Of marauders and brigands in Kaduna, North-West

Nigeria is, arguably, a country under distress. The country’s woes are most evident in the torrential spate of armed violence and criminality in various parts of the country. Nothing explains this awry situation better than the apocalyptically volatile security ambience in the wider northern Nigeria. The northeastern Nigeria is still patently under the Boko Haram scourge, amidst the precarious counterinsurgency endeavors of the government. The north-central area has been afflicted by herdsmen militancy, which has plunged the region into dire humanitarian crisis. The northwestern region has recently been enmeshed in the rapid upsurge of rural banditry along its international frontiers as well as the forested interior. Banditry has become alarming in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic to the extent that it poses a serious security threat not only to the Northwest region but to Nigeria at large. Banditry in the North-West has led to a spree of kidnapping, maiming of people, loss of lives, population displacements, loss of cattle, disruption of socioeconomic activities in general, and equally brought about an atmosphere of uncertainty, a situation that has become worrisome to the government and the citizenry.

A new wave of crisis is emerging in Nigeria’s North-West with the ongoing activities of armed groups referred to locally as bandits in six states, namely Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi. Attacks have included shooting and killing, cattle rustling, kidnapping, rape, torching of entire villages, and looting of valuables, and the numbers of fatalities and displaced people have continued to increase. While more than 1,100 people were killed in 2018 in the six states, over 2,200 were killed in 2019, and more than 1,600 fatalities were recorded between January and June 2020 (Council on Foreign Relations, 2020). By September 2019, such attacks had internally displaced over 160,000 people and produced more than 41,000 refugees (World Food Programme, 2019; United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, 2019). Displacement numbers now stand at over 247,000 IDPs and some 60,000 refugees in 2020.

The situation has changed dramatically over the past week. The terrorists who had been attacking numerous targets, including military establishments, led an assault on the Kaduna airport and stopped flights. Then they attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train, derailed it and broke into the first-class wagons occupied by members of the governing class and their families, killing some and kidnapping others. Meanwhile, these outlaws have had ownership of the Abuja-Kaduna road for years and they attack, kill and kidnap victims at will. In other words, after years of killing and maiming ordinary Nigerians, especially in rural Nigeria, without much notice by those in charge of the state, they are now making a direct beeline for members of the governing class and their families. However, several factors have been adduced as the driving forces of banditry in Nigeria and most especially in the North-West. Drivers of banditry in Nigeria’s North-West consist in some socio-existential conditions that characterise the interior as well as the frontiers of the region. Prominent among these conditions are the scarcely governed spaces- the hinterlands, forestlands and borderlines of the region. The northwestern hinterlands are marked by extremely dispersed rural settlements, separated by rangelands and farmlands that are susceptible to violent contestations.

They are also interspersed by diverse forested landscapes, some of which are dotted by wetlands, rocks and caves. Apart from being separated from each other, they are equally far separated from the centers of governance at the local and state levels. The forestlands of the region are vast, rugged and hazardous. Most importantly, they are grossly under-policed to the point that makes them conducive for all forms of jungle criminality. In view of this, violent crimes, such as banditry, have festered and thrived in such forested areas. Most attacks occur in remote villages, close to forested regions in the North-West where there is little security presence. In likewise manner, banditry occurs in large swathes of forest reserves that are generally out of the reach of the Nigerian security operatives. Most of the bandits’ activities take place in state-owned reserves such as the Kamuku, Kiyanbana, and Fagore forests in northern Nigeria. The forests offer perfect locations as hideouts for the criminals to evade arrest from security forces. The reluctance of the Nigerian security operatives to enter these forest areas seems to be largely due to inefficiency, connivance of the local people, lack of sophisticated equipment and poor motivation of the Nigerian security forces.

Hence, Nigeria’s national security ambience has been quite tense and volatile over the years. While the North-East is still under the siege of Boko Haram, the North-West is steadily sliding into the morass of rural banditry. Just like Boko Haram insurgency, rural banditry in northwestern Nigeria has transmuted from a sporadic onset to a rapid upsurge in the recent years. Again, quite like the insurgents, the bandits have become not only stationary but also sedentary in the frontiers and hinterlands of the North-West. Nonetheless, the way forward lays in a systematic approach capable of devitalising the gamut of socio-existential factors that underlie it. This would entail a conscious and conscientious effort at undoing the totality of the socio-existential conditions that tend to precipitate it.

Oladeji writes in from Lagos.

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