09012021 - Nigeria must stop paying ransom to kidnappers

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10—SATURDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 9, 2021 Leaders of bandits pocketed govt money, shortchanged their foot soldiers —Journalist who visited them in the forest explains why y bandits t toppled their leaders •Dauji, Abdullahi Kachalla, Bashuje, Dogo Nabajala, Rusku have taken over from Idris Miyaye, Sheman Daji •Says bandits now kidnap in presence of security men and nothing happens •Recommends negotiation since security men have failed •Reveals eals dangerous drug they y inject is called ‘Fant anta’ a’ By Bashir Bello Lawal Sa’idu, is a Katsina-based journalist. Sometime in 2019, he visited the bandits in their hideout in Dunbun Muazu and Dankolo in Sabuwa and Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina state and his observations and thoughts were published in Vanguard. He feared then that activities of the bandits could lead to famine and that one way to end banditry was to engage the bandits in farming after a seeming amnesty that would disarm them. He said he saw up to 1000 bandits wielding AK47 riffles in the forest, alerting that danger loomed. We reached out to Lawal Saidu again last week and he, again, spoke with us. Excerpts: ometime in 2019, you visited the bandits in SDunbun Muazu and Dankolo in Sabuwa and Dandume LGAs respectively where they told you some conditions to cease fire. Are you still in touch with them? Even this week, I travelled to the area, especially Dunbun Muazu in Sabuwa LGA. The issue is that, even with these bandits, their leadership is never stable. Those I met the other time when I went there have now been dislodged by the younger ones. The other time when I went, the leadership I met were Idris Miyaye and Sheman Daji. The area is now controlled by bandits like Dauji, Abdullahi Kachalla, Bashuje, Dogo Nabajala and Rusku. I could also recall that as at that time you said the bandits were of different camps? There are about five camps now. The last time I went there, information I got from the area was that they have been divided into segments with each bandit leader controlling his area. If there is an attack, the people there can easily point to you that it was carried out by either Dauji, Kachalla or Bashuje because they have divided the area among themselves. But does any of these camps claim responsibility for attacks like the one on Kankara students? No, they don’t have to claim responsibility, everybody knows that they are the ones operating in that area. They don’t even have to claim that they are responsible. When there is an attack you don’t need any soothsayer to tell that the attack was carried out by so and so group or person. What about talks around the conditions for cease fire? I remember when you visited the bandits the other time they gave some conditions? That time I met with people like Idris Miyaye. Certainly, they were hopeful that talks on cease fire would work. Now with the present crop of leaders, if you have to talk about cease fire, you have to start fresh negotiation with their new leaders. And how sure are you that the younger ones will not stand up against them? The past leadership must have collected money from government and pocketed it without taking care of the youths. That’s why the young ones are agitating and saying no to any cease fire. The danger of agreement is that if you enter an agreement with them, after some time, the groups that feel isolated will turn against them and constitute their own group. So there is a problem. Having said there is a problem reaching an agreement with the bandits, what is the way out? The way out is negotiation. It is sad but better. It is bitter but from what I saw there is no better way that you can go about this without negotiation. What they are saying in Dunbun Muazu is that they carry out some attacks and kidnap in the presence of the security who appear helpless and do nothing about it. The bandits carry victims on motorcycle and pass in front of the security men, they will not talk to them, they would not interfere. To me, it seems they are not ready to work, so the only option for the government is negotiation, no matter how sad it is. It could be on temporary basis. If the security men were at work, certainly they would flush away these bandits. The towns and villages (communities) close to them are at the mercy of the bandits. I was with a vigilante leader from Dunbun Muazu when one of the bandits called him and said he needed two gallons of petroleum. He told him that he was not in town but that he would bring the fuel when he returned. I asked him where he would take it to and he told me he would take it to his people. He said if he didn’t comply the bandits could attack his community at night. These people are living like slaves to the bandits. They do whatever they like and request whatever they want. On Security people, certainly we all know what is happening, they have failed to do their job, they are not ready to do it. So to me, the only option left for government is to negotiate with them. And Masari (Governor of Katsina State) has said it repeatedly that he is not in a position to direct either the military or army to attack the bandits because his hands are tied by the Constitution. It is the exclusive responsibility of the Federal Government. But since they are not ready to do the job, what is left for the state government is to go into dialogue with the bandits no matter how temporary it is. But the government has made two attempts to dialogue with the bandits and they failed... It is good to ask questions. Why did the other peace deal