Recently, the Ansaru terrorist group banned political activities in many communities in the Eastern part of Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressives Union (BEPU), the Ansaru group has camps in seven political wards in the eastern part of the local government area.
BEPU chairman, Ishaq Kasai, also said that the terrorists usually beat up anybody found with posters of any political party.
We also recall that the terrorist group had banned western education in the Birnin Gwari area.
In the considered opinion of this newspaper, non-state actors giving orders and forming a government is a declaration of war against the Nigerian state.
Sadly, the Ansaru group has been extending its tentacles in Birnin Gwari with minimal resistance from the community and security agencies.
According to reports, they have been with the people in the community for more than 10 years and just started baring their fangs this year. The group was staying in the bushes surrounding the communities before gradually moving into the communities. That is why it is no wonder that the Birnin Gwari road is one of the most dangerous in the country as bandits have made life a living hell for commuters.
Now, its members have practically taken over the eastern part of Birnin Gwari.
The terrorist group takes pre-harvest and post-harvest taxes from the farmers. It also charges protection fees from the community to protect them from other bandits.
Shockingly, the terrorists go about in military uniform without any action from the security agencies.
Just last week, the divisional police officer of Birnin Gwari Police Division in Kaduna State, CSP Mohammed Gyadi-Gyadi, was kidnapped by bandits. The DPO was newly transferred from Pambegua in Kubau local government area to Birnin Gwari and was reporting to his new location when his convoy and other motorists were attacked by the bandits at a place called Corner Bolla between Igabi and Chikun local government areas.
In April, 10 soldiers were killed and an unconfirmed number of others wounded after an attack by bandits on a military facility in Birnin Gwari. In March, bandits killed five and kidnapped four others in Dogon Dawa, Layin Mahuta, and Tabanni, in Birnin Gwari LGA. Within the week, the kidnappers also abducted 17 others.
It is widely believed that the succour and protection provided by the Ansaru group to the community against relentless attacks by bandits helped it to win the confidence of the communities at the outset as the communities felt safe.
However, the situation is now the reverse as the terrorist sect has turned against the people, culminating in the recent banning of political activities in the state. This cannot be allowed to stand.
Indeed, non-state actors are calling the shots in the area because of the lack of presence of government. If the government had provided welfare and security for the community, they will have no reason to seek protection from criminal gangs.
In our considered opinion, telling people not to go to school or vote is denying them their constitutional rights.
The Ansaru group must be dislodged from Birnin Gwari and other parts of the northwest.
As we previously stated in an earlier editorial, under no circumstances should the federal government and the military allow the northwest to become the new epicentre of insurgency and terrorism in the country.
The Northeast and the entire country have not recovered from the decade-long insurgency war. According to reports, in the last 12 years since Boko Haram chose the path of bloodbath, over 100,000 Nigerians have been killed while over 2.5 million have been displaced.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also disclosed that the number of displaced children in the Boko Haram-ravaged North East region is 1.4 million.
Also, the federal government, the United Nations, European Union, and World Bank agree that an estimated $9 billion would be required for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure in the six North East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.
The North West is generally known as the commercial nerve centre of the north; an insurgency in the region will be the final nail in the coffin of the north’s economy. This must not happen.
From the foregoing, we strongly suggest that the military and other security agencies should embark on a massive campaign to flush out the Ansaru terrorist from the forest and dislodge them from their camps in Birnin Gwari. We insist that on no account should non-state actors be allowed to operate a government freely. Nigeria cannot share sovereignty over its territory with any terrorist group.
