[EDITORIAL] An Emir’s Indiscretion

The Nigeria Police jingle delivered in the nation’s street lingo, pidgin English, “armed robber no be spirit” was further highlighted recently when the Emir of Yandoto, Alhaji Garba Marafa, turbaned a bandit kingpin called Ada Aleru and gave him the title of Sarkin Fulani. Before now, the attitude was that the bandits were faceless and inaccessible.  This particular bandit was notorious for making life a living hell for indigenes of Zamfara and Katsina states. Now, he has been made Sarki of Fulani in those areas. Expectedly, it was reported that over 100 known terrorists on motorcycles without their guns attended the chieftaincy conferment ceremony.

It was also reported that the reason the Emir adduced for his obvious act of indiscretion was that the beneficiary of this misplaced honour had embraced peace. This, indeed, must be peace of the graveyard with some of his still active comrades witnessing the scene that gives the impression that crime pays. Previously, before this sham, it was reported that, at a meeting, Ada Aleru had agreed to stop attacking the communities and villages in the emirate. He also agreed to allow people to go to their farms.

However, in giving him the title Sarkin Fulani, the average decent Fulani person must be embarrassed that a man with such pedigree has been foisted on them as their leader. It sure casts a slur on the leadership structure among the Fulani who will have a justified feeling of repulsion at the idea of a bandit as their sarki. Still, some of the guests at the event were Fulani who must have reserved their opinion out of fear.

Reacting to this arrant thoughtlessness, the Governor of the state, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, distanced his person and his office from all the processes and announced the suspension of the Emir with immediate effect. Already, a six-man committee has been set up by the government of the state to investigate the circumstances leading to the action of the royal father.

We recall that the Zamfara state government, as part of its effort to fight crime in the state had, in 2021, suspended three traditional rulers from office for allegedly violating its directives against banditry activities. Those ones were district heads, traditional rulers nonetheless. Curiously, in our view, this time it was a full-fledged Emir who decided to recognise and accept banditry as a worthy cause that can be pursued with the expectation of such high reward. A terribly bad example that deserves all the condemnation it has so far attracted.

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The government at both federal and state levels have consistently insisted that the impunity with which bandits and terrorists operate has every thing to do with the support they receive from otherwise eminent Nigerians. And because of who these sponsors are, the same governments pussyfoot on the promise to expose and shame them.

In the considered opinion of this newspaper, it is an irony that such a highly placed royal father will, simply, on the basis of mere pledge to be of good behaviour, decide to spit on the grave of his subjects who were the victims of the act of criminality by this fellow. It is on record that bandits, no matter the extent of deradicalisation often, like dogs, go back to their vomit. They will, always, for the same reason that they embarked on the inglorious anti-social behaviour in the first place, one day return to it. It has happened severally even in Zamfara state where negotiations and agreements reached with terrorists were rubbished even before the government had an opportunity to act on them.

Also, we are worried that the security agencies in Zamfara state on the day of the event were so intimidated that they did not see the need to intercept and arrest the terrorists who were so identified.  Similarly, we are appalled, if not terrified, by the brazen effrontery of those criminals in daring the security agencies by making such a public appearance in broad daylight. The thought that they got away with it tells an intriguing story about the war on terror and the citizens’ willingness to accept the assurances they receive from these security agencies regrading their commitment to ending the scourge banditry and terrorism have become.

The sad side effect of this development, as we perceive it, is its international dimension. What will the rest of the world be thinking of Nigerians? On one hand we pretend to be concerned about the activities of bandits and terrorists, while on the other, for reasons that make no sense at all, we hob-nob with them and raise them to pedestals not even available to better behaved citizens.

Following the tradition in the North, we will not be surprised if this character is eventually assigned to superintend over a section of the Zamfara community. That is what Sarkis do. They rule over a group of people.

It is gratifying, in our opinion, that the state government has repudiated this ugly situation. We also expect it to go a step further and act decisively in a manner that will ensure that no such thing ever happens again in that state. The Emir ought to have been deposed by now and the title retrieved from that bandit. Suspension, as we see it, is a slap on the wrist and totally unacceptable.