collapse? These are questions government should ask. When I went there the last time, I had discussion with people around there (Dunbun Muazu) and they said that government should constitute a committee that would be meeting with them. That didn’t happen. Now, they are living at the mercy of the bandits. If you want to go to your farm to harvest your crops, you have to hire the bandits The bandits carry victims on motorcycle and pass in front of the security men, they will not talk to them, they would not interfere. To me, it seems they are not ready to work, so the only option for the government is negotiation, no matter how sad it is • Lawal Sa'idu to go and guard the farm. So, if you encourage them to dialogue among themselves, it is better than this jamboree of carrying people like in political rally to go there for peace deal. Taking crowd there and showing the world will not work. Get a small committee to be meeting with them. That is the only way. Are you saying there is compromise on the part of the military because many people kept on wondering how the Kankara schoolboys were abducted? You cannot say compromise because they only work on order. You don’t know what is happening, maybe they were not ordered to attack the bandits. You can not say compromise, only God knows who is protecting who, the more you see the less you understand. Can the bandits be trusted? Even if they cannot be trusted, tell me what other option you have on ground since those mandated with the task of going after them do not do so. Dialogue is the only option. If there is no dialogue, they will continue to kill people and the security will look the other way. Since the governor cannot order the military or police to attack the bandits what do you do? If you look at Katsina, places like Funtua are now densely populated because people deserted their communities for fear of attacks by the bandits. People from Dandume, Sabuwa, Faskari, have migrated to Funtua area of the state. This is another problem and challenge. So, since the government is not ready to tell the security to go after these people, I believe there is no option other than dialogue for now no matter how costly it is. I ask if the bandits can be trusted because kidnapping appears lucrative. Can they stop and can there be an end to banditry? The bandits are human beings, they also have their needs and demands. If you go to their area, they are now locked up in their encampment, they cannot go into the town to transact businesses and generate money. They don’t have any option of getting money other than kidnapping. So, it is left for the government to find a window and that is why I said dialogue is the best. The other time when we went there, we had dialogue with the vigilantes in the area and the Fulanis and even their leaders were coming to the neighbouring markets to transact business and go back. If you don’t allow them to come to the town to carry out legitimate business to earn money, they would rebel against the system and resort to attacking travellers and collecting forced levies, kidnapping people and getting ransom. If I get you right, the message is for government to dialogue with the bandits? Those whose responsibility it is to fight these bandits are not ready so what do you think should be done? Unless the state government wants the bandits to continue killing. Just this morning I got an information from Damari area that just a little past 12 this morning they kidnapped nine people in Albasu Limami. This was a town that was earlier attacked by the same bandits on Christmas day where they kidnapped eight people (two women and six others). They managed to escape when the bandits were deep asleep. They returned to the same town and kidnapped nine persons including an SS2 student, his father and others. If a thief would come to a place and steal and return to same area again and again it shows that the security has collapsed. With the abduction of Kankara schoolboys which was the first on any school in the state, do you think they are getting support from Boko Haram? It is not that they getting support from the Boko Haram. The bandits are learning from the Boko Haram. Criminals learn from each other. If you could recall when people were beheaded in Zabarmari in Borno State, three days after, six people were also beheaded by bandits around Sabuwa area. Crime is universal, they are learning from each other because the bandits too listen to radio, they have access to social media and if it is about drugs, they also take drugs. There is a dangerous drug they take now called “Fanta”, it is sold for N50 in the open market but sold to the bandits for N500. It is an injection, somebody can take about 10 in a day. This crime you are seeing happening in Nigeria, if care is not taken it can consume everybody. So we have to move fast, time is not on our side. The bandits are getting sophisticated. A leader of vigilante group in Dunbun Muazu was telling me that he saw one of the bandits holding a gun he suspected was one of those recently acquired by our military. So the government should review its thinking that all the arms bandits use were smuggled from neighbouring countries. They should seriously take an inventory of their armoury because some of the guns are from the security personnel, only God knows how they managed to get them. Can we trace the origin of the bandits to Boko Haram? No. The bandits don’t even pray. They take drugs, how can you attribute any ideology to them? There’s no link. The bandits carry out attacks in presence of security personnel. So, to me, it’s either the government facilitates the dialogue or they should allow the people to confront the bandits.
