The Wednesday abduction of students and staff of Government Science College Kagara has put Niger State on the spotlight as another bandits’ stronghold after Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna states.
However, Niger has a strong historical link with the affected states having cohabited with them under the old North Western Region.
It is the famous Kamuku Forest that defines the geography and the bond they all shared over centuries. The forest had served as a reservoir for hunters and provided a rich ecosystem.
However, for close to a decade now, the forest has become a channel through which bandits migrate between the host states and launch attacks. From the states designated as centres of bandits’ activities, such as Kaduna and Zamfara, the bandits migrated to Niger when the heat from security agencies became unbearable.
Garb of rustling
It started in the garb of cattle rustling across communities in Munya LGA which shares a border with Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State through Shiroro and Rafi LGAs. The stretch from Munya, Guruma and Alawa was designated as “red zone” when rustling peaked in early 2015.
21st Century Chronicle reports that, rustlers target Fulani settlements where herds of cattle are carted away, while those who dare to resist them are shot. The attackers move the rustled cows into camps within Alawa and Kamuku forests. From the camps, they target locals who are mostly farmers for food and other basic needs. In some cases, they write letters to village and district heads to notify them of their visits, stating their needs and ordering community members to contribute. Communities which defy such orders are attacked and key members kidnapped for ransom and their women raped.
The situation was compounded by the inability of locals to quickly reach out to government for intervention because of distance and poor access roads, as well as absence of mobile network.
Worried by the development, the District Head of Alawa, Malam Ado Salihu (now late), called a meeting of village heads and chiefs in August, 2015, to find a way around the problem. Two days after the meeting, the rustlers attacked the district headquarters in the morning, razed houses and killed 15 people. The attackers left a note that they would return having missed their main target, the district head, who was away in Minna, the state capital. They did not return on the given date, but when they invaded a week later, the first casualty was the district head whose bullet ridden body was found under a mattress in his room. The invaders also killed three of his family members.
Following the attack and rising insecurity, the state government aided the formation of a joint task force comprising all arms-bearing agencies, while men of the Counter-Terrorism Unit, Anti-Cattle Rustling and the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) were deployed from Abuja to complement the operation. Although the team recorded some success, it failed to root out the rustlers, ostensibly because of the difficult terrain.
Kidnapping for ransom begins
21st Century Chronicle further reports that kidnapping for ransom became lucrative in the state in January, 2018, with a Sharia Court Judge, Abubakar Mohammed, being the biggest casualty.
As the federal government’s attention turned to Zamfara and Kaduna with heavy military offensives, Niger became the lucrative ground for fleeing bandits, while young native herders who lost inheritance through rustling joined the fray. They formed alliances, each group with a designated territory as their activities expanded beyond the borderlines. Deep into the vast areas and even suburbs of the three local government areas, they wreaked havoc; leaving blood in their wake.
Among the three local government areas, Shiroro is always the hard hit probably because of its status as the food basket of the state and thriving markets. When the situation was getting out of hand, some Fulani youths came together and formed a vigilante group, led by Abubakar Dikko Shakallo, as a counter-force under the state police command to help tackle the menace. The group was able to get bandits to lay down their arms but lack of adequate support from the state government affected their operation.
With little resistance, therefore, the bandits’ activities expanded to other local government areas such Mariga and Mashegu in early 2019 and also into the hinterlands of Borgu, Mokwa, Gurara, and even Lapai and Bosso, despite the olive branch extended to them by the state government.
In apparent frustration with the rising attacks, Governor Bello recently vowed that the state government would no longer negotiate with bandits. The statement tended to have further fueled the crisis with the killing of 18 and abduction of 81 people in January, 2021.
The abductions of passengers and students of GSC Kagara have drawn public outcry and forced the federal government’s attention to the state. The development has also forced the state government and others to the negotiation table with bandits. Sources close to the government told 21st Century Chronicle that the state’s representatives met bandits’ leaders in Kotonkoro in Mariga LGA on Thursday. The peace deal between the state government and the bandits was first brokered in the same Kotonkoro in 2019.
However, the source said while the bandits’ leaders agreed to assist in freeing some of the abducted persons, they denied responsibility for the abduction of the students, blaming it rather on those from Birnin Gwari area.
