By Suleiman Umaru
When Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, rtd, and former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and now National Security Adviser, NSA, to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, revealed that some arrowheads of the Bandits Group in the north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, former President Muhammadu Buhari Buhari home state, Zamfara and Sokoto and Kebbi, had been killed by Nigeria soldiers many had expected the crisis in the region to be over. Fare from it.
The Bandists Group Kingpins who were said to have been killed by the Nigerian troops at different battle fronts between Katsina a, Katsina and Zamfara states nclude Sani Dangote, Isiyaku Boderi, Ali Kawaje and Kachalla Damina.
Bello Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara state and now minister of state, Defense, may have given an insight why Banditry has remained a sore point in the north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, his home state, Sokoto and the north central state of Niger, a state had produced Gen. Ibrahim Babangida a former Nigerian military President and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, an ex-Head of state.
The minister may have shocked Nigerians when he disclosed recently that the banditry had raged on in the listed northern states because of the proliferation of both light and heavy weapons, with a high nflux of bandits from the neighbouring Republic of Niger, Mali and Chad.
The former Zamfara state governor had said that the situation had been made worse because there are almost 100 different Bandit camps in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger, stressing that each camp has its own leader with over 300 gun-trotting Bandits loyalists. The message was very clear that when one bandit leader is killed in any of the camps, there is always a replacement to sustain the tempo of banditry and killing in the region.
On Saturday, June 22, 2024, seven persons were said to have been killed in Mai abino village in Dam Musa Local Government Area of Katsina state. Worried by the insecurity ravaging the north western geopolitical region and other parts of Nigeria may have informed why the Nigerian President who had said on Monday, June 24, 2024, in the city of Katsina that through the various operations of Operation Hadin Kai targeting the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP in the north eaten states of Borno and Yobe, terrorism will not be held too long in the region. He had said the activities of the Operation Safe Haven in the north western region and the north central state of Niger was also yielding results.
Despite claims by the former Lagos state governor that ‘’through enhanced border security and intelligence capabilities, the Nigerian military have disrupted and dismantled the criminal networks of the terrorists in the Borno , Yobe states and Banditry in the north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and the north central state of Niger’’the worry of many was that the security challenges in the country is getting worse on a daily basis’’.

Dapo Abiodun, governor of south western state of Ogun, had aid that the security situation in the country, particular, in the north , has worsened in recent years with kidnapping for ransom among other crimes making headlines in major Newspapers across the country.
This is in spite of the fact that the Operation Hadin Kai troops in Borno , Yobe and Operation Safe Haven troops in Kaduna and other north western states, including the north central state of Niger are giving the insurgents and Bandits Group fighters a battle of their lives.
. The kidnapping of Haruna Mhelia, a High Court Judge, together with his wife , driver and orderly along the Biu-Maiduguri road on Friday, June 21, 2024, which had been confirmed by the Borno state Police Command speaks volume. The abductees were said to have been taken into the Sambisa Forest by the kippers.
Prior to the kidnap of the High Court Juge together with his wife,, drive and orderly on the link road between the southern part of Borno and other parts of the north eastern state, that there had been reports that such incidents are common in the area . Only recently BokoHaram fighters were said to have laid ambush on military vehicles resulting in the alleged death of a Lieteunant and injuries to other soldiers.

With the high level of insecurity in the northern states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger , Borno and Yobe sttes, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, a Brig. General and Sultan of Sokoto, who had participated at the the recent north west Peace and Security Summit in Kaduna, which had in attendance, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Buhari, a former Katsina state born Nigerian President and the seven north western region governors among others would not agree with the Nigerian government that it is making a headway in restoring normalcy in the northern region.
The revered Sultan of Sokoto who could not hide his feelings had that ‘’it will decades to get out of banditry and terrorism in the region’’. The Sultan who had expressed the readiness of the traditional rulers to partner with the security agencies and the governors of the seven states in the north western region to save the region from the numerous problems of banditry and insurgency.
An aggrieved Sultan may have made the Nigerian President, who was represent by Vice President Shettima, at the Katsina Peace summit that ‘’ non-kinetic approaches explored by the Federal Government at different levels to tackle banditry and insurgency in the north over the years have failed as the AK-4 wielding bandits multiply across the north western geopolitical region and penetrate the north central zone’’.