Should the presidential ticket be zoned to particular region or be made open to all regions in 2023 election? lthough the 2023 presidential election is Nigerians. I’m for competency above region Aabout two years away, recent events in the or religion. Nigerian political space point to the fact that for many politicians, the race started a long time ago. However, there are growing agitations for power shift to the South, rotational Presidency as well as other permutations about the zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket in both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party. LUMINOUS JANNAMIKE spoke to some Nigerians to find out what they think about zoning the office of the President to any part of the country in the 2023 elections. 1. Zoning connotes division —Nura Jibrin “Let the 2023 presidential ticket be open to all Nigerians. Zoning connotes division. There’s this sense of parochialism that goes with zoning. It is a typical way of saying Nigeria is not one as we claim. Zoning also contributes to the election and appointment of incompetent persons into political and public offices. Why talk about zoning when we have multiple political parties? Can all of them agree on a particular region to produce the President? 2. South-east Presidency would rest Biafra agitation —Okeke Iloegbunam In my own opinion, the office of the president should be zoned to the South- Eastern part of Nigeria. The region has not produced a president since independence. The country desperately needs the Igbo man’s sense of industry to revive our shrinking economy. Above all, an Igbo presidency in 2023 will end the agitation for Biafra and restore faith in ‘One Nigeria’. 3. Competence above all else —Ibrahim Salisu Gimba The 2023 presidency should be open to all 4. Let South decide next president —Ahmad Ibrahim I am of the opinion that for fairness and equity, northerners should allow a southerner to rule the country. So, it should be zoned to the South. However, the Southerners should decide which geopolitical zone of the South should produce the new president in 2023. •Nura Jibrin •Okeke Iloegbunam 5. Zoning builds national cohesion, unity —Agabaidu Jideani I am for power rotation because the convention is zoning for national cohesion and unity. 6. Concession should be made to South-east —Emiene Odaudu I think the South-east should be given a chance. But will the people organize •Salisu Gimba •Ahmad Ibrahim SATURDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 9, 2021—11 themselves well enough to take advantage of any concession that may be made to them? That is another matter entirely. •Agabaidu Jideani •Emiene Odaudu 7. Let 2023 presidential ticket be narrowed down to SE, SS —Agbonavbare Imade I believe personally it should be zoned to either the South-east or South-South. No part should hold power at the expense of other zones and the benefits of the nation as a whole. It will be very beneficial to all, if there is change. 8. Let political parties honour their gentleman’s agreement —Ibrahim Husseini Ndayako Well, from what I hear, there is a gentleman’s agreement among members of the major political parties on rotational presidency and zoning. So, I feel it should be honoured. •Agbonavbare Imade •Hussein Ndayako 90% of bandits who accepted amnesty were killed by other groups Continues from page 9 security agency to move one kilometer and conduct an operation without clearance from their superior officers. The governors cannot recruit one person into the security agencies. The entire responsibility lies with the federal government. So a local person may not know all these. But some know it but they like politicizing even issues that ought not to be politicized. Some do it out of mischief. So there is nothing you can do. What is most important to me is not the ignorant comment of the people but the efforts of the government to bring about positive results to secure lives and properties of our people. The world celebrated the non-kinetic approach adopted by Katsina state government in securing the release of Kankara schoolboys, are you considering such approach in taming this issue of insecurity? You see, in this state we did it twice. In the early 2017 we had that and we were able to achieve relative peace for almost two years. Later, of recent, the security agencies, under the influence of the Inspector General of Police, also insisted that we go with this non-kinetic approach which we did. But you see, in all the two cases, what we realized is that one, these people don’t have a common leader whom if you agree with, everybody accepts. They have different groups and even within the groups, they don’t have a common leader, unlike Boko Haram, which is based on a particular ideology. These are pure criminals and thieves. They don’t have a common leader that all others follow. If anyone enters into an agreement with the government, the rest will pull out suspecting that he has amassed wealth and now pulling out. And if he is not careful they can even kill him. Is that responsible for why the peace deals failed? That is why the first peace deal we had failed. About 90 per cent of those who accepted amnesty (embraced peace) and repented were killed by the bandits. Because as long as they remained in the forest, there will never be peace, they must have guns to protect themselves and so on. Secondly, this non-kinetic approach is not something that is accepted by all the states. Kaduna for instance, has never