Unlike the 1994 American action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce with a similar title, Clear and Present Danger, this piece is not about a covert illegal war fought by the United States government against a Colombian drug cartel, apparently with the approval of the US President. It is about the security situation in Nigeria and the need for the Nigerian government not to sanction certain anomalies in the security apparatus.
Attacks, gruesome murder of residents cum displacement of communities and abduction for ransom are gradually becoming a recurring decimal in the nation, with residents of most communities and cities living in a state of constant fear.
This trend has continued for more than a decade now in spite of huge budgetary allocation to the security sector as well as humongous funds governors draw as security votes. Worse still is the fact that assurances by successive government that the situation would be brought under control have turned out to be mere rhetorics.
Nationwide malaise
Indeed, it could be the worst of times at the moment, as it appears no place is immune to this spectre of insecurity. The menace has become a national tragedy that permeates even places like the Federal Capital Territory hitherto deemed as 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 audacious manner in which these terrorists kidnap and collect ransom makes one wonder if Nigeria is not a transcript of a covertly organized crime scene.
As I write this, efforts by security operatives notwithstanding, abduction for ransom has continued unabated in different parts of the country, including Katsina and Zamfara States which have continued to bear the worst brunt of this in humanity of man to man. In Katsina for instance, terrorists in military uniform kidnaped no fewer than 30 persons earlier this week after a coordinated attack carried out in Tashar Nagule of Batsari local government area.
What is certain is the fact that we all expect the government to, in line with its constitutional duty of protecting lives and property, frontally combat this worsening state of insecurity by doing all it takes, even if it requires looking outside the confines of the nation’s obviously overwhelmed security operatives.
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, and hence the widespread agitation for the incorporation of Vigilante into the security architecture cannot be underestimated.
But here is the caveat. In its haste to address this hydra-headed monster, the government must guard against sanctioning some measures that will, in the long run, worsen the already deplorable situation.
Essentially, any resort to using vigilante in complementing the security operatives’ efforts must be done in a well-structured manner so as to achieve the fundamental aim of seamlessly halting the deteriorating state of security.
Otherwise, this can be effectively achieved without recourse to ethnic vigilante because it would be tantamount to courting fresh challenges. Doing that risks snowballing into a militia with catastrophic consequences.
Quelling fire with petrol
It is on this score that not a few citizens have condemned without reservations the Nomad Vigilante recently introduced by the Fulani socio-cultural association, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore. The desire of Nigerians to rally support for the security operatives, though enormous, should not be a reason to sanction a patently skewed outfit that has clear potential of degenerating into an ethnic militia group, further worsening the already deplorable security situation in the country.
Recently, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore inaugurated a Nomad Vigilante group comprising 1,144 Fulani youths reportedly drawn from various communities across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State. It claimed such a move was to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies.
The group’s national president, Bello Bodejo, said the profiling of additional recruits is ongoing, with a target to enlist up to 4,000 youths for comprehensive coverage of all Fulani communities.
In a bid to justify its formation, Bodejo pointed out 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.
Strangely enough, a video of the purported formal launch of Nomad Vigilante has some operatives of the nation’s security agencies, leaving one to wonder if the outfit has not been already sanctioned by such agencies.
Expect more ethnic vigilante groups if…
As should be expected, this move by the Fulani socio-cultural group has been greeted with misgivings owing to the fact that most of the terrorists operating in the North West and North Central states have been associated with herdsmen.
It is on record that popular terrorists’ leaders that have either been killed during cross-fire with security operatives or fingered as brains behind the seemingly intractable abductions and killings, 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 identified to be Fulani.
To start with, was the Nomad Vigilante formally registered and issued licence to operate as such? If yes, will that not be an invitation to the emergence of multiple ethnic-based vigilante groups since ours is a multi—ethnic nation? In the event of such a development, can there be effective control by the regulatory agencies? With nothing to suggest that they have been properly trained, will the so-called Nomad Vigilante not compound the problem instead of providing a solution? Will they be ready to frontally combat the criminal elements within the ranks of their kinsmen? What are the vigilante’s operating procedures?
Curiously, the group was launched in Nasarawa, a miniature Nigerian state 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.
It is true that the nation needs a community-based approach to combating insecurity suggesting that the conventional security operatives must be open to working with communities. But it is also true that we cannot do that effectively through the formation of ethnic-based vigilance group.
Already, some residents have condemned the establishment of the all-Fulani vigilante group, likening 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.
In the midst of this frenzy, there has been conflicting reports about the arrest of Bello Bodejo. While some claimed he had been picked by the DSS, the Service’s spokesman Peter Efunanya denied that he was with the secret police. The fact that Bodejo needs to be interrogated by security, in my considered opinion, cannot be underestimated.
Fundamentally, Nigeria, with its multi-ethnic configuration, cannot afford an ethnic-based vigilante, especially when it 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.
What is needed is a vigilante group that is an assemblage of able-bodied youths from different ethnic and social backgrounds; not an ethnic-based one that will, in the long run, be a breeding ground for ethnic militia. Therefore, the government should proscribe the Nomad Vigilante now.
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