With the on-going military campaign, recently unfolding in Zamfara and parts of Kaduna State, it appears that President Buhari has at last unleashed his oft-repeated threat to speak to bandits and insurgents in the language that they understand.
In recent days, pictures have surfaced in the social media of heavy aerial bombardment of bandit camps as well as sweeping offensives by large numbers of soldiers on bandit camps and escape routes in Zamfara State. Gory pictures also emerged of the aftermath of these operations, including large numbers of mutilated bandit corpses and large numbers of captured bandits.
The stage for these military and security operations was earlier set when the Governors of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states serially clamped tough security measures in their states, including restriction of movement. Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle suspended weekly markets, banned the sale of petrol in jerry cans and closed rural filling stations in the state. This was soon followed by suspension of mobile communication services throughout the state.
Soon afterwards, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State signed into law the Security Challenges [Containment] Order which banned transportation of cattle from Katsina State to other parts of the country. It also banned trucks/lorries carrying firewood from the bush, sale of all animals at the markets of several communities, sale of second-hand motorcycles at Charanchi market, carrying three persons on motorcycles and more than three persons in tricycles, as well as sale of petrol in jerry cans at filling stations. Masari’s order also limited the sale of fuel to N5,000 only to motorists in frontline LGAs and closed the Jibia-Gurbin Baure and Kankara-Sheme roads to all commercial vehicles until further notice.
Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State soon unveiled measures of his own. In addition to banning the felling of trees and prohibiting “questionable movements” within the thick forests of Birnin Gwari and adjoining LGAs, he also suspended weekly markets and banned the sale of petrol in jerry cans in those areas. Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello also banned the operation of trucks carrying firewood or timber and restricted the movement of motorcycles from 6pm to 6am in Minna and environs. Vehicles carrying cattle into the state must show evidence of the cattle’s origin and destination.
These clearly coordinated measures by the governors of contiguous North Western states appeared to have an immediate effect. The measures are painful for law-abiding citizens, but they were clearly the result of a well thought-out security strategy aimed at ending banditry in the sub-region once and for all. In Zamfara State, traditionally the hottest bed of banditry, Governor Matawalle said bandits were abandoning their motor bikes because of lack of fuel and were even releasing some captives because of inability to source for food in local markets.
This is all very heart warming. We urge the military and security agencies to sustain, in fact increase the tempo of their on-going operations until all the bandits and other criminals are completely routed. The operations should quickly extend beyond Zamfara State to all the other contiguous states because the bandits are highly mobile and will migrate to other places. Painful though some of the measures are to other citizens, we must see them as a small price to pay in order to support this final solution to banditry in Nigeria.
