It can no longer be debated that insecurity is on the rise even in cities and other governed areas.
Whenever poverty rises, insecurity rises alongside. Insecurity shows its face in a myriad of atrocious ways. In the South East it manifests as separatist agitations, armed robbery and kidnapping. In North East, its dominant face is insurgency by Boko Haram and ISWAP.
In the North West and North Central, banditry, terrorism and herders/farmers clashes combined with mass abduction of citizens for ransom has made life unbearable. In the South South, the insecurity is centred largely on oil bunkering, illegal refining of crude oil, sea piracy and kidnapping, while in the South West the governments and people of the zone are grappling with cultism, ritual killings, armed robbery and of course the ubiquitous kidnapping that is now a problem nationwide.
However, one state that has become a major security concern for years now is Zamfara State. Zamafara wears the toga and crown of banditry, mass kidnappings and wholesale slaughter of citizens even while at prayer.
Kidnapping Is A Threat To Education
The insecurity in Zamfara State has become so bad that one can now surmise that the authorities there are helpless. If not, how can one explain the ease and frequency with which students are kidnapped from their hostels.
Kidnapping in Zamfara survived the APC governor and it is now rampaging even as a PDP governor has taken charge of the state. Despite all the press releases of the New Zamfara governor pledging his willingness and ability to curb the horror of these kidnappings, there seems to be no respite for the long-suffering people of Zamfara State.
Back in September, students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State were kidnapped by bandits. It was reported that 24 students were kidnapped after the bandits invaded the Sabon-Gida community of the Bungudu local government area in the state. Sabon-Gida village is the host community of the main campus of the Federal University of Gusau. It is about 20 km from the state capital, Gusau. Those kidnapped during the attack in the community were mostly female students of the University. Weeks after their kidnap, many of them are still in the kidnappers’ den leaving the victims and their parents distraught.
On October 6, another batch of nine people were kidnapped in an attack by gunmen in Zamfara State. According to reports, residents of Tsohuwar Kasuwa community in Kaura Namoda local government area of the state said the gunmen stormed their village in an early morning raid on motorcycles. The residents said apart from unrest from the abductions for ransom, and the loss of innocent lives, they are also not allowed to carry out their daily livelihood in peace.
As I write this column, I received news that troops of Operation Hadarin Daji have rescued four students of Federal University Gusau who were among another set kidnapped by armed bandits in Zamfara State on Saturday.
Sources say that in a timely and swift response to distress calls, the troops blocked all roads immediately the students were kidnapped. The blockage of all major exit routes caused the bandits to abandon some of their victims and flee. Public Relations Officer of Operation Hadarin Daji, Captain Yahaya Ibrahim, confirmed the rescue operation.
This column salutes our gallant soldiers who foiled what would have become another sad story from Zamfara.
Not forgotten are eight Youth Corps members who were abducted in Zamfara State on their way to Sokoto for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp who have spent over 59 days in kidnappers’ den. The Corpers were kidnapped on August 17 on their way from Uyo to Sokoto.
The federal government should pay particular attention to these persistent kidnappings of female students in Zamfara. This is all the more urgent given the fact that Zamfara is at the bottom of the education medal table in Nigeria.
In June this year, students of the university protested the high rate of kidnapping involving their schoolmates. Something needs to be done before parents start withdrawing their sons and daughters from school which would have dire consequences for the future development of Zamfara and Nigeria at large.
Fake News On Disappearance Of Genitals
Another manifestation of insecurity in the country is the so-called disappearance of genitals of some citizens through alleged ‘juju’. Ordinarily one should not have paid attention to this but for the simple reason that lives are being lost especially as a result of jungle justice by the mob.
There are growing concerns over the activities of some criminal elements who are reportedly on the prowl in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja and other states of the federation. These gangs use false allegations of loss of genital organs to cause mayhem and target their enemies.
The police have come out to state clearly that most of those allegations are false with no medical proof whatsoever. Many people have been arrested and are currently in custody for making false allegations and inciting the public to commit mayhem and breach public peace.
These false reports of disappearance of genital organs are actually on the rise in many states namely Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna and the nation’s capital Abuja. Sadly, these patently false incidents have led to the murder of some persons by irate mobs.
Recently, the Nasarawa State Police Command, while cautioning residents against jungle justice revealed that some persons were attacked over same allegations in Nasarawa Eggon, Obi, Lafia and Keffi local government areas of the state. The State’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, however, said a medical examination conducted on the alleged victims, “gave all of them a clean bill of health”, indicating that there was no basis for the allegations. In other words, the wave of genital organ allegations is false.
Again, on September 20, some irate youths in phase 2, Gwagwalada area of the FCT, lynched a young man for allegedly stealing a resident’s manhood. Three days after the incident, another resident, Lucky Josiah was accused of causing the disappearance of one Rokeeb Saheed’s manhood. The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, while confirming the ugly development, said that officers of the command quickly responded to a distress call that a victim was being lynched. Unlike the Gwagwalada incident, Lucky was saved by the police operatives from being killed by the angry mob.
Reports also emerged from Bauchi State that one Yohanna Abubakar was killed by a quasi-security outfit for allegedly stealing a male genital organ. The man’s death occurred during an intense interrogation aimed at forcing him to confess to the allegations against him.
Insecurity Exacerbating Poverty
Insecurity has exacerbated poverty in the country. Farmers have fled to towns and cities across Nigeria because insecurity has driven them away from their ancestral homes and farmlands. Businessmen and women who hitherto crisscrossed this country for trade and other economic reasons now refuse to travel for fear of kidnapping. Even, some parents are withdrawing their children from school because of the frequency of student kidnappings. Clearly, we are in a crisis situation, whether we like to acknowledge the severity or not.
In addition to these, the removal of fuel subsidy has pushed many into crime thus leading to heightened and spiraling cases and incidents of insecurity.
Governments just have to come to grips with the situation and declare a state of emergency in banditry and kidnapping endemic states such as Imo, Zamfara, Delta and Kaduna.
MAY NIGERIA REBOUND