Now that Amotekun is lawful

On Thursday January 9, 2020, state Governments in the South west geopolitical zone comprising of Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Lagos converged on Ibadan to launch a joint security network which they codenamed ‘Amotekun’, the Yoruba word for leopard. The launch was attended by the host Governor Seyi Makinde, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and the Chairman, Western Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rotimi Akerelodu of Ondo State. The Governors of Osun and Ogun were represented by their deputies while Lagos state Governor did not send any representation.

Although Akerelodu stated at the occasion that the “Nigeria Police will oversee and moderate the activities of Amotekun”, neither the Police IG nor the host Police commissioner was present or represented. Among those absent were the Director, DSS and GOC 2^nd Division. They were not represented as well. In short, the formal security establishment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not represented at the event.

As if trying to preempt the reactions that trailed the launch, Governor Akerelodu did not mince words in affirming his Forum’s commitment to one Nigeria. He said, “The South West states of the Federation believe in the unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its indissoluble sovereignty. We are committed, in all ramifications, to the ideals that will make the country stronger and more united.”

Although the structure of the security outfit was not unfolded at the event, Akerelodu assured his audience that, “Nobody with questionable character will participate in the programme” and that “The conventional security agencies will participate, actively, in profiling the recruits”. As for the aim of launching the security network, Governor Makinde of Oyo said it is “to ensure that both indigenes and settlers living within the boundaries of our various states can carry out their legitimate activities in a secure environment. The security of their lives and properties should be of paramount importance”.

The Amotekun initiative was followed by different reactions from different quarters. Surprisingly, even the Yoruba were not united in their support for Amotekun. Prof Wole Soyinka did not waste any time in telling President Buhari that he was the one that brought about Amotekun by failing to do his job of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians. Femi Falana defended the idea of Amotekun but advised each of the state governors to submit a supporting bill to his state house of assembly to provide an enabling law. However, Prof Ishaq Akintola accused the Governors of turning Amotekun into a ‘Christian militia’ as recruitment into the security outfit has mandated applicants to submit birth certificates registered only in churches. This view was echoed by the Muslim community of Osun state.

Among those who supported the Amotekun initiative is the Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) South West zone, Alhaji Mohammed Labaran. According to him, “it is a welcome development, we don’t oppose it”. Alhaji Labaran however lamented that despite living amicably with their host communities they were not involved in the idea of Amotekun. In a swift reaction, the Publicity secretary of the Yoruba summit group Mr. Gboyega Adejumo stated that Amotekun is about Yoruba, “it is not about you”. He added, “Are you going to ask a thief to support a security initiative? Are you going to ask someone who willfully damages your property to support a security initiative? ”

It is perhaps reactions like that of Adejumo that made the mother body of MACBAN to take a very harsh stance of Amotekun. It described Amotekun as an agenda to displace herders from the southwest and a threat to democracy. It later added that the Southwest stands to lose the Presidency in 2023 if it does not drop the idea.

If MACBAN threatens the South west with losing presidency, it is only exploiting the psychology of the average Northern Muslim. Most Northerners, including those who are victims of excesses of Fulani herders and bandits, feel insulted when Fulani are criticized. That is why when the Amotekun debate started many Northerners suddenly became lawyers who continued to condemn Amotekun as an illegality in Social media, local radio programmes and group discussions.

The fear generally expressed in such discussions is that Amotekun may end up becoming like OPC, a body that attacked and killed Non-Yoruba residents of the Southwest during it’s period of strength. The same people have forgotten that the attacks we continue to experience in the North today is worse than what OPC gave us in the late ninetees.

Yes, the OPC killed tens of Northerners and I wrote to remind Nigerians about it when it’s founder Fredrick Faseun died. However, the record of OPC attacks do not indicate mass raping and kidnapping like we experience in the North West today. Again, OPC did not attack their own, but the bandits operating in the North west attack everyone including Fulani and Hausa. Another difference is that OPC had a leadership that we can talk to, but the criminals we have in the North today are broken into small gangs operating from different remote bases.

So, why should the Northerner leave the danger confronting him and start discussing a lesser evil that is only perceived?

But now the issue of Amotekun is almost settled. After a series of twists between Federal Government and south western states governments, the Federal Government has now agreed that it is lawful to set up a security outfit like Amotekun if an enabling law is provided.

But who needs Amotekun more? Is it the South West or the North West?

