Zamfara State, under the asphyxiating grip of banditry, has become a by-word for wanton bloodbath. The situation got out of control under the immediate past governor, Abdul’aziz Yari. Regrettably, the police and the state seem to be at their wits’ end. This eerie atmosphere goaded the duo to hold a peace meeting with the bandits, during which they promised to lay down their arms. This is a disturbing signal of state failure.
At the meeting in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of the state recently were the Commissioner of Police, Usman Nagogo; leaders of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association; a local vigilance group, Yansakai; Fulani Civilian Joint Task Force and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Abubakar Dauran. The police boss is elated that the deal has started yielding immediate fruits with the release of 40 people kidnapped by the bandits. Similarly, Fulani farmers and market men and women have been advised to now move freely, just as the governor, Bello Matawalle, declared amnesty for all bandits willing to surrender their illegal weapons.
It would appear to the governor that he is succeeding where his immediate predecessor failed. Cattle rustling, setting villages ablaze, mass shooting of people and kidnapping of farmers epitomise the bandits’ barbarism. Resistance from the vigilance groups and Civilian JTF sometimes leads to mutual casualties.
Unfortunately, this absurdity of striking peace deals with common criminals is becoming a fad among Nigeria’s state governors. After the Zamfara experiment, the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has embraced the curious detente. His Director-General in charge of Media and Public Affairs, Abubakar Shekara, said, following the state’s negotiation with the bandits, some of their captives were released, while illegal weapons were also being surrendered. Villagers from Isa, Sabon Birnin and Goroyo Local Government Areas have been deserting their homes due to incessant bloody attacks. Just two weeks ago, gunmen again killed 37 people in Goroyo.
Despite the gains of these so-called reconciliations, it smacks of government’s surrender to non-state criminal actors. It is, indeed, ominous when government begins to give the impression that bandits are invincible and unstoppable. It is an unassailable pointer to Nigeria becoming a failing state. With the benefit of hindsight, this dangerous policy of appeasement towards common felons emboldens them to continue to hold the society to ransom and encourages others to see criminality as a lucrative venture. Quite easily, most of the pardoned bandits tend to return to their evil ways even before the ink with which the peace deal was penned had dried up. For instance, such recrudescence occurred in Katsina State after the same plan was adopted between 2016 and 2018. The governor, Aminu Masari, was so elated when some bandits surrendered their arms, following the work of the Dialogue/Amnesty Committee he set up, headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mustapha Inuwa, that he reportedly paid N30 million to the mass murderers. He granted them “amnesty.” But how has the state fared since then?
The district head of President Muhammadu Buhari’s home town – Daura – Musa Umar, was abducted from his palace by gunmen on May 1. He was not released until early July. Farmers could no longer go to their farms. As kidnapping, cattle rustling and killings escalated, the state was compelled to amend its penal code, which now prescribes the death sentence for these crimes. It has also placed orders for tracking devices to assist the security agencies in arresting the drift. This is the way to go!
Efficient law enforcement can reduce criminality. The JTF leader in Zamfara State, Shuaibu Aliyu, was right during the meeting to call on the police to ensure the bandits are disarmed if peace is to be restored. Much can never be achieved through entreaties to criminals to surrender their weapons. The Niger Delta amnesty programme and the illegal arms the militants gave up as well as the quantum of weapons still in their possession underscore the farce in such a strategy.
As a result, the various states, police and other security agencies involved in restoring law and order to the North-West should think seriously about taking the criminals out from their hideouts. Force is the only language they understand; through the monopoly of weapons of violence, which only the state exercises in a clime where it is alive to its constitutional responsibilities. It is the responsibility of government to enforce the law.
Masari and his colleagues, whose state assemblies have legislated capital punishment for kidnapping and cattle rustling, should start enforcing the law. It is one striking way of sending a strong message to the criminals. Nigeria’s Porous northern borders with Chad, Niger, Benin and Cameroon have to be fortified. Philippines is seriously curbing criminality through a rigorously implemented National Identity Act. Through it, terrorists and criminals are no longer able to assume multiple or false identities to commit crime.
Mopping up illegal weapons is another vital action to take. In 2012, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament raised the alarm that 350 million illicit weapons, representing 70 per cent of the 500 million in West Africa, were circulating in Nigeria. Undoubtedly, the figure has increased since then with the activities of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, in the North-East, and the murderous herdsmen. Therefore, without our leaky international boundaries being controlled, the anarchical drive in the North-West will take a turn for the worse.
The country’s ineffective central policing system notwithstanding, it is argued that the governors can still make some difference with strategic thinking and judicious deployment of resources, using their huge security votes. In curbing violent crime, local security surveillance mechanisms are critical. With forests being havens for bandits and kidnappers, the recent resolve of the South-East governors to establish forest guards in their various domains strikes the right chord. The strategy should be considered by states terribly challenged by insecurity.
