Taming Banditry In Zamfara, Others

Apart from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, presently under the spell of religious extremists attacks, and probably the Middle Belt States persistently troubled by murderous Fulani herdsmen, only very few places in Nigeria suffer the magnitude of routine massacre and downright outlawry being experienced in Zamfara State.
Zamfara State, sadly enough, has come under the siege of never-say bandits who daily commit diverse crimes including kidnapping, wanton killings, cattle rustling and rape of young girls and even housewives, who are usually taken away right in the presence of their parents or husbands.
And in a manner reminiscent of the impunity and arrogance of militiamen in a conquered or ungoverned territories or failed states, the bandits levy villages huge sums of money for protection, threatening – and in fact, unleashing mayhem for failing to comply. Villagers, upon the receipt of such payment notices, either pay up or flee their homes or make arrangements to defend themselves against the assailants who, usually, on several motorbikes, invade the territories, sacking many villages and killing poorly equipped security operatives including women and children. These despicable acts are usually accompanied by massive looting, mindless destruction and cattle rustling.
So terrible is the security situation in Zamfara State that the Governor, who is also the Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulaziz Yari, has been disdainful about the parlous security situation in the state to the extent that he once expressed his readiness to embrace a state of emergency there and relinquish his seat as Governor if doing so would restore normalcy.
Just recently, Yari publicly declared his preparedness to vacate his position as the chief security officer of the state, as, according to him, he had no power over the security agencies that are deployed in the state to stop the killings.
Revealing the modus oparandi of the marauding bandits, which annoyingly makes a fool of the Nigerian State, Governor Yari said they usually sought dialogue during the dry season when all bushes dried up and there was nowhere for them to hide, only for them to return to their normal practice during the raining season when the forest becomes thicker.
Penultimate week, Yari, again, threw a bombshell, lamenting how well-armed and confident the bandits are. Speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the governor lamented that his tormentors are better equipped than the Nigerian security forces.
More worrisome is the fact that the rampaging bandits have spurned several amnesty offers made to them by the state government which claims to have so far expended a whopping sum of N17 billion to support the apparently weak, ineffective and demoralised security structure in the state. This is aside the provision of many operational vehicles to security agencies.
Yari’s unpalatable experiences is obviously symptomatic of the frightening security situation in the North West and other places in the country. While our security forces appear to have been over-stretched by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East in the past 10 years, Nigerians have also had cause to worry about the growing security challenges in other North-West states of Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto, where bandits, allegedly from neighbouring countries, have become terrors to indigenes and residents of the states.
In Kaduna State, since January, some 100 people have been killed in Kajuru local government area over a lingering communal crisis.
Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State had in a security meeting in Katsina in the same January alerted that the state was under siege by bandits, armed robbers and kidnappers, describing the situation as worrisome. In fact, the story is the same in all the North-West states as in some parts of the country. Against this backdrop, The Tide wonders what the Federal Government, states and security forces are doing to check the menace. Only a country that is helpless and incapable of defending her territorial integrity or unperturbed about the increasing human tolls that would not care about the extent of bloodshed suffered by her people and the accompanying daunting security challenges.
Only recently, the Federal Government blamed traditional rulers for the Zamfara killings as many, especially the opposition, have fingered President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the rising insecurity in the country.
As it is, the blame game must stop. What is needed now is more seriousness – and even ruthlessness where necessary from the security agencies to tackle the disturbing menace before it snowballs into a major and costly disaster. Soldiers that were deployed to troubled spots during the last general elections could be assigned to the afore-mentioned states while the Customs and Immigration, would need to re-strategise in checking the influx of people from other countries through land borders in the affected states. This is not to say that the citizenry should stand aloof as security is a collective responsibility.
Even at that, community policing and the need for state police remain imperative. This is the way forward.