After a relative calm in the northern part of the country during the electioneering, banditry in the past few weeks witnessed a spike in some states, DIRISU YAKUBU writes on this as a serious task for the new governors in the affected states and the new service chiefs
Barely a month after former President Muhammadu Buhari handed over the reins of government to President Bola Tinubu with a self-appraisal of leaving the country more secure than he met it in 2015, a number of states have been witnessing an upsurge in mindless attacks, leading to death of scores of Nigerians.
The Buhari-led government through the immediate past Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, insisted that the Boko Haram sect were successfully decimated and relegated to the fringes of the Nigerian borders.
Indeed, the administration recorded some successes, even as the 2023 general election was held without severe security challenges, particularly in the North-West, North-East and North-Central geopolitical zones. However, the eruption of killings a few weeks after the polls has continued to generate commentaries, even as some are demanding concrete action from the recently inaugurated governors in the states and the newly appointed security chiefs to run the killer gunmen out of town.
In March this year, a deadly attack at Ungwan Wakili, a Southern Kaduna community led to the death of 17 persons. What started as an argument between security operatives and a Fulani man at a checkpoint snowballed into a bloody violence which claimed many lives.
Elsewhere at Janbako and Sakida villages, located in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, 37 persons were killed earlier this month. The immediate past chairman of the council, Bashar Kalenjeni, had while briefing journalists attributed the killings to the refusal of the community members to pay the levies imposed on them by the bandits.
Kalenjeni stated, “The bandits imposed levies on their communities and meant to take charge and dictate to residents what and what not to do, but the villagers refused to succumb, and because of that, they attacked them, killing 37 persons while several others sustained various degrees of gunshot injuries and are currently receiving treatment in the General Hospital, Gwadabawa.”
About the same week, gunmen suspected to have links with the late militia leader, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as Gana, invaded Mbakange and other adjourning villages in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, killing at least 25 persons.
Curiously, all the four states facing banditry have new governors, who in addition to implementing their development blueprints, are expected to find a way to complement the Federal Government’s effort aimed at securing lives and property.
Meanwhile, with the spate of killings and kidnapping in different parts of the country, especially the banditry in the North, the newly appointed heads of security agencies seems to have their jobs reserved for them.
The President had on Monday approved the appointment of Major General Christopher Musa as the acting Chief of Defence Staff and Major Taoreed Lagbaja as the Chief of Army Staff.
Similarly, he appointed Emmanuel Ogalla, a rear admiral, as the Chief of Naval Staff and Hassan Abubakar, an Air Vice Marshal, as the Chief of Air Staff, while Emmanuel Undiandeye, a major general, was appointed the Chief of Defence Intelligence, among others.
As it were, security experts, aware of the enormity of the task ahead, believe the new governors and security chiefs can leverage a number of initiatives to succeed where their predecessors failed.
In the past two years, statistics from Nextier Violent Conflict Database placed Zamfara as the most violent state, with Kaduna, Borno, Benue and Niger states completing the top five. Zamfara recorded 848 killings in 71 attacks while Kaduna and Borno recorded 550 and 481 deaths respectively.
Barely a day after taking over from his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, was given a tragic welcome when security personnel drafted to Gbagyi village to provide security for the Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Agency in its demolition exercise, allegedly killed four persons. Gbagyi is located in Chikun Local Government Area of the state.
On June 9, gunmen shot and killed at least 25 people in Katako Village, with another 13 killed a day later in Kusherki, both in Plateau State.
The tale of horror continued in Kaduna when on June 11, troops of Operation Forest Sanity in collaboration with Defence Headquarters Special Forces, killed suspected terrorists in Giwa.
Given these sad events, eminent Nigerians have been pointing out recommendations on how governors can tackle these challenges in the interest of the people.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a former Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, Lawrence Alobi, called on the governors to be guided by the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in prioritising the protection and welfare of the people at all times. This is just as the retired police officer called for an end to inter-security agencies wrangling to pave the way for the management of security challenges with a common goal in mind.
