Bandits Attack Too Many

By Nwangwu Uba

Aware of the activities of  terrorists, Bandits and Kidnappers  and other merchants of death to over whelm  and dismember the country, President Muhammadu Buhari, his given words of  his administration’s determination  to the address the insecurity. 

For the umpteenth  time, he  has assured  that the Administration  will do all  it takes  to adequately equip  and motivate  the country’s armed forces and other security Agencies  to enable them ”successfully  confront these security challenges”. The situation is getting worse in Borno, Zanfara, Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa  and Taraba sates and , which had been turned into killer field that the Lawmakers resolved to invite  the Katsina state born Nigerian President  to address a joint session of the  National Assembly on ”what is been done to resolve the crisis in the country.

The lawmakers believe that  the situation has gone beyond promises  by the President of what to do to address the crisis but  to ”declare state of Emergencies  for the military  to go and put  an end  to these killings ”.  this is may be a hard decision by  the President  to take coming from the 8th National Assembly under the current leadership  of Bukola Saraki , Senate President, Senate and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of House of Representatives. 

Perhaps, if the President may not want to cue into the National Assembly advise, he may want it to come from the 9th National Assembly when the party would have its elected members to occupy the leadership f the Assembly and ready to work with the Executive  to address the problems of the country. The  outgoing leader of the Senate and the House of Representatives , that make up the Nation Assembly has  worked like Cat and Mouse in the last four years, which had dragged the nation very backward.

the killer squads , according to Suleiman  bello, an indigene of Zamfara, may have cashed in on the frosty relationship between the Executive and the National Assembly to create tension in and further polarise the country to expose the inability of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC,  government to tackle the insecurity problem in the country .

 Many believe that the  terrorrorists and Bandidits, operating in the flash point  states , Borno and  Zamfara states, have  people who are giving them  information on military plans to fully prepare to confront them in the baattle fied or lay ambush for the . It is not surprising why the efforts that had been made in the last four years By Buhari and the  Security  Chiefs appear not be  yielding results.  Bello noted that the President and the  Security Chiefs  have done  all that could have decimated the Killer squads ranks  in these flash point states and end the crisis  with the deployment of security personnel  and provision of fighting military weapons but  have been sabotaged.

President Muhammadu Buhari

The information volunteered by one of the Bandits in Zamfara state on why the bloodshed would not end in the state speaks volume. ”We have people who are feeding us with information about every moves of the security operatives, particular the military against us”.  This may have given members of the killer squads in these flash point states to beat their chest  that the security Agencies personnel and the use of Air Force fighter jets to  smoke them out from  their hideouts cannot  kill them  because they get information of such attack fueling speculations that there may be fifth columnists in the states who are feeding at from the crisis. The  Presidency believes that the Zamfara Chiefs and Monarchs were conniving with the Bandits” to sustain the crisis in the state. This may have denied by them as they allege the military airstrikes in the state have been targeted at private homes of villagers in the guise of fighting Bandits.

 The Bandits complaints  that the bloodshed which started  about six years in Zamfara state  would continue as long as the government  continues  to deploy  more troops to the state clearly shows that  that the  country security Agencies personnel are winning the war and the need to sustain the effort. The troops concentration in Zanfara may have forced the Bandits to spread to  the North Central states of Nassarawa, Taraba and Benue including Kaduna.   Many fear that  members of the Islamic Fundamentalist  group , Boko Haram,  who had been ravaging the  north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno  and Yobe  may have penetrated the ranks of the Bandits in Zamfara to spread to other  states in the north and make it ungovernable.

 Only recently, soldiers engaged  the bandits  in exchange of bullets  during a clearance operation in  Aljumana and Ketere villages in the state.   That much was confirmed by Clement Abiade, a Major and Spokes Person  of the Soldiers Operation  Sharan Daji.  Abiade said the operation was carried  with the Nigerian Army  Deep Blue Special Forces, the Air Force  and local vigilantes.

The seriousness of the gun battle  was evident going by the killing   of a soldier and injuring of six others including a vigilante  by the hard fighting bandits.  The  Operation Daji Spokes Person  admitted  that the bandits  were armed with sophisticated  automatic weapons  but were however  overpowered by the superior fire power  of the soldiers. The bandits were said to have abandoned their Camp when they could no longer  face the  soldiers.

 the bandits attacks on  Numa and Andaha villages in Akwanga local government  Area  of Nasarawa state  was very firsome. They  were said to have killed fifteen people  while fourteen other people sustained heavy  injuries.  The Bandits were said to have entered the village late into the night as they met little or no resistance to carry out their deadly operation of killings.

Worried by the killing in  Akwanga area of Nasarawa,   soldiers  who reportedly were on patrol  along  Nagi-Ucheki-Audu- Enger axis of  the notorious Ger West local government  area  of Benue state , killed a bandit , last Friday   when responded   to an attack by the bandits who may have laid ambush for them. Onyema Nwachukwu, a Colonel and  the acting Director of Defense Information  , confirmed that the bandits flet the scene, when they knew that the soldiers were out for them. 

Tsoldiers on the mop operation in the area , were said to have  recoverd  one AK 47 rifle,  two rifle Magazines, 48 rounds  of 7.62 mm ( special) ammunition,  one machete, a mobile phone  and a bag of charms from the fleeing bandits. Another  patrol  team ato Ikyoawe, Tsgumme and Tsongo Communities was said to have destroyed  a Militia Camp  after engaging the bandits in the Camp  in a gun battle. The ramshakle bandits were said to have abadoned  their weapons and  other items  including two rifle Magazines,  60 rounds of 7.62 mm (special) ammunition and  two mobile handsets. Benue and Nasarawa , are two neighbouring states,  which have suffered for too long in the hands of Herdsmen and now it is the turn of bndits who are terrosing the states.  Nwachukwu, the Defense Spokes person who could not hide his feelings about the inrads being made by the soldiers into the bandit Camps has appealed to the preople of the two states to support  the security Agencies   to bring to an end  to  the ”iillicit and atrocious activities of the criminal elements and groups in the region”. The Defense Spokesman equally  appealed to the general public  to avail the security Agencies with   information that would be ”useful in detecting  the bandits and their sponsors in the states.

The bandits had attempted to  enter Katsina, home state of president Buhari , through Kankara local government area, but the vigilantes in the area with the support of the police were able to frustrate their life but with loss of forteen  lives, seven each on both sides.

Given the pressure on all fronts  on the bandits  by the security operatives, they have have tried to drag the international Community into the Nigeria crisis by  killing and kidnapping foreigners. The latest of such  criminal acts  was the alleged killing of an expatriate lady, a Nigerian  and  kidnapping of three others  when they invaded  Kajuru  Castle , a resort  and Holiday centre in  in Kajuru  local goovernment Area of Kaduna state .  Yakubu Sabo, a Deputy Superintendent  of Police,  and the state Police Command Image maker  confirmed that  the bandits shot spradically when then stormed  the area to scare the workers  and the guests  to carry out their dirt attacks. Sabo assured   that the Command  is doing everything within its powers to ”rescue  the three kidnapped persons , apprehend the criminal elements and bring them justice”.

Ahmad Abdulrahman, the state Commissioner of Police,  believes that the arrest of the hoodlums would be made  faster if  people could assist the police with ”relevant information”. The three kidnapped victims were said to have been among the twelve  guests  who  came to the Castle  on Friday,, April 20, 2019, to lodge.

In spite of the renewed activities of the terrorist, bandits and kidnappers in different parts of the country, the President maintains that the country can never be polarised., stating that the military and other security agencies are on top of the situation.

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