Buratai Blames Failed Politicians For The Banditry In Zamfara And Other States In The North West

 By Suleiman Umaru

Tukur Buratai a Lt. General and Chief of Army Staff, CAS, appears to have given a major security  assignment to Magaji Bichi, the Director General  of the Department of State Security, DSS, and Abubakar Adamu, acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, to unravel  those aggrieved politicians in Zamfara state and  the other states in the north west geo-political region who are sponsoring the Bandits in the region.

Buratai who has been involved in prosecuting the Islamic Fundamentalist , Boko Haram Insurgents war in north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states has told members of the House of Representative Committee  on  the Army  who had visited  the Headquarters  of the Theatre Command  Operation Lafiya in Maiduguri, Capital of Borno state  , recently ,  that ”aggrieved politicians  who had   lost out  in the 2019  general elections are the ones sponsoring the Bandits in Zamfara  and other states in the north west.

”I want to believe  that what is  going on  in the north west was a fallout  of the just concluded general election”,  CAS had said. He insists that the aggrieved politicians are the ones  sowing the  seed of bitterness between  farmers and herders as well as arming the bandits in Zamfara state.

Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai: CAS, Blames Aggrived Politicians For The Banditryin The NorthWest

Note that he had  repeatedly said    that the killings and kidnappings going in the north west , have political undertones.    Musa Daura ,  a retired Comptroller of Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, and , who  is the Magajin Garin, a district Head and  next  to the Emir of Daura,  in the chain of traditional Authority,  President Muhammadu Buhari home town in Katsina state  is never a politician but was recently kidnapped by suspected gunmen and had not been rescued  by security operatives despite the marching order given to them security agencies , to find him and bring criminal elements to book.

 The criminal elements may have made things difficult for the security operatives  to get  clue of where they keeping him hostage  by refusing to reach out to the family members  to make their demand for ransom  for fear of being tracked by security operatives  who are combing everywhere in the state and neighbouring states including  Niger to fish out  the hoodlums and set the Daura district Head free.

The question on the lips of most people  is : who are those politicians financing these bandits?.  The Army Chief claimed they have  strong evidence against  the politicians in the north west who are financing and providing logistics for the bandits to carry out their attacks on the people but are conscious to go against them .

Political watchers  describe the reason volunteered by Buratai as being responsible for the banditry in the north west  as a lay man excuse  as there could not be said to be any  aggrieved politicians  in Katsina who  are threatening fire and brime stone for losing election in the state.

 This is because  everybody in state seems to have identified with the President and the APC , going by the millions of votes garnered in the state during the  election. ”Buhari is our tingod”, an  resident of Daura said.This is where Buratai, the CAS, may have to look for  another reason to give to gullible Nigerians about why Banditry are on the rise in the north west in the recent time, Ikechukwu Ekwem,  a Lagos based  analyst had said.

The truth of the matter, he said was that the Army have not really invested on intelligence  gathering  by working with the locals in order to get  to the root of the matter to be able to deal decisively  with the bandits. Note There is no gainsaying the fact that if  Buratai who had repeatedly harped on intelligence gathering  had invested on it over the last four years as the CAS ,   the ”security challenges of the country” would have been a thing of the past. But they allowed the bandits to buy  over the villagers by giving them peanuts to extract information from them on the movement of the troops.

The reason given by the Army General  for the banditry in the north west, according to sources, is  at variance  with  the reason defied by   the Centre for Democratic Development  and Training, CEDERT for the persistent attack on villages by the bandits in the north west. 

The group had revealed that  that  it was bandits from  countries  that share borders with Nigeria  in the particular, Niger and Cameroun , that are responsible  for  the attacks  in Zamfara, which have spread to  other states in the north west including Katstina, the President home state.

The group had  justified its reason based on its findings in  Dansadau, Sabuwa and Birnin in Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states.  Only recently, the bandits  entered  Wagani , a village in Batsari local government Area of Katsina state with little or no resistance from  the indigenes by shooting sporadically  to scare the people and setting  ablaze  houses and cars belonging to the people. One person was said to have fell to the bandits bullet and three others injured. but Abduljalal  Haruna  Runka, a Lawmaker representing  Safana Constituency said 17 people were killed by the bandits in the attack which started at  Gobirawa  village and spread to Sabawa and other villages.

Political Observers  see it as a reprisal attack on the village following allegations   that the villagers had  leaked out information  about their activities  in the area to security operatives, described as a  betrayal of trust, fueling speculation that the people may have been working with the bandits over the years to scuttle government efforts to end the crisis in the region.

The Army believe the bandits are hiding in the forest in the north west to carry out their nefarious attack in the states. This may have informed why  they have banned motor cyclists from coming close to the forest in the seven northern state of Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara,  Kano, Jigawa and Kebbi including Niger, in north central geo-political region to avoid  information about military plans leaking out .

In spite of the  ban, the bandits have continued to infilterate the ranks of Bastsari  local government to attack  the villages despite the Camping of  the Police Puff Adder at strategic locations in the Area. This may have informed why the President  requested to know what the security Chiefs are doing to  caught the wings of the bandits and kidnappers who are making mockery of the security situation in the country at a recent closed door meeting upon his return from a private trip to the United Kingdom, UK.

 Ibok Ekwe Ibas, a Vice Admiral,  who was mandated to talk to the Journalists who had laid ambush at the State House,  had said that the  purpose of the meeting with the President  was   to brief him  on the ”security situation in the country after his return  from his private  visit  to the UK.   The Naval Chief  had disclosed that efforts have been intensified by the security agencies to rescue  Musa,  the retired Customs Area Comptroller and a district Head of Daura. Nigerians are waiting to hear the good news that he has been rescued and culprits  made to face the full weight of the law.

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