He stated, “Section 14 of the constitution provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. So, every state must take security development very seriously because without security, nothing else will work. Governors must be aware that they hold office in trust for the people and protecting the people becomes virtually the biggest thing that must be delivered.
“When elections are over, governors must concentrate on governance, and in doing this, they must ensure that the people are protected from avoidable hazards.
“To this end, all the security agencies must work towards the realisation of the common objective. The ego clash often associated with them must stop now. The supremacy tussle among them is not good for the security and image of the country. There should be synergy among the security chiefs in the states to ensure that crimes and criminality are stamped out or reduced to the barest minimum. There should be a common goal, a common purpose for the good of the people. What is needed among them is cooperation, not competition.”
Speaking further, Alobi called on the governors to commit to adequate funding of security personnel to boost their resolve to deliver optimally for the people, saying, “The security agencies should be well funded and there should be accountability in the use of these funds. The officers should be dedicated and committed to the common good. They should build the capacity of their men and ensure that their welfare is considered. There should be inter-state collaboration because this joint effort will help boost the security in affected states.”
Also, a retired army officer and security consultant, Capt Umar Aliyu, urged the new governors to think outside the box and examine past recommendations, particularly those not implemented by their predecessors.
He added, “We have new governors but the challenges on ground are not new. The challenges were just waiting for the new governors to assume office before manifesting. The bandits are simply telling them, ‘hey, we are here. You are welcome.”
On the way forward, Aliyu urged the governors to set up a committee that would look into the last eight years and bring out all the solutions earlier proposed to tackle insecurity but which were never implemented.
He added, “There were a lot of security solution options proffered by many experts, but which were not taken. There is no point for the new governors to start recycling old and worn out solutions. Where are those people who the more they speak, the less we tend to listen? Can we begin to look at the road less travelled? It is very difficult for the new governors to take over the affairs of their states at this material time.”
Continuing, the security expert noted, “The security threats are not as many as our state and constitutionally empowered security agencies. We need to ask ourselves: What are those things we have been asked to do that we have not done? We must do away with the thinking that the man proffering the solutions is not the commissioner of police or Director of the Department of State Services.
“One of the most formidable intelligence and security agencies in this world, the Central Intelligence Agency (in the United States), was founded by history lecturer, Sherman Kent. Our governors must learn to think outside the box.”
He said there was nothing wrong with having a policeman as the National Security Adviser, adding, “Jose Mourinho was not a professional football player, but he was able to transform Porto and Chelsea and made them respected clubs in Europe,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, another security expert, Jackson Ojo, a golden member of the Switzerland-based International Security Association, told our correspondent that the governors have little to do given the command structure of the nation’s security architecture.
He said, “The governors cannot do much. They are not in charge of the military or the police. The Directors of the Department of State Services in the states do not report to the governors. The state police commissioners do not report to the governors, neither do the army commanders in the states report to them.”
He said while the governors could call security meetings, the principle of command and control does not lie in their hands.
He added, “Control and Command is domiciled with the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, operationally represented by the National Security Adviser.
“Some of the governors don’t even have the money to pay salaries because they are using the civil service to acquire logistics for the security agencies. The governors are doing their best but there is no governor that is the chief security officer of his state. That they are addressed like that is just an honorary title. How is a governor the chief security officer of his state when he does not command any of the security apparatus of the state? Even their orderlies are appointed and posted to the Government House.”
Speaking specifically on the four states, Ojo wondered why there was relative peace before and during the elections only for the reverse to be the case immediately after the elections.
He noted, “It is very sad that during the campaigns and elections, there were no attacks in any part of the North-West. Does that mean the bandits went on holiday? Sokoto was peaceful, so were Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina states. Is it that the terrorists recognised elections? That’s food for thought!
