North not at rest

The North seems to be in a state of flux due to the frightening state of insecurity in the last few weeks with many senior citizens expressing frustration and despondency. KUNLE ODEREMI reports on the worrisome situation.

THE North is in pains. That axis of Nigeria has become a veritable zone of death; death in the hands of hardened criminals. Terrorists, bandits, armed robbers, kidnappers, abductors and cattle rustlers are on the prowl almost on a daily basis and at an incredulous rate and rapidity.

The high and the low in the region are furious; they are fuming because the authorities at different levels of government and agencies, as well as the security apparatus appear overwhelmed by the mindless killings, maiming, arson and other forms of threats to lives and property currently going on in the North. The gamut of the challenges, especially the harvest of deaths, has led to thousands of residents fleeing from their traditional homes and communities. Indeed, in the last few weeks, criminals, including kidnappers and abductors that have made some busy highways in the North ‘no go areas’ for motorists and other road users.

Terrorists have made a mince of residents on many fringe communities in states like Borno, Sokoto, Katsina, Yobe and Niger. Aside sending scores of individuals to the grave prematurely, insurgents, bandits and armed robbers have turned many hapless citizens into widowers, widows, orphans and amputees overnight. Millions are equally being deprived of their means of livelihood by rampaging bandits and cattle rustlers, disguising to be herders. Death is not just cheap in the North these days. The area is gradually becoming ungovernable, due to the virulent activities of Boko Haram insurgents and members of rival terror groups such as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

And all leaders in the North are on edge and frustrated by the precarious state of insecurity in the zone. Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger states, have virtually become the epicentres of violent crimes, brutal killings and arson in the hands of terrorists and bandits, as well as robbers, kidnappers and abductors, They are not only on the prowl but they have also made life uncomfortable for millions of citizens in the North. Therefore, at different fora, concerned citizens from the North have not failed to cry out over the fact that the zone was sitting on a keg of gun powder. The height of such fury, frustration and despondency played out on Monday in Kaduna, when irate youths invaded the venue of a security meeting at the political headquarters of the region. Wielding dangerous items, the youths disrupted the meeting put together by the Coalition of Northern Groups on the horrifying state of insecurity in the North.

As the whole world was still smarting and mourning  the massacre of 43 rice framers by suspected Boko Harm insurgents in Borno State a couple of weeks ago, another tragic moment had occurred, following the abduction of hundreds of students of a science secondary school in Katsina State on Friday night. Though the actual number of the students still in captivity as of press time remain unknown, the school has a student population of more than 800. The Presidency, the Katsina State government and military authorities are yet to come up with a breakdown of the figures. But another report indicated that Boko Haram insurgents have also killed dozens of Nigerians in a refugee camp in neighbouring Niger Republic, after fleeing from Boro State. They were mowed down by the terrorist at Tamour, a remote community in the neigbouring country that is also still battling insurgency in spite of the joint military operations in the Lake Chad basin.   In Niger State, suspected bandits invaded Ogu and Tagina communities in Rafi Local Government Area, killing one cleric and abducting 19 persons.

In the recent attack in Borno, rampaging Boko Haram insurgents reportedly tied up many of the victims before slitting their throats in Jere, with spontaneous global outrage and calls for justice. It is also recalled that about 16 days after IDPs were returned to Kukawa Local Government Area on August 18, the terrorists overrun the community and abducted about 100 persons. The insurgents have also unleashed terror on the convoy of the state governor Babagana Zulum on September 27, as he returned from escorting the IDPs for resettlement. Though he escaped by a hair’s breath, no fewer than 18 people, including four civilians were reportedly killed. The attack came two days after Zulum survived another dangerous assault while traveling near Lake Chad, and a previous ambush by insurgents in July. Zulum has been making concerted efforts for more than two million persons displaced from their homes to return to their natural root and start picking up the pieces of their lives again.

 

Chilling details across board

According to some reports, the wave of insecurity in the North partly derives from the influx of small arms and light weapons in possession of organised gangs operating from forests. They are believed to be behind cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery. The activities of the criminals have spread across Zamfara,Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger. The problem has been compounded by that atrocities of Boko Haram in the North-West, especially in Borno where the sect has made life miserable for millions of the people in the entire zone. Groups like the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, better known as Ansaru; the Islamic State in West Africa Province are also involved in the terrorists’ attacks. The consequence is that the North West now has the highest poverty rate in the country.  The zone currently has the highest number of out-of-school children. Part of the consequences is the huge humanitarian challenge currently facing the North. Another report indicated that as at September 2019, a total of 210,354 persons were displaced from 171 towns and villages in the North-West comprising 144,996 in Zamfara; 35,941 from Sokoto and 29,417 in Katsina, with about 60,000 of the displaced fleeing to Niger Republic.

