Zamfara State

By Suleman Ahmad Tudu

One of the immediate decisions of Gov Bello Matawalle’s administration was disbanding the vigilante group popularly known as Yan Sa Kai as one of the conditions for dialogue with bandits in his efforts to bring a solution to the decade of bloodshed in Zamfara state. The dialogue has recorded some early successes in almost a year of its initiation.

Unfortunately, despite being given this ample opportunity for the bandits to completely lay down their arms and embrace a lasting peace, some of them refused to subscribe to the dialogue. They continue launching and intensifying their deadly attacks on communities—killing, kidnapping and rapping women unabated, taking advantage of the vacuum created by disbanding their sworn enemies, the Yan Sa Kai.

Some negative implications of disbanding the Yan Sa Kai are that many communities that gallantly resisted bandits before the disbandment have now submitted to them. Palaces that were no-go-areas to bandits before have now become accessible to them. As a result, the morale of many vigilante members has been killed. The bandits have also taken advantage of the dialogue to deceive the government and get many resources. They kidnap many people, including school children, for ransom to procure more arms.

But we can honestly understand the justifications behind the disbandment of Yan Sa Kai in the first place as a sine qua non for dialogue to thrive. The activities of this group have fuelled the crisis for their jungle justices—extrajudicial killings and ethnic profiling of criminals. All Fulanis are bandits to the Yan Sa Kai, which is wrong!

Now that Gov Matawalle has reversed his decision to reactivate the Yan Sa Kai in the fight against terrorism (banditry), which is very good, there is a need for a caution in the recruitment, administration, and operations of the about to be born-again group. We need Yan Sa Kai guided by rules of engagements, monitored by security forces and coordinated by established authority. We need Yan Sa Kai with some basic military training and improved weaponry, not the locally fabricated, non-cartridge guns, bow and arrows that cannot match the arsenal of the terrorists.

Achieving this requires efficiency right from the recruitment process. Government should not simply dust off the list of the previous members without scrutiny to fish out those whose morale has been killed or no longer believe in the course of the group. Liaising with traditional institutions will be an effective way only if those who have cases to answer are side-lined in the process. Government should also not mistake recruiting members of the born-again vigilante group from the communities that were adjudged to have wholly submitted to bandits before or during the dialogue initiative. These measures could help avoid enlisting bad eggs who would compromise or sabotage the group’s activities.

Training of the carefully selected and thoroughly profiled members of the group will go a long way in shaping their mindsets and inculcating in them the rules of engagements, discipline, command, control and coordination. It will also mend their relationship with the security forces with which they should work together as a team. This can be possible within at least a month of rigorous training.

Granted that Yan Sa Kai knows the bandits, their collaborators and hideouts better than the security forces, yet storming weekly markets in the name of hunting bandits or their collaborators is a flawed strategy that has to be changed. They used to carry extrajudicial killings during such operations that sometimes affect innocent people. This time around, the group’s approach should be offensive by jointly reaching out to the bandits’ enclaves together with security forces now and then. And if the group has to defend and hunt, the defence should be restricted to every member’s immediate community while the hunt should be on the checkpoints to be placed in strategic places. 

While NO suspect deserves to be (extrajudicially) killed but arrested and prosecuted accordingly, I can command that any civilian seen wielding an AK-47 rifle should be “shot at sight” as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari!

May Allah grant us everlasting peace in Zamfara and Nigeria at large. Amin.

Suleman Ahmad Tudu wrote from Nasarawa Mailayi of Birnin Magaji local government, Zamfara state. He could be reached via suleatudu@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

At least 16 individuals were reported dead in a suspected bandits’ attack in Kebbi State’s Danko Wasagu Local Government Area on Friday.

Two soldiers, a police officer, and 13 people were murdered in the attack at Dankade village, according to the state’s police spokesperson, Nafi’u Abubakar.

The police spokeswoman further refuted reports on various news outlets that the incident resulted in 50 deaths.

Mr Abubakar, who confirmed the amount to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the incident happened on Friday at 3.00 p.m.

He claimed that suspected bandits from Zamfara infiltrated the community and terrorized civilians and security officers.

When the police patrol squads learned of the incursion, they mobilized to the village and engaged them in a gunfight, killing one of our officers and two army officers.

According to Mr Abubakar, the bandits also set fire to some homes.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Police detectives have nabbed a woman identified as Aisha Ibrahim for allegedly trying to sell her co-wife’s two-year-old boy in Gusau, Zamfara State.

Mr Ayuba N Elkannah, the state police commissioner, disclosed that the detectives used intelligence before they finally tracked down the suspect at the Tullukawa area of Gusau metropolis.

However, the suspect confessed that she stole the boy to sell and raise money for her day-to-day needs.

Ibrahim was said to have been born in Danyade Kaya village in Maradi, Niger Republic.

By Muhammad Abdurrahman

About fifty-eight (58) people were reported killed in an attack by terrorists in Zamfara State on Tuesday, January 4, 2022. Meanwhile, an Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has sent a message of condolence to the state governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle.           

In the condolence message made available to journalists on Monday, January 10, 2022, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC’s director, described the killings as callous, disheartening, horrific and barbaric.

