Governors, Banditry And Its Alleged Sponsors

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi

Banditry is very deadly and therefore, a desease which is NOT wanted by all but a few in the society, who make a killing (no pun intended) out of the misery of others. In fact, it is a social menace that all God-fearing people should have nothing to do with, whatever degree of the monetary hankering of its leading members. No worldly desire is worth it.

“Therefore, it came as rude shock to learn that an effort to find a permanent solution to the perennial problem of this deadly disease was crudely cut short, shortly after its beginning by some hired (obviously) thugs, who came as decent though uninvited attendees.

The Katsina meeting by the Katsina Security Community Initiative (KSCI) was aborted due to the interference of sponsored thugs who claimed in very loud voices that the state government had done, and was doing its best to end the banditry-fuelled insecurity in the Northwestern enclave. Apparently the state’s best is not good enough, as the bandits appear to be more daring and more dangerous in their regular, often fatal, infamy.

Yes, two sets of truck-load of soldiers were sent to Katsina State by the federal government due to passionate pleas from first, the Acting/Deputy Governor, Malam Faruk Lawal Jobe and, later, the Governor himself, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, following the deadly attack in Mantau town in Malumfashi Local Government, in which scores of people were massacred at between 5.00:am and 5.30: by bandits through gunshots in a Mosque, and the gruesome burning of others inside their homes.

But even if the whole Nigerian military is brought to Katsina state to bring an end to the banditry, the soldiers will not shoot until they are given the order by their superiors, because they (soldiers) do not shoot to maim, but to kill. Maiming is for the police, not soldiers.

And it is unlikely that the soldiers would get the order to go after the whole bunch of the non state actors who were responsible for the Mantau massacre, or end the banditry that has overwhelmed the efforts of the state government to arrest it.

Just as I was about to put finishing touches to this article, it came to my notice that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has given a blanket order to soldiers operating in Katsina State NOT to wait for ‘an order from any superior, ‘before you can attack the bandits’. And they certainly do not come any more superior than a CDS.

It is a long awaited but pleasing development. But, as the jaded adage goes, ‘ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS’, meaning that even though the benefit of the doubt must be accorded the General, it remains up to him to convince the soldiers on the battlefront that he meant what he said, as ‘old habits die hard’, with military personnel.

The Governor of Zamfara State in the North West, Alhaji Dauda Lawal claimed that banditry has been intractable because some powerful personalities in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, are behind the bandits. The governor made the allegation to some (unseen) pressmen in the chamber of the Government House recently. An allegation that the governor of Katsina State alluded to, during his visit to Mantau town, where he alleged that security agencies were notified of the attack two weeks before it happened.

The Zamfara state governor further alleged that the issue of security had been politicked in Nigeria, instead for the powers-that-be to bring banditry and other forms of insecurity to an end. He claimed to have the proof that the bandits were not inaccessible to the federal government, which has control of all the security agencies in the country.

In addition to providing hundred of highly equipped security vehicles, securing the service of two thousand (2000) hunters from Borno and Yobe states, and whom he has bought guns for, and pays salaries to them every month, he said he wanted Zamfara state and its people to enjoy a permanent peace, “instead of the hell that most of the citizens are living in.

He also claimed to have procured and provided enough security equipment that if utilised for the purpose for which it was intended, the return of permanent peace to his state in two weeks would be a realisable goal. Also claiming to know exactly the bandits’ various locations, the governor lamented that he would neither be allowed to go after the bandits, nor would ‘they’ do it themselves, even though “they could send hundreds of heavily armed security personnel, consisting of soldiers and police, to only five polling places for a by election in the state”.

But some politicians (‘big’ and ‘small’) live in denial of the deteriorating situation of security in Nigeria. They have been singing praises of the present government, claiming that there is PEACE in the country, even though there is a noticeable spike in the regularity of the deadly attacks, abductions for ransom, animal rustling and theft of food stuffs by the bandits, especially in the three North West states of Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto. This is happening at the time when Nigeria is SUPPOSED to have ENTERED into a SECURITY AGREEMENT with the US, France and Israel.

Such politicians could be either beneficiaries in the insecurity, or they are mere sycophants, who want to be given the opportunity to be ‘re-elected’ to ‘represent’ their constituents again. Whichever way, they would always be found making the right noises that the powers-that-be like to hear.

One of the Contact Persons of the organisers of the botched Katsina security meeting, Jamilu Mamman Danmusa, said in a Facebook post that even though they were violently destructed from holding the meeting, they would still continue the efforts to find a solution to the problem of banditry in Katsina State. “We cannot fold our arms and watch our state being overrun by bandits, it is time we rise up to the occasion and protect the state and its interests”.

The efforts to ensure a peaceful Katsina state had earlier taken the KSCI to meetings in Kaduna, and Zaria, where its members interfaced with leading sons and daughters of Katsina state, including University academics and students, before the organisation came to the ‘theatre of banditry induced hell’ (Katsina state) for the unfortunate meeting at the MINAJ EVENT CENTRE, which some interests decided not to allow to hold.

The laudable initiative by the organisation, whose convener is Dr. Bashir Kurfi, has assumed a dangerous dimension, which calls for the entire members to be extra careful. Those who appear NOT to be KEEN to an immediate end to the banditry, may do some harm to them. An accidental something may not be too far fetched, a fate that may befall on them, collectively or individually.

The alleged sponsors of insecurity in the land, prepare to be admired for their stupendous riches in this world NOW, and face the punishment of Allah in the next world, LATER.

May Allah rid Nigeria of the scourge of INSECURITY. May He also rid the Northern part of the country of the menace of the bandits, and the bandits themselves, so that the common citizen will sleep inside his/her house with slumber and the two eyes closed.

Malumfashi writes from Katsina