For those who have been following events in the devastated areas of Katsina and Zamfara for example, it is well known that either our military is not capable of handling this security challenge or it is not willing to. Even those security detachments that have shown willingness to fight bandits only intercept them before they attack, but in most cases after the attacks have already taken place. Even though in many cases the camps locations of these criminals are known, it is clear to see that the  military is not ready to take the risk of taking the battle to the homes of these bandits. That is why whenever the military is withdrawn the attacks continue.

But what is responsible for this? Is it because our military personnel have nothing to lose when the attacks take place? Most soldiers and policemen operating in some of the worst hit communities do not belong there, do not know the culture of the people and would not lose anything in terms of property or relations when the local communities are attacked.

Is this attitude due to corruption? Many have expressed fears that some of the military commanders may be compromised. I am still looking for evidence. I have seen none.

Dear reader would agree with me that when the local volunteers (‘yan sa kai) and vigilantes were operating in the North West, the security situation was much better. These groups were made up of locals who know the terrain and who can identify local criminals with utmost accuracy. All of a sudden, Governors of the North West met some time last year to ban the vigilante groups. In their place they offered amnesty to the criminals which had proven to be a failure several times before.

Where would a Governor who is struggling to pay minimum wage to his hardworking civil servants find enough money to continuously pay a criminal with an insatiable hunger for wealth? That is why even those criminals who accept to stop crime would stop it when the money is coming and resume when Government money stops. Certainly, this is not an approach that would provide a final solution to the problem of banditry and kidnapping in the North.

Moving forward, why won’t our Governors try Amotekun? It is now lawful.

Katsina: As the peace accord crumbles

Many observers from outside Katsina state now view us with envy for the projects, especially the higher institutions of learning sited in the state by Buhari administration. Two specialized universities, a polytechnic and a few others. President Buhari has also appointed a number of Katsina indigenes to big offices at the centre.

All of the above are true and laudable but they are mainly important to people like me who live in major population centres within and outside the state. For the rural population, especially in the western part of the state, universities, polytechnics and big offices make no sense for as long as they are not able to sleep with their eyes closed.

Three months ago, on the directive of Mr. President, Katsina state Government under Masari entered into a peace agreement with criminals who have been responsible for hundreds of Murders, rapes and kidnappings across the state, particularly in those LGAs that share borders with Zamfara state. Of course, those bandits had already signed and breached multiple peace accords with the neighbouring Zamfara state Government just like they breached an earlier one with Katsina under Masari. But Masari had no choice as he does not command troops. Let us give him that benefit of doubt.

But what were the terms of the peace accord? The only condition I know is what Governor Masari put as ‘dan ba kara’ meaning ‘there must be no repetition of crime’ after the peace accord. The implication of that condition is that the bandits got away with all the crimes they committed including murder and destruction and stealing of property. There was no condition that the armed groups should disband and leave their camps to join the rest of the population. Even the arms surrender was ridiculous. For example, on one of those occasions, the bandits were seen surrendering only two rifles to the Governor. Yes, the same bandits who were known to move about with two to three hundred motorcycles with each motorcycle carrying two to three armed gangsters. And the Governor ironically accepted.

The peace accord had come and gone and the many of us who were against it have now been vindicated. Immediately after the peace meetings, the armed bandits moved about freely brandishing their arms among the people. They sold stolen property freely in our markets and broke shops and confiscated personal belongings like phones and cash from individuals.  Just like they attacked Katsina after negotiating peace with Zamfara, they also attempted to extend their terror to the neighbouring Niger republic. Of course, it has proven to be unsuccessful due to the vigilance of the Nigerien security forces.
For several weeks, those of us who have strong links with people living in the rural areas of Jibia and Batsari are worried about the escalation of violence in those areas. All that used to happen before the peace accord is now gradually returning. As I m writing this note, cases of cattle rustling are fully back. There are many cases of rape and kidnapping for ransom.
 
Another worrisome trend is the marriage between rice smugglers and bandits. Rice smugglers who fail to obtain prior clearance from bandits have their rice and valuables confiscated after being forced to take it to their camps.

This gradual return of full-scale banditry is obviously due to the inability of the bandits to find a fertile ground in the neighbouring Niger Republic just like they found in Katsina after Zamfara peace accord.

My take:

Even for the sake of smuggled rice, since humans do not seem to be as important, Federal Government should take its battle to the bandits’ camps.

This article was published in other places on 19/12/2019.

