By Stephen Ubanna
Terrorists who had cashed in on late President Mummar Ghadafi, of Libya remarks in 2010, that Nigerian is too big to be a country and therefore should be split into several states and those from Sudan, Mali, and Burkina Faso to have infiltrated Nigeria through the neighbouring Niger Republic are in for trouble. This is because the Nigerian military are fully out to flush them out from the country. From the north eastern states of Borno, Yobe to the north north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto , Kebbi to the north central state of Niger, the terrorists and the bandits may have drawn the attention of the military and other security operatives with the killing of farmers, kidnapping of individuals for ransom and cattle rustling.
Take for instance a recent incident in Niger state where seven farmers who had gone to the farm in Bangi , Mariga Local Government Area of the state to bring the maize they had harvested home. The Bandits may have waited for the farmers to have loaded the maize which was said to be in 50 bags put into a truck and about to sped off before opening fire on them and then set truck and the 50 bags of maize ablaze. The bandits may have gone wild to kill because of the intensified efforts efforts by the military to set the north western and north central geopolitical region free the activities of the Bandits and Lakurawa Groups.
Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, rtd and former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Administration and now National Security Adviser, NSA, to President Bola Ahmed, who may have read the handwriting on the wall that the activities of the Bandits Group and Lakurawa group ,have are threat to lives and property in Zamfara, Sokoto,Kebbi, Katsina, and the north central state of Niger, that he has given his word that they will be flushed out. His worry was that the members of the two Bandits Groups have resorted to smuggling of small and light arms into the country , thus frustrating the Nigerian Customs Service Interventions Units in the northern part of the Nigeria.
At the just concluded Comptroller General of Customs Conference in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ribadu, had said that the Bandits Groups should be counting their days of operation in Nigeria. The NSA. may have gladdened the heart of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and his officers involved in anti-smuggling operations across the country that just as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has degraded the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, in the north eastern states of Borno and Yobe, the Administration would also eliminate the Bandits and Lakurawa Groups from the Nigerian territory.
The NSA, who may have been working closely with Chrispher Musa, an Army General and Chief of Defense Staff, CDS, may have had at his finger tips the military option to use force to kick out the newly emerged eLakurawa Group which had had infiltrated Sokoto and Kebbi state to carry out their nefarious activities and further destabilize the various Bandits Group gangs in the north western and north central regions.
True to the NSA’s words, the military appears to have taken a decisive action against the Lakurawa Group in Kebii state that they were said to have retreated to Burkina Faso and Niger Republic. Abubakar Badaru, minister of Defense had said that the operations conducted by the military in a coordinated efforts my have forced the group to flee Nigeria.
The minister had sounded it loud and clear if President Tinubu’s Administration had handled the Lakurawa group bandits lightly as previous governments had handled the Bandits group in the north western geopolitical region and the Insurgents in Borno and Yobe states, the north western states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina and north central states of Adamawa, Taraba and Niger would face the same fate as Borno and Yobe.
Note that the military had intervened on November 12, 2024, the Very day that the NCS, had kickstarted the CG’S Conference at the FCT, to prove a point that it has all that it takes to kick out the Lakurawa group from Sokoto and Kebbi states and push them across the border back to Niger Republic.
Adamu Aliero, a former governor of Kebbi state and now a Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria, who has been monitoring the situation in the north western state over the last couple of weeks could talk authoritatively that that the notorious Lakurawa group have been pushed back to Niger Republic to avoid what happen in Borno and Yobes to repat in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna and Katsina, all north western states and spread to other north eastern states of Adamawa, Taraba, and Bauchi and north central states of Niger, and Kwara.
The sack of the Lakurawa Group from Kebbi state may have emboldened the Nigeria AirForce personnel to embark on series of air strikes that was said to have eliminated Dan-Isuhu and Dogo Sule,and several of their loyalists in Zamfara, described as home state of the bandits. Olusola Akinboyewa, an Air Commodore and Nigeria AirForce spokesperson, had said that the bandits were perfecting plans for coordinated attacks against personnel in their camp along the Tsafe axis in the north western state before the information leaked prompting the air strikes.
The NAF, spokesperson had said that airstrikes on the Bandits Group camps in the forests were executed in continuation of the military Operation ARAUTAR MUJIYA, aimed at eliminating bandits group operating in north western and north Central Nigeria.
The air strikes, was said to have targeted a large assembly of bandits in Baban Kauye village, situated in Tsafe Local Government Area of the Bandits state. The Air Commodure, was emphatic that the latest air strikes in Zamfara state, represent robust response and support for the Theatre Command of Operation FASAN YAMMA, by the NAF, aligning with broader efforts to dismantle and completely degrade bandits’ networks in the north western geopolitical region, disrupt planned attacks and restore peace and stability in the embattled region.
The good news about the intensified air strikes against the Bandits Group and chasing out the Lakurawa group back to Niger Republic is that the Federal Operations Unit FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, Officers w and Kebbi Command officers who appears to have been pursued out from the road making it impossible for them to do their job as expected have staged a comeback. Let us hope that the officers would not run again on sighting the Lakurawa Bandits, who may want to brave the odds to return back to Nigeria to do what they know best: smuggling of small and light arms, drugs, kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling. Compt. Bello Ahmadou Shuaibu, Area Controller, FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, may have given a stern warning to the patrol team officers to sit up as anyone found wanting would be withdrawn to the office.
Olufemi Oluyede, an Army Major General and acting Chief of Army State, CoAS, may have shocked Nigerians when he revealed that Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, the late CoAS, rather than focusing on his treatment abroad , he was busy negotiating how to acquire modern equipment for his soldiers and improve their welfare upon return but didn’t make it back to Nigeria.
In a related development, Lt.General. Musa, the CDS, appears to have confirmed the news the making the rounds over the last one year that some influential persons are undermining the Nigerian Government’s efforts to combat banditry and insurgency.
