So what if Kanu is arrested?

On Thursday June 24, 2021 I stumbled on a viral video from Zamfara state. In the four minutes clip, a notorious bandits’ kingpin could be seen boastfully confessing in front of senior security officials of the atrocities he committed against the Nigerian state and its people. The man, popularly known as Dan-Karami is said to be one of the senior gang members of the deceased Buharin daji, a bandits’ general who controlled the rural areas of Zamfara until his death in 2018 in the hand of one of his other gang members, Dogo Gide. Dogo Gide had ‘repented’ and submitted himself to the Government of Zamfara state under Abdulazeez Yari and Yari decided to use him to kill his boss. Gide had since resumed crime and is operating from his base in the vast forest reserve spanning several North Western and central states. He and Dan-Karami were among the many gangsters that sealed and breached several peace agreements with Governments of Zamfara and Katsina states.

I watched the video clips several times and upon enquiry I came to know that the senior Government officials were there to beg him to allow people to go to farm in the areas he controlled now that it is rainy season. The areas he controlled, as he stated in the clip are south of the Jibia-Gusau highway where he claims to be responsible for “any crime you hear of”. It is noteworthy that a week earlier 53 people were killed in the area. That is many times the number of Nigerians killed due to IPOB activities since it started.

Going by what he stated, the Nigerian Government has no other option except to go and beg him since, according to him, he has victoriously repelled all attempts by the Nigerian Army to defeat him. In one of those attempts, he stated, he was attacked by a combined team of Nigerian and Nigerien security forces and he defeated and killed more than half of them. He also confessed of kidnapping forty children from Zurmi township at another point in time.

Another thing he stated worth examining was the initial rejection by the now deposed Emir of Zurmi to dialogue with him or any other terrorist for that matter. If what he said was true, the Emir only agreed to speak to him after it was clear to the Emir that Government could not defeat him. The question to ask here is, if the Emir decided to be communicating to the outcast in order to protect his people, was he doing or not doing the right thing? Why was he deposed by the same Government that now decided to go and smile with a confirmed criminal who has admitted killing several people including our soldiers? When has the Nigerian Government become a coward that aims only at soft targets?

After watching that video, I began to wait for a statement from Federal Government. None came, at least not to my knowledge. The expectations of any citizen who watched that video would be the Government would now launch a major manhunt for the criminal to face charges of murder, treason, kidnapping, etc. Alas! The attention of the leaders of APC and PDP is not there. Their concern is not how Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed or how many criminals are brought to justice but how many politicians from one party defect to another. Unfortunately for the people of Zamfara state the next thing they heard is that their Governor was now defecting to ruling (sorry “governing”) party as if that is what would solve their problem.

But there is one thing I did. After watching that video I decided to send it to the media aide of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and requested him to give it to his boss in case he had not seen it along with our message of disappointment.

My choice of Abubakar Malami is deliberate for two reasons. One. He is not one of those opportunists who only began to support Buhari with the windstorm of 2015. He has been the supporter of Buhari from day one and is thus a witness to all the promises his Oga made to Nigerians. Two. He is the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

Nothing has changed. The Sheikh Gumis are busy going from one bandits’ camp to another and calling on Buhari to give salaries to Fulani criminals. The Kabiru Gombes are all over the place telling masses that Saint Buhari is not responsible for the protection of their lives and property since he has appointed Northerners to take charge of security. The Masaris are there blaming the masses for waiting for Government to give them protection. That is the very sad predicament Northerners have found themselves. You are on your own if fate makes you an ordinary Northern Nigerian.

On Tuesday June 29, while the rest of us were still waiting for action (although sincerely speaking most Northerners have lost hope), Malami appeared on our television screens to tell Nigerians that Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB was arrested “through the collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services”. That is a good news, I thought, but it is no news. Kanu has never been the major problem of the rural farmers of the North. His arrest will never make Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Birnin Gwari, Jibia-Gusau, Kankara-Sheme or any of those highways safe. It will never stop the harassment of our people killed, kidnapped and raped by bandits on daily basis. So what if he is arrested?

But Kanu is being “accused of instigating violence especially in the Southeastern Nigeria that resulted in the loss of lives and property of civilians, military, paramilitary, police forces and destruction of civil institutions and symbols of authorities.” Here is someone right here on the Nigerian soil boasting of having committed all these atrocities and daring Government. Yet, the Government is going there to smile at him. Is that not an irony?

Prof Abdussamad Umar Jibia

30/06/2021

 

 

Banditry: My disappointments with PMB’s approach

Like many other weeks before it in the past several years, the past one week has been very tragic for the people of Jibia LGA. It was during this period that bandits sent a notice to the people of Jibia of an impending attack. Such notices are not unusual since banditry became the order in the North Western part of Nigeria. The criminals do normally not fail in their promises although it does not have to be on the day they mention. Thus, since Thursday the 10^th of June 2021, the people of Jibia town have known no sleep. I partly blame them because when banditry was restricted to the rural areas, most people in the local government headquarters did not give it a damn. Some of them who were fanatical in their support for Buhari even claimed out of mischief that we were only speaking to show the failure of his Government even though they could not deny our support for him throughout the period he was doing everything he could to get to the Presidency.

 The message here is, if you are reading this from the comfort of your room in the city or any other part of Nigeria and you think banditry is not your problem or that it is a problem already solved by PMB, I pray you never get disappointed.