Governor Masari and his malignment of Katsina people

For anyone who has been following the security situation in Katsina state, the recent press address followed by a BBC Hausa interview by Governor Masari is a gross disappointment and an insult to the people of Katsina state.

First, the claim that Jibia local Government has been peaceful until when recently some rice smugglers invited bandits to chase Customs officers for them shows that he is either not aware of what has been happening in Jibia LGA or he is deliberately covering up the truth. Bandit attacks in which they raped, killed, kidnapped and rustled animals have been on before and after his FG-imposed peace accords in 2016 and 2019. In fact, it became more widespread after the 2019 peace accord.

Daddara district had fewer cases of banditry cases before the accord than after the accord was signed. But because villages are not important to Masari, himself a villager, he only found it necessary to address the press when Jibia township was attacked, obviously because of the high alarm raised after the two attacks in Jibia and it’s junction (Magama). Even as a son of Jibia town, I have blamed stakeholders in Jibia of not raising so much alarm when villages were being attacked.

If I may ask His Excellency my Governor, were the bandits who attacked Sardaduwa, Kafiyal, Farun Bugaje, Garin Rabe, Dan arau, Kukar Babangida, Zandam, Matso-Matso, Mazanya among several other places in both Daddara and Jibia districts invited by smugglers? Perhaps the Governor did not know that all of these places I mentioned were attacked after the 2019 peace accord which he told the Fulani bandits, during one the widely publicized peace meetings, was done at the instance of President Buhari. May be he is hearing some of these names for the first time. Yet, these are the same communities that voted for the Buhari party in 2015 and 2019.

Throughout his press address and the BBC interview Governor Masari did not sympathize with the victims of bandits’ attacks. He commended the defenceless people of Magama for chasing armed bandits which they did with pure courage, but he fell short of acknowledging that two young people were killed in the process. He told BBC that he was in Jibia on Friday to attend the wedding of a politician’s daughter but he did not find it necessary to make a stopover at Magama to condole with the poor families of those young people. Haba Masari! Which kind of leader are you?

By the way, is the Nigerian Customs Service not prepared to fight smuggling? How can it’s men so easily be chased away by Fulani bandits as the Governor himself admitted? And please your Excellency, are the bandits invited by smugglers among those who signed peace accord with you or are they among the twenty percent who did not accept the peace offer? Where are the eighty percent and how do they live? Do you give them salary from the lean resources of Katsina people or do they still practice crime but only when invited by fellow criminals who live in the towns? And you don’t consider that as a breach of the peace agreement you signed with them?

Masari admitted that there are Fulani bandits (yes, ‘Fulani’ that is how he put it) who did not accept the peace agreement, but he quickly said they are now in Zamfara state. Is Zamfara not part of Nigeria? Didn’t he report back to the man who instructed him to negotiate with bandits that some of them have refused to accept the peace offer and are now hiding in Zamfara forest? What has the president done about it? Most elected politicians hide under the inaccessibility provided by heavy security to insult their people. Otherwise with one on one discussion people like Alhaji Aminu Masari cannot defend themselves before the masses of Katsina people.

As far as my Governor is concerned all those claiming that there is a breach of peace in Katsina state are liars. But he quickly contradicted himself by saying that the problem of banditry is all over Nigeria, “so why are we over blowing it in Katsina state?” The Governor may wish to note that there is no state in Nigeria today in which you would find a local Government, nay the whole state, in which bandits attacks take place on daily basis except Katsina state. The statistics given by Dutsin Ma people is “false”. I am only quoting the Governor. Kai Gwamna, kaji tsoron Allah. Let me remind you that Allah will ask you on every life lost, every property stolen and every woman raped in Katsina. If you believe in this, why then do you think because crimes are taking place in other states, it is justified to take place in Katsina?

Of course I am impressed by the renewed promise of the Governor to address the problem of kidnapping which he said he is taking undisclosed steps to end. My advice is that the steps should be new and unconventional, not the same old ones known to the criminals. A state Governor mobilized his people against Fulani marauders invading their farms with their cattle and it is now over. Why can’t Masari mobilize his people against Fulani bandits even if it means being at loggerheads with Federal Government? Is it because some of us are Fulani? But the Governor himself rightly put it that if parting with one’s finger is what will make the rest of the body healthy, there is nothing wrong in cutting it.

Nobody is against anybody here. The rest of us are interested in peace, which should not just be for urban people but everyone living in every nook and cranny of the state.