to Sokoto her hometown, on reaching Tureta, they learned that bandits have blocked the road ahead. They stopped and retired for some times before the security arrived from a nearby checkpoint. The security were only able to expelled and dispersed the bandits to flee into their hideouts, but failed to follow them anywhere from the main road or even hit any of them.

Myself is a living witness of these series of abductions and wanton displacement of people and properties. As usual, one day I traveled from Abuja to visit my family in Zamfara. With all the potholes and hollows the road have, we pleasantly drove from Abuja up to Funtua and down to ‘Yankara, a frontiers village separating Katsina from Zamfara state. From this point, the dangerous and risky journey have started because from ‘Yankara to Gusau which is just about 60km yet, on that fateful day there was about 4 different kidnapping incidences. On three occasions, kidnappers were blocking the road and abducting people. At some checkpoints, the security had to instruct us to stop for sometimes because bandits were operating along the road. Crossing Tsafe to Kotorkoshi and approaching Tazame village, we met a stumbling blocks where the kidnappers had finished operations. We met over twenty empty vehicles packed along the road, some of which their engines were on slow and not even turned-off. While some of the occupants where lucky to escaped and fled into the bush for safety, many of them have been abducted and ushered into the bush by the bandits. We arrived at the incident at almost the same time with the military operatives, who asked us to come out of our vehicles and remove the roadblock, while they continued to occasionally release gun shots sporadically into the bushes, that’s all they could do.

To be candid, the indigenous people of these area have lost confidence in them; and that’s why whenever an incidence of kidnapping happens, people prefer to negotiate with bandits than to involve security. Because even if they inform the authority like the police, nothing concrete will come out of it, because at the end of the day the victim will not be rescued, the family will still have to pay ransom for the release of their love ones. Sometimes involving police of kidnap incidence is endangering the life’s of the hostages because, a slight mistake from the family could trigger or lead these mad people to kill the hostages. Again, while the family are battling with fund raising to rescue their love ones, some bad eggs among the police may resorted to extorting the victims (families of the hostage) in the process of rescuing the hostage, which is a double jeopardy for the family - raising fund for ransoms and paying extra money for the security.

Economically, bandits activities have impoverished many communities in the north. As I have been saying in many of my writings, farming which is the main source of income for the masses have been crippled, today many farmers could not access their farms because of the heinous activities of these marauding groups. Those that were lucky to access their farms had to pay heavy taxes to the marauding groups before they were allowed to do so. And even then, during harvest farmers have to part away with portions of their harvest (agricultural outputs) before they are allowed to do the harvest or go home with the remaining products.

Apart from all these, on several occasions quite number of open market where

citizens meet and trade their domestic goods have been closed. This is part of strategies to combat the menace of banditry as it has been observed the markets are being used by bandits to promote their nefarious activities. For instance it has been observed that many rustled cows are being sold in those open markets. This decision is negatively affecting the lives of the citizens. Again, the little money citizens earned from other menial works and used to improve the living standards of their families is now being diverted to pay ransoms; while some sources of their incomes have been blocked. A focused group discussion estimated that within one year of operation, Dan-Sa'adiyya, a bandit warlord operating around Bungudu/Kaura Namoda axis has extorted the vulnerable population of this area around #500,000,000.00. He and his father who himself is also a bandit have mercilessly dealt with communities around. As a result of this inferno called banditry, many people have lost their lives, while many have lost their mental and emotional capacities as well as physical health.

While it is imperative for the government and other relevant stakeholders to approach this threat head-on, understanding the root causes of this menace can help shed light on the reasons behind these optical phenomena. There are different perceptions and accounts on the causative factors of banditry in Nigeria which degenerates the peaceful atmosphere of the entire country; these perceptions have cut across economic, political, and social elements phenomena but due to the time and spaces I will like to dwell on one factor, thus the social factor.

There is an argument that cites injustice against Fulani communities as the main reason for the heinous acts of banditry. They argued that Fulani have been neglected by successive government in all the aspects of life. They have no access to education, no provisions of health facilities, pipe-borne water and other social amenities essentially needed for a living. But still this argument has no substance, even if that is true still it doesn’t warrant the kind of mayhem they are causing to common man. These group of people are attacking wrong targets because they are attacking peasant farmers and innocent citizens like commuters. After all, the accusation and blame was not generic, it is only against the few criminal elements within the government realm, particularly in the judiciary, traditional leaders, police and military who were accused of this injustice and extortion. Therefore the kind of atrocities and discernment they cause to common man is not proportionate to whatever injustice they are claiming to be done to them by the government and some government institutions.

The breakdown of law and order in this geographical area is so enormous. It is high time to stop this brutality, chaos and pandemonium. And for whatever wrong done to these groups of people, it is not enough for them to rain havoc on the innocent citizens, certainly the vulnerable citizenry didn’t deserve the treatment they met with for doing nothing. If it is the lack of government attention or presence for their people, the masses are also facing the same problem. For instance, the citizens dwellers pay heavy taxes and bills virtually on everything they enjoy from water, power, transport and communication. Above all, the basics education that supposed to be free is no more free because, the public schools are no more than a mushroom places now. They are now been replaced with the private ones. Citizens are paying exorbitant school fees for their children. It is therefore high time for all concerned stakeholders particularly the northern governors to come to the rescue of their citizens. They should come up with a uniform strategy to curb this menace before it consume all of us.

The above is just a tip of an iceberg on the precarious and perilous condition our people are being subjected to, yet the stakeholders particularly the governors and other politicians within the region kept silent as if everything is normal. The northern governors need to acknowledge the challenge the north is facing, and at the same time face the challenge head-on. Though it is a Nigerian dilemma, yet it is squarely the northern quagmire. It is therefore a high time for the governors and other relevant stakeholders to collaborate and come up with overarching strategy to pin-down the menaces of banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes militating the progress of the north and its people.

The military and other security agencies should take the fight to the bandits enclaves and engage them squarely and proportionately with equal force and precision, rather than await till the criminals attacked citizens and come helter-skelter dispersing them. This is because, the more they are dispersed the more they regrouped and strike again.

There is a need for the government to completely and without further delay expunge all unregistered SIM cards. It is very disheartening the way bandits are using telephone numbers to call families of victims, communicate and demand money for the release of hostages, yet these criminals could not be traced or apprehended. Some reports have revealed that, out of over 200 millions SIM cards, there are still about 90 million unregistered ones are still operating. As a matter of urgency, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC needs to do everything possible to deactivate any number that is not registered or linked to the National Identification Number (NIN) database.

God bless Nigeria,

Sanusi Moyi, a concerned citizen.