The crisis is also taking a toll on the economy of the North, especially agriculture that 80 per cent of the population depends for livelihoods. According to available statistics, a lot of farmers in the North, have abandoned their farms, For example, in Zamfara, more than 13,000 hectares of farmland have been either destroyed or rendered inaccessible as a result of attacks by herder-allied armed groups and criminal gangs; in Sokoto, the state’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) reported that as of October 2019, some 21,316 hectares of farmland across five local government areas remained uncultivated, as 80,000 intimidated farmers stayed away. The report equally claimed that huge numbers of livestock have similarly been lost: from 2011 to 2019, about 141,360 cattle and 215,241 sheep were rustled in Zamfara. It was against this background that in April this year, the governor of Niger State Abubakar Sani Bello lamented that the North was “heading toward famine and starvation.”

A report claimed that more than 1,100 people were killed in rural areas in the North, following the escalation of attacks and abductions during the first half of the year. A report by the Amnesty International stated: “The Nigerian authorities have left rural communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen who have killed at least 1,126 people in the North of the country since January.” It specifically listed Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states, where the ugly trend had culminated in the citizens living in fear of attacks and kidnappings. It also cited Southern Kaduna, where, according to AI, at least 366 people were killed in multiple attacks by bandits.  “Terrifying attacks on rural communities in the North of Nigeria have been going on for years,” said Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International Nigeria. For example, on February 9, 2020, at least 30 people, including a pregnant woman and a baby, die after suspected Boko Haram militants set fire on sleeping travelers in Borno, while on June 9, 2020, no fewer than  81 people are killed in another attack, with a village head, children and womenabducted.

 

Lamentation of the leaders

Hitherto, many leaders of thoughts from the North were frequently accused of keeping quiet over the gradual descent of the region to a state of flux. They were faulted on the grounds of trying to avoid a collision cause with the political elite cum establishment, especially at the federal level. The few that often spoke openly on the impending danger did so with some measure of caution and discretion because of the overall political implications for their ambition at election time. However, former vice president Atiku Avubakar, deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamidi Sanusi and a former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Ango Abdulahi have been consistent in raising the alarm on impending danger if the authorities continued to gloss over the core challenges confronting the region.

Other opinion moulders and influencers from the North, including the Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, Sa’ad Abubakar, have expressed fear and uncertainty pervasive in the North, particularly due to insecurity. One of his latest interventions was his advocacy that the military occupy Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region housing Boko Haram insurgents. On a condolence visit to the governor of Borno with other top traditional rulers over massacre of rice farmers, the sultan apparently expressed loss of confidence in the present security arrangement. His words:  “It is not just a condolence visit; it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shedding of innocent blood under whatever guise across this country. So many lives have been lost in the past, we can’t even compute how many lives we have lost. It becomes like a daily occurrence, a daily event. A new normal, it becomes a story when in a day, nobody was killed in a particular place of this country.

“We had various fora with our political leaders, mentioning these things on how to take care of our security in various communities. We have written papers, sent our governors; we have discussed with all our leaders, on the way forward.But we see things getting worse and worse. It used to be Boko Haram alone in Borno and Yobe, now, in all over the North in particular and generally all over the country. You have bandits and terrorists all over the north, you can’t even move freely. In the south, it is the same thing. The killings have taken new dimensions and we really don’t know what are the causes of these mass killings of innocent people.“We decided to come together as the council of traditional rulers to make this statement to all and sundry, not only to the governor of Borno State, but to all our governors. Let’s rise up to the occasion and see how we can come together to fight this menace of shedding innocent people’s blood.”