entered into any peace deal with the bandits, Zamfara is currently doing it, Sokoto has never accepted it while Katsina has done it. So there is no way you can have this with only one state. They move from one place to another. So it is difficult for us to get the understanding of everybody and all the groups. For instance, if you talk to Shekau and other splinter groups and they accept peace, it could be said to be okay. But here it is not possible. Again, even if you want to negotiate peace with these people, let it be from the point of strength. Let it be on their demand or request, may be after having been confronted and devastated and they realized that there was nothing they could do, and they decided to accept peace, then you can give them a condition to surrender all their weapons. But if you allow them to hold their weapons it will not work. You will go back to square one. So, even if the security agencies want to continue with this non-kinetic thing, let it be from the point of strength. Because what is important in the nonkinetic approach is to make sure that all their weapons are collected and sources of arms supply blocked. So honestly, the issue of non-kinetic approach is not an option to me because they are not the kind of people that can reason. They are ignorant of all kinds of education (both western and Islamic education) and under heavy influence of drugs. Some of their kidnapped victims who were later released when narrating there experience said the bandits inject themselves. So they know nothing but violence and criminality. And their leaders fear them because they can even kill them. It even happened severally, Buharin Daji was killed by his associates, and all those we knew were killed by the same bandits. If Kinetic approach will fail who and where do you look up to? From the military. The problem is they have very inadequate personnel. The whole security agencies in Nigeria put together are not up to one million. The police is about 340,000, the army is about that figure or about 500,000. Those are the two that are involved in this kind of operation. Then they also lack equipment. This is very serious. I could recall an incident, where about 292 army officers were brought for a particular operation with only four vehicles. It is either the state government supplis or they don’t move. So also with armoury. There are times you find out there own weapons are not as modern as the ones used by the bandits. Sometime ago, in Dutsinma, some bandits were arrested with their weapons, do you know that whenever the police want to go for operation, they use firearms seized from the bandits because their weapons are more modern and newer than theirs. Also, when they are going for operations, they give them counted bullets but the bandits have unlimited bullets and that is why you find them shooting sporadically into the air to cause chaos and commotion before they start operation. So honestly the government has to address all these issues surrounding personnel, general logistics for the agencies otherwise they will be handicapped. So indirectly, what you are saying is the end to banditry lies solely on the Federal government? No doubt about it. Constitutionally, it is the sole responsibility of the Federal government. You were quoted to have said, the state was left alone to bear the brunt of the whole thing. Have the situation improved? Improvement like I told you, the police have brought additional vehicles to there command including APV to all the Frontline local government areas and more personnel. But still you find issues around logistics, allowances and so on. You see, if we would get the results, achieve peace, no problem because security is the most important thing. It is the most important thing that you do. But what is saddening and frustrating that you are spending money but not getting the desired results. Do we at this point in time, need any form of support from the international community? At the Federal level, like I told you earlier, for instance Niger Republic, we need their support to address issues of arms proliferation into the country. And this banditry in this area, honestly from what I know so far, there is no international influence or whatever unlike the Boko Haram issue which is been sponsored, encouraged and supported by International Islamic bodies and some countries that don’t want the progress of Africa and Nigeria in particular. But here, it is purely criminality. And it is purely carried out by locals, there may be a few from Niger which they consider themselves as one because Fulani man from Senegal, Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Gambia consider themselves as one. So the international support the Federal government needs is in interns of acquiring firearms but because of the politics involved, we understand the Federal government is finding it difficult to get a country that will support it or agree to supply some of these requirements. It is very important that the Federal government looks into these issues because it is beyond the state government. Anything outside Nigeria is not the state government. We can only do a few understanding like that we did in Maradi but generally on this issue, the Federal government should ensure that the international community understands the situation.
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09012021 - Nigeria must stop paying ransom to kidnappers

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