Banditry: Can We Do It Differently?

If we could end the Nigerian Civil War in 30 months at a time when our military and their armaments were less sophisticated, how come we are unable to defeat Boko Haram and its allied agents of terror in 15 years? That was the fat question posed by one of the advocates of non-kinetic interventions in the anti-terror drive, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who once served as the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.

In battling the present state of insecurity, every voice counts because valuable clues that will help defeat the problem may come from unexpected quarters.

Yusuf is one of the members of the Northern Elders Forum, a body that believes in the carrot-and-stick strategy in defeating banditry and terror. For quite a while, the group has been campaigning for Sheik Ahmad Gumi to be given government backing to negotiate with the bandits with the hope that such a move will solve the problem case by case.

Plea To Negotiate

Last March, NEF appealed to President Tinubu to commission Sheik Gumi to undertake negotiations with bandits for the release of 200 internally displaced women in Borno State and 287 pupils in Kaduna. He pleaded with the president not to make the same mistake made by his predecessor, former President Buhari, who refused to negotiate with criminals, even though he was aware that some governors were paying ransom to secure the release of their people.

NEF’s Spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said Gumi should be supported to bring about a peaceful resolution:

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He said, “While some may question the legitimacy of negotiating with criminals, it is important to consider the potential benefits of engaging in dialogue. In conflict resolution, dialogue is often seen as crucial to finding peaceful solutions. By engaging with the bandits, Gumi may be able to understand their grievances and motivations, which could potentially lead to the safe release of the abducted children. Additionally, opening lines of communication with the bandits could pave the way for addressing underlying issues such as poverty, lack of education, and marginalisation that contribute to the cycle of violence.

“By initiating talks, Gumi may be able to secure the release of the schoolchildren and potentially prevent future abductions. While dialogue with bandits may seem controversial, it can be a necessary step in resolving conflicts and ensuring the safety of hostages…”

The federal government has pointedly rejected the suggestion, saying it won’t pay a kobo for the release of abducted persons. The government’s decision seems to be informed by the plethora of literature and other research findings available on social media showing that banditry has become an industry. When terrorists are begged to accept money in exchange for their victims, the state is admitting that it has lost its claim to being a state and is no longer enjoying a monopoly of violence within its geographical space.
No sensible government will share the money it should be using in procuring arms and ammunition with terrorists who, in several cases, are already outgunning security agencies. With more ransom money, bandits are able to acquire more sophisticated arms and enforce the institutionalisation of their criminal enterprise.

Banditry Now An Industry

Anyone who has been paying attention to the subject will know that banditry has become an industry in Nigeria. Contrary to the claim that it is a northern phenomenon, it is now a pan-Nigerian thing. Marksmen with Sahelian physical features have taken over many forests in the southern states, killing at random and making hefty sums as ransom payment. Where they’re not decimating the population of farmers, they turn the interstate highways to their hunting ground where, at times, they abduct the entire passengers of interstate buses.

Although many of the so-called bandits opened shop as aggrieved herdsmen whose cattle had been rustled by gunmen who crossed into Nigeria from Chad and Niger, there is a conspiracy of silence between the thieves and a section of the elite. Listening to some of their defenders, you would think the poor farmer in Kaduna, Okigwe, Auchi, Maiduguri, Yola, Jos, Gusau, Oyo or Ilesha should be blamed for prospering while his cattle herding compatriot is allegedly suffering. What, I ask, is the link between the rustling of cattle in the far north and the terrorisation of agrarian communities in other parts of the country under the pretence of ‘farmers-herders clashes’. Now that it is clear to everyone that in some parts of the country, there are only bandits and terrorists determined to seize the ancestral lands of farmers, should we still be living the lie that non-kinetic solutions will do the trick?

The recent declaration by the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Dalijan Shehu, that banditry is now an industry in the state, plainly showed the extent of the problem. According to him, the class of people involved in banditry has compounded the situation. He disclosed that a former local government chairman has been arrested for involvement in banditry. In the same vein, a district head has been implicated in the supply of drugs to the criminals while a member of the State House of Assembly was implicated in banditry.

The police do not have the number of men and requisite firepower to confront the enemies of the people. Indeed, in some cases, the local vigilantes and traditional hunters have been known to rescue police operatives captured or trapped by bandits.

As a matter of urgency, the suggestions made by commentators in the public space over the last 12 months should be considered by the federal government. The ‘To Do’ list of deliverables within the next one year should include the following:

Establishment of State Police

Immediate prosecution and punishment of all the sponsors, informants, bagmen and other collaborators of bandits no matter how highly placed.

Enhanced intel-based military intervention simultaneously carried out in contiguous terror-endemic areas.
Coordinated use of drones to take out identified kingpins of banditry.

Retooling of relevant squadrons of the police involved in the anti-banditry war with superior arms more advanced than the terrorists’ weapons.

The franchising out of identified notorious bandits/terrorists’ zones to mercenaries (never say never)!
Banning open grazing nationally so that bandits and Boko Haram may no longer pose as herdsmen or continue to decimate the population of farmers under false pretences. Already, I have written about many ranching initiatives such as the ones established in Kano by former Governor Ganduje which all state governments interested in ranching can emulate.

Ranching Legislation

I notice that the National Assembly has been working on the anti-grazing bill with gusto. It shouldn’t be a divisive issue. In fact, without much ado, the lawmakers should carefully consider the judicial work that has already been done on the subject instead of pretending that the herder-farmer problem is a new development. We should remind them that the matter has since been settled in law by Hon.Justice Adewale Thompson in Suit no AB/26/66 at the Abeokuta Division of the High Court on 17 April,1969 as follows:

“I do not accept the contention of Defendants that a custom exists which imposes an obligation on the owner of a farm to fence his farm whilst the owner of cattle allows his cattle to wander like pests and cause damage. Such a custom if it exists, is unreasonable and I hold that it is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience and therefore unenforceable… in that it is highly unreasonable to impose the burden of fencing a farm on the farmer without the corresponding obligation on the cattle owner to fence in his cattle. “Sequence to that I ban open grazing for it is inimical to peace and tranquillity and the cattle owners must fence or ranch their animals for peace to reign in these communities.”