Only a few weeks, the Sultan of Sokoto, who doubles as the president of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), was unequivocal on the predicament of the North, as governors of the states in the North-East met in Yola, the Adamawa State where they also decried the frightening security challenges in the North.  In his speech at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), Sultan Abubakar demanded a proactive attempts to tame the insecurity and high cost of living. “We have security problems in the country. Bandits now go into people’s houses to kidnap and not on the highway anymore. In the last couple of days, they are going into institutions. In Zaria, they went to ABU and the polytechnic and took away people,” he said. The monarch lamented that in the North West, in particular, people could no longer  sleep with their eyes closed, adding: “The insecurity in the North is so high that people are afraid of travelling from Funtua (Katsina State) to Zaria (Kaduna State); a journey of about 48 or 50 miles. This is not to talk of from Sokoto to Abuja or Kano.We know what we are going through. We are so insecure in the North that people are losing hope. People keep things in the house so that when the bandits come, they would let them be free.

A couple of weeks ago, 76 people were killed in Sokoto by bandits in a day, it is not seen as a story because I went there with the governor of Sokoto but you don’t hear these stories because it happened in the North and we don’t have the media that is strong enough to bring out these atrocities by the bandits; so people think that the North is secure.

“The North is not secure at all; in fact, it is the worst place to be in this country because bandits go about in villages with their AK47 and nobody talks to them. They stop at the markets and buy things and even collect change with their weapons,” he said.

Ironically, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, was among the eminent persons at the occasion. He acknowledged the worrisome state of security of lives and property as highlighted by the traditional ruler and other stakeholders. “Today, despite all efforts, including the deployment of enormous resources, our country still faces a measure of insecurity, which is impacting negatively on our economy, social life, education of children and young persons, investment and remains a threat to lives and livelihood,” he said.

Similarly, the North East Governors Forum (NEGF) was apprehensive about the prevalent security situation, urging the Federal Government to grant states powers to prosecute terror suspects. Speaking through the chairman of the forum, Professor Zulum, the governors expressed concern about the rising cases of banditry and kidnapping in the region, He declared: “The twin scourge is assuming a worrisome dimension in the North-East as it is becoming rampant and widespread. Inter-state road travel is becoming a virtual impossibility for the people due to palpable danger of abduction along most major roads.It is a matter of strategic imperative for us to give considerable attention to how to deal effectively with the problem and give our people a sense of sufficient and sustainable protection whenever they travel out.”

Other stakeholders, including clerics have decried the fragile state of security of lives and property in the North. One of them is the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, , who lamented that life had become precarious, with people no longer free to move about. He stated: “Let nobody tell us that the Boko Haram have better weapons than our military or that the terrorists are better trained than the Army to which we are devoting billions and trillions of naira every year in the budget. There is no way the government can claim to have done all that needs to be done. If this is the best that they can do, then their best is not enough.

“In everything we do, there must be a strategy and the strategy must have an outcome. The strategy for our defence and for our national security must be to secure our nation. Instead of securing our nation, our people, including our soldiers, are being killed. It means that you have to change your strategy and the first thing to change in your strategy is to change the people.

“The security chiefs should be changed, so that other people can do it better, irrespective of whether they are Christians or Muslims. But when you find out that they are all Muslims, you will be thinking that there is something sinister going on.” On the way out of the current uncertainty, Onayeikan said: “In other countries, if this kind of thing happens, the security chiefs would have been sacked and held responsible for not being able to deal with the terrorists.

“We are not satisfied with what they are doing. Life has become precarious, people cannot move around freely and businesses cannot go on. We are not happy that lives are being wasted, as every human life is sacred. We have to put our house in order if we want investors to come.”

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has maintained its position that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has failed to deliver on his promise to redress the security situation in the country. The spokesman of the group, Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Claimed that Buhari did not realise that the country had serious problems to deal with in the area of security, stating that, “I feel sorry for the president, if he does not do anything and we just hear excuses then we are in serious trouble.The Presidency does not feel empathy. We don’t see a presidency, who recognises the fact that we have serious problems but all we hear is we should pray. We are praying that God shows Buhari the way to fix the country. As northerners we are dying and southerners are being killed.Buhari needs to do something serious; we measure him by just one thing and that is ‘What is the outcome of your commitment’ the country has become so dangerous to live in.”

Many other personalities and groups are on the same page on what they consider as the way out of the current quagmire and conundrum. They are on the same page that the existing security architecture should be tinkered with to inject fresh blood that can think outside the box. Others have advocated a multifaceted approach that should include regional security outfits such as Amotekun introduced by states in the South-West to enhance community policing. Even though Borno governor has suggested the engagement of mercenaries to tackle the insurgency, a few individuals suggested the declaration of a state of emergency in the worst-hit areas. The North, some observers contend, no doubt needs quicker and faster proactive measures and interventions to stave off a crisis of higher proportion.

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