BARELY two months into the New Year, there has been a renewed upsurge in banditry across Northern Nigeria. The worst-hit states are Benue, Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Adamawa and Taraba. President Bola Tinubu should deliver quickly on his pre-election mantra to save Nigeria from violence.
Alarmingly, scores of persons have been killed and abducted by bandits while many communities have been sacked in the North-West and North-Central. In Tinubu’s initial seven months, 5,135 persons have been killed per the National Security Tracker. Many homesteads and communities have been ravaged by bandits and terrorists. The Federal Government must renew its onslaught against banditry in the country, especially in the North.
Fresh and sustained killings by bandits have become commonplace. In Benue, 10 persons were slaughtered in Apa Local Government Area communities in the past two weeks. This included the invasion of the Imana community in the state by bandits, killing four persons.
While Governor Hyacinth Alia alleges that some disgruntled residents invited herdsmen from Niger Republic to wreak havoc on the state, the region has a history of violent Fulani herdsmen from home and other West African countries sabotaging and infiltrating Nigeria’s porous borders to cause mayhem. The Federal Government must secure Nigeria’s territorial integrity by placing strict border control mechanisms to curb the influx of dangerous, weapon-wielding nomads into the country.
In Niger, at least 30 houses, cattle, assorted grains, houses, and motorcycles were recently burnt by bandits during an attack on the Allawa community of Shiroro LGA.
In Plateau, the Red Cross stated that 161 persons were killed and 39,350 displaced on Christmas Eve. This happened in 84 communities in three LGAs, including Bokkos and Barkin Ladi.
In Kaduna, 85 persons were reportedly abducted by terrorists on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway in January. Many others were killed.
In Abuja, kidnapping has become worrisome. Major incidents in the FCT instigated fresh security measures by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
In Katsina, bandits recently ravaged Yar Nasarawa village, Faskari LGA, leaving six dead and 10 injured. They also set houses and motorcycles ablaze and abducted many.
In Sokoto, reports stated that bandits had begun recruiting children, involving them in kidnapping activities. Two minors from Baliyo village, Binji LGA, were apprehended by the police for helping their guardians keep watch over three kidnapped victims in the forest.
Therefore, Tinubu must unbundle the rigid and unitary state policing system for robust state policing. Specialised policing such as forest guards is long overdue to rescue Nigeria from the hydra-headed insecurity menace. Without state police, escalating banditry cannot be tamed, especially given the shortfall in the single police force of 371,000 officers, most of whom are attached illegally to VIPs.
Nigeria is grossly insecure. Under Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023), 63,111 Nigerians died in violence, SBM Intelligence stated. Nigeria was ranked the eighth most terrorised country in the world by the 2023 Global Terrorism Index. This has contributed to the shortfall in food production and upswing in food inflation as Nigeria’s food basket regions are plagued with gnawing terrorism and insecurity.
Although the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, has yielded some results, it is not enough. The recent killing of ISWAP leader, Baa Shuwa and 20 bandits, and later three ISWAP fighters in Yobe by the JTF in Borno in January, are infinitesimal compared to the massacres by non-state actors. Bandits have been estimated to be 120,000-man in the North-West alone, according to a former Zamfara governor.
Tinubu and his Service Chiefs need to stop paying lip service to insecurity, they should draw up a master plan to make Nigeria safe.