 A day before bandits sent notice to Jibia, they killed two people near Bugaje. Their offence was that they were driving from Bugaje to Katsina in the early part of the night and their headlight hit a group of bandits coming on their motorcycles. This was seen as an act of contempt by the criminals and they opened fire on the people in the front seats of the firewood carrying van. The two of them died immediately and life continued. The blood of Nigerians is not any more sacred than the blood of mosquitoes these days. Many people in Bugaje ward are now moving their families to Katsina town for fear of molestation by bandits. Resist the rape of your wife and you lose your life and your wife is beaten up and raped anyway.

Two things happened to the Jibia town people on Sunday the 13^th. One. Three people travelling down south were kidnapped around Kankara and their abductors later called to ask for a ransom of N300m. Two. Due to their desire to go to farm and cultivate what they eat like they have been doing even before any politician came to advise them, four young people went to farm around Shabba village North west of Jibia town. Themselves and their two cows were later abducted from their farms and moved to the bush. Concerned community members later called in the Nigerien police who moved in swiftly to kill two and arrest one of the bandits. The abductees were freed to join their families. With many friends and relations in the Nigerian Army, Police and Air Force I cannot be against the Nigerian military. But they should not be angry if I say, and rightly too, that the local people around the border now have more confidence in the Nigerien military than they have in their Nigerian counterparts.

 What is happening in Jibia LGA is virtually what is happening in other frontline LGAs in Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto state. In reality, worse things are happening in some other places. For example, in the past two weeks mass killings have taken place in Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger and Kaduna states. I only mention my local government to tell you that I am directly affected and this is not hearsay.

 But when will these things be over? I listened to Mr. President’s interview on Arise News and I have no doubt that Mr. President is sincere in his intention to bring an end to the security challenges bedeviling the North West and other parts of the country. I have no doubt, too, that Mr. President is doing everything he can to solve the problem of insecurity in the country.

As a teacher, I have come across many students who worked hard to answer an examination question and filled so many pages with their beautifully written answers only to score a zero at the end. There are usually two reasons for this. One. The student did not take time to read and understand the question before he begins to answer it. Two. He read and understood the question but he didn’t know the answer. However, since he has registered for the course and told examiners that he is qualified, he has to provide an answer even if it is the wrong one. This phenomenon manifests itself among politicians who campaign and win elections. The second analogy is that of an unqualified and incompetent politician.

 The first analogy is that of a very competent and experienced person like President Muhammadu Buhari who does not take his time to understand the problem and provide a solution based on current realities. Instead he only uses his experiences of the 1950s and 1960s to provide solutions to twenty first century problems.

 Mr. President seems to have the erroneous belief that the corrupt-free military of the 1960s or even 1984 is the same institution today. That is why after the Kankara students’ abduction of last year when he was asked for his reactions by the NTA, the first thing he did was to thank the Nigerian military. There was nowhere in that interview he mentioned Miyetti Allah group, who according to the Governors of Katsina and Zamfara were responsible for the freedom of those children.

Again in the Arise News interview he emphasized on his meeting with security chiefs, the marching order he gave them and the reports he received from them. And I ask, does Mr. President have no other way of knowing what is on the ground except through those security chiefs? As a politician, Mr. President has his party leaders and ardent supporters in every ward of the 774 local governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Is this structure not an alternative for the president to confirm what is on the ground and use it to surprise and issue orders and praise or rebuke his security chiefs?  His claims that bandits are being decimated in the North West and that people are now going to farm show that he is not getting the correct feedback. The example I gave on people abducted on their farms is only one of those incidences. There are villages I know where people are paying taxes to bandits to allow them to go farm and nothing is changing.

Now, does the President understand the identity of our bandits at all? Mr. President was in power four years before Zulum became the Governor but it was Zulum who told him that Boko Haram members are Nigerians. I thought even as he was campaigning for elections he had a very good idea of the identity of Boko Haram membership, how they started and where they were. Those pieces of information were necessary for him to “hit the ground running” as he promised in 2015.

 Now, coming to the herdsmen, he told Governor Ortom that the herdsmen operating in Benue are not Nigerians. Did PMB reflect over this statement? How did they come into Nigeria? Does Ortom have control over our borders? How many immigration officers were punished for allowing foreign herdsmen to cross our borders in large numbers and begin to destroy our farms? Again, MACBAN has been speaking for herdsmen in Benue. Doesn’t he think that the group should be investigated to verify whether or not they are directly involved in crime? Note that it was not only Ortom who once accused MACBAN of complicity in crime. An erstwhile Zamfara Commissioner of Police Nagogo once did it while you were sitting in the villa.

 Are those “foreign” herdsmen the same as bandits operating in the North West? I would disagree with Mr. President if he says yes. The leaders of bandits in the North West are well known to Government. At different points Katsina and Zamfara state Governments held meetings with them in open spaces and none of those criminal gang leaders came from Niger Republic or some other country. They were all Nigerians. Katsina state Governor, who said ab initio, that he was going into peace accord with them at the instance of PMB, has since withdrawn from the peace accord and claimed that the bandits had breached the terms of the agreement. Yet, none of them has been arrested up to this time I am writing.

 But I see. The President does not believe that those bandits are foreigners. In fact, if his statement is anything to go by, there is no banditry as we claim. It is “people with the same language and culture .. killing themselves, stealing each other’s properties.” Haba Mr. President! Please look for another means of getting your reports. You are vividly being misled by some mischievous aides. Banditry in the North West is real and it is not a communal clash. It is a section of an ethnic group unleashing mayhem on the rest of us.

 Another area of my disappointment is the attempt by the President to push blame on the Governors. If he does that for non-APC governors I can excuse him. But President Buhari should remember that ahead of 2015 elections he went round telling the electorate to vote APC candidates because he had a mechanism to make sure that they did the right thing. Now, that we are being killed, kidnapped, scared away from our farmlands and our dignity is being attacked, where should we shift our blame?