No To Ethnic-based Vigilante Groups

Attacks by hoodlums, gruesome murder of residents, displacement of communities and abduction for ransom have become painful part of life in Nigeria as residents of most communities and cities live in a state of debilitating fear not knowing who the next victim will be.
Indeed, it appears no place is immune to this spectre of insecurity as the menace permeates even places like the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which had, until recently, been deemed impenetrable. The FCT, for one, has witnessed a steady increase in the number of abductions with no fewer than 80 persons said to have been kidnapped in the last three months.
The least the citizens expect from the government is for it to frontally combat this worsening state of insecurity by doing all it takes, including looking outside the confines of the nation’s obviously overwhelmed security operatives, to find solution to this menace.
However, even as we urge the government to decapitate this hydra-headed monster, it must guard against sanctioning some measures that will, in the long run, worsen the already deplorable situation.
There is no contesting the fact that the nation’s security agencies, put together, do not have the numerical strength to effectively dominate the security space. This has given rise to agitation for the incorporation of vigilante outfits into the security architecture.
Even at that, we posit that if the need arises, it must be done in a well-structured manner so as to achieve the fundamental aim of seamlessly halting the deteriorating state of security. Indeed, this cannot be effectively achieved with a resort to ethnic vigilante because such risk snowballing into a militia with catastrophic consequences.

It is on this score that we condemn the Nomad Vigilante recently introduced by the Fulani socio-cultural association, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore because of its patently skewed nature and the potential to degenerate into an ethnic militia group.
Recently, the group inaugurated a Nomad Vigilante group comprising 1,144 Fulani youths reportedly drawn from various communities across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa state and claimed such a move was to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies.

The group’s national president, Bello Bodejo said that the profiling of additional recruits is ongoing, with a target to enlist up to 4000 youths for comprehensive coverage of all Fulani communities.
In a bid to justify its creation, Bodejo said that the Vigilante would partner security agencies to identify and arrest criminal elements within the Fulani community, gather intelligence and embark on surveillance to address threats to security of lives and property.
As should be expected, this move by the Fulani socio-cultural group has been greeted with suspicion owing to the fact that most of the terrorists operating in the North West and North Central states are alleged to have links to herdsmen.
It is on record that popular terrorists’ leaders that have been killed including those still making lives brutish for residents, and those who met with some government officials during a fruitless dialogue with terrorists in Katsina state for instance, have been perceived as herdsmen.
With nothing to suggest that they have been properly trained, will the so-called Nomad Vigilante not compound the problem rather than provide a solution? Will they be ready to frontally combat the criminal elements within the ranks of their kinsmen? What are Vigilante’s operating procedures?

Strangely, the group was launched in Nasarawa state, a miniature Nigeria with different ethnic nationalities most of which are very suspicious of the herdsmen whom they have repeatedly accused of being behind some pockets of killings that occurred in some predominantly farming communities of the state.
Already, some residents have condemned the establishment of the all-Fulani vigilante group and likened it to a ploy to infiltrate the state with herdsmen and further worsen the already deplorable state of security. Their fear may not be out-of-place after all.

Fundamentally, Nigeria with its multi-ethnic configuration, cannot afford an ethnic-based vigilante, especially when such is coming from a group that has been, rightly or wrongly, profiled as being the brain behind the rising spate of abductions in the North West and some parts of the North Central states.
What is needed is a vigilante group that is an assemblage of able-bodied youths from different ethnic and social backgrounds and not one that will be a breeding ground for ethnic militia. Therefore, the government should proscribe the Nomad Vigilante now!

It is also pertinent to point out that this group, if allowed to stand may encourage the formation of others with similar ethnic propensities that are unhealthy for the nation. It is our opinion that all such ethnic -based vigilante outfits must be disbanded so as not to compound an already challenging situation.