“It used to be largely kidnapping but upon their resumption, it is now 90 per cent killing and 10 per cent kidnapping. They have become more brutal and satanic. This is the story in Benue, Zamfara and Kaduna states.”
“In all these, what are the security chiefs doing? The Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff should have a serious collaboration so that while men of the Nigerian Army are going about their duty on the ground, the Air Force will be operating from the air. The police have been relegated to the background in this war against insurgency.”
Interestingly, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, who resumed on Wednesday, said he felt like a lion in him was “ready to devour all the internal enemies of Nigeria”, a declaration many have interpreted to mean an affirmation of preparedness.
Ojo said further, “Ordinarily, this is not the kind of warfare that the army should be deployed for. This is an internal security challenge which requires 95 per cent police involvement. The crack detectives in the police should work in collaboration with the National Intelligence Agency with the governors having a say in the prosecution of the war against crimes and criminality in their domains.”
On his part, security expert and Managing Director, Beacon Consulting Limited, Dr Kabir Adamu, wants federal and state governments to design common strategies to checkmate security threats. This is just as he tasked the President Bola Tinubu-led government to walk its talk of investing more in intelligence gathering to bring the situation under control.
He said, “We are in a transition period and part of what we see is the state governments becoming more active in terms of understanding their role in managing the drivers of insecurity. We are hoping that both the federal and state governments will come up with strategies to deal with insecurity in the country. They need to improve the coordination between them. During the transition, security was reviewed and part of the challenge that was identified was the lack of coordination between the federal and state governments.
“In addition to what the new government has mentioned – the seven-point agenda contained in the ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto as well as some of the points President Bola Tinubu made during his inaugural speech where he talked about a new security doctrine and investing more in security, particularly in the area of intelligence gathering, we hope that the government will also adopt such measures.
“Security remains in the exclusive list but the threat elements that lead to insecurity exist at the sub-national levels. If we allow the gap between the state and federal governments to widen, all we will be doing is a reactionary approach to tackling insecurity. If we must be proactive, that gap will be closed.”
Adamu further called on governors to emulate Lagos State by setting up a Security Trust Fund to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in the maintenance of law and order in the country.
While the new security chiefs appointed by the President have resumed office, as they await their pending confirmation by the Senate, it is hoped that they would devise new ways of tackling the banditry in the North-West and North-Central, while bringing a definite end to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East. Similarly, the service chiefs and the new IG are expected to swiftly address kidnapping, which has become a lucrative business across the country.
For the governors, apart from strengthening the security agencies in their states, they are also expected to address the drivers of insecurity, which range from unemployment to poverty, out-of-school children, child marriage and religious fanaticism.
For the second time in about eight months, former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that Nigeria’s 20 million out-of-school children, the worst in the world, remained a breeding and recruitment ground for terrorists.
Speaking last Friday at the launch of a book titled, ‘Pillars of Statecraft: Nation-building in a changing world’, authored by his daughter, Dr Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire, at an event in Lagos, Obasanjo stated, “We have over 20 million out-of-school children. Google how many countries in the world have less than 20m. That doesn’t worry us? Are you thinking there will be no Boko Haram tomorrow?
“Those are the foundations of your Boko Haram tomorrow. That should be our concern. We should not say it is externally induced. Is poverty also externally induced? Poverty is the conscious, unconscious choice of our leaders. If we say no; it would be no. If we say yes; it would be yes.”
Meanwhile, with the spate of killings and kidnapping in different parts of the country, especially the banditry in the North, the newly appointed heads of security agencies seems to have their jobs reserved for them.
The President had on Monday approved the appointment of Major General Christopher Musa as the acting Chief of Defence Staff and Major Taoreed Lagbaja as the Chief of Army Staff.
Similarly, he appointed Emmanuel Ogalla, a rear admiral, as the Chief of Naval Staff and Hassan Abubakar, an Air Vice Marshal, as the Chief of Air Staff, while Emmanuel Undiandeye, a major general, was appointed the Chief of Defence Intelligence, among others.