The message reads:

“About fifty-eight (58) people were reported killed in a three-day reprisal attack by terrorists in Zamfara State which began on Tuesday, 4th January 2022 and lasted till Thursday. 6th January 2022. About 300 terrorists on motorcycles stormed eight villages in the Anka Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday and another ten villages in the Bukkuyum district on Wednesday and Thursday. They killed at random.

“We strongly condemn these killings. They are callous, cowardly, disheartening, horrific and barbaric. We call on the security agencies to leave no stone unturned in apprehending the perpetrators. They must be held accountable. People who turn children, wives and husbands into orphans, widows and widowers respectively overnight are heartless beasts. They deserve no mercy.

“The killings are believed to be reprisal attacks carried out in revenge for terrorists killed during air raids by the Nigerian military fighter jets last week. The air raids reportedly killed some leaders of the terrorist groups as well as tens of their foot soldiers.

“This killing of unarmed civilians should not discourage the military. It merely shows that the bandits are feeling the pressure. We call for more pounding from the air. Terrorists must have no place to hide. They must be hounded from pillar to post until they all surrender or they are totally eliminated. Nigeria will not be defeated by sadistic renegades, rebellious subjects and enemies of peace.

“MURIC commiserates with the governor of Zamfara State, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, over the horrific killings. We also condole with members of the state executive, the traditional rulers and the good people of the state. Our hearts bleed for the bereaved families. May Allah have mercy on the direct victims and give their families the fortitude to bear the losses.”

By Kabir Mukhtar Galadanchi

It gladdens our hearts how our brave military has been intensifying offensives and operations to root out bandits and banditry in the North-West, particularly in Zamfara and Sokoto, to bring back normalcy and peace to the banditry ravaged states and communities in northern Nigeria.

The military’s recent Ariel bombardments and ground offensive that resulted in the elimination of some bandits’ leaders have boosted the fight against banditry and the confidence of all the concerned stakeholders adamantly and consistently speaking about the rising level of banditry and general insecurity in the region.

In the past weeks, many notorious bandits’ leaders and other terrorists who specialised in kidnapping for ransom and killing innocent civilians were sent to their Maker. Thanks to the well-coordinated aerial bombardment by some section of the NAF launching successful aerial attacks and unleashing serious damage to the now jittery and fear-stricken bandits running for their lives to avoid the currently sustained military bombardments and offensives.

The elimination of notorious Alhaji Auta scared other bandits’ leaders to be on their heels, especially the ferocious Bello Turji, the de factor governor-cum-administrator in those areas. He collects taxes and imposes rules which all must obey to save their souls. This is an embarrassment to our leaders and our security forces, to say the least, and has become a usual trend that is still occurring unabated.

Bello Turji has continued to dare the authorities and positioned himself as a somewhat invincible and unchallengeable criminal that can do and undo whatever he so desires in the communities he’s unleashing his inhumane activities and savagery.

But the recent killing of Alhaji Auta has sent jittery and panic into his camp. He’s now coming to terms with the reality and shamelessly calling and appealing for dialogue and conciliation.

Our military must not in any way give this vermin a space to breathe and must not relent in sustaining those assaults until Bello Turji and his bloodthirsty lieutenants are eliminated. Instead, the military should give them their deserved justice with the barrel of their guns, aerial attacks or through whatever lethal way that will ensure their permanent neutralisation.

Nobody can deny that the unconditional release of some 52 captives by Turji resulted from the intensified military assaults. Eliminating him (Turji) will send fear to hundreds of notorious bandits leaders operating in Zamafara, Sokoto, and Katsina and reduce their activities.

Credible reports have it that Duna Baleri, Dogo Gide, and a host of other bandits leaders are now hiding and running from their devilish camps to avoid our military’s ongoing pressure and offensives. We pray that their nemesis will soon catch up with them in no distant time inshaAllah.

While saluting our military’s efforts, bravery and gallantry, we also pray that they should continue to be determined, persistent, and maintain doggedness in flushing and neutralising these enemies of the state that made life hellish and turbulent through their primitive violence and atavistic barbarism.

On our part as civilians, let us unite and confront this huge challenge collectively without sentiment or regard to religious, ethnic and political affiliations and underpinnings. Let us also cooperate with the military in providing credible information that will help them uncover and eliminate these evils once and for all.

Kabir Mukhtar Galadanchi wrote from Katsina. He can be contacted via kmgaladanchi20@gmail.com.

By Mallam Musbahu Magayaki

I write to commend and appreciate the unmeasurable feats of the Nigerian military personnel and other sub-security agencies for their bid to ensure that two of the well-known wanted bandits, Alhaji Auta and Kachalla Ruga, have met their waterloo. They spent many years operating their egregious activities of the gruesome killing of innocent people without regard to the principle of natural justice.

However, they were killed by a Nigerian Air Force aircraft, under operation Hadarin Daji, at Gusami forest and Tsamre village in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of Zamfara State. Nevertheless, at this point, as they (bandits) reach their cul-de-sac, our adventurous security personnel should not relent unless they spare them all.

Undoubtedly, the death of these two kidnap kingpins is a severe blow to their bandits’ like-minded abhorrent individuals. As such, more triumphant efforts to fish them out of their territories should now be re-engineered by both military personnel and vigilante units who work inexhaustibly day-in-day-out to safeguard the lives and personal possessions of Nigerians.

Yet, there is a need for the government of the federation, specifically the security sector, to organize orientation sessions with security agencies to be fully informed about the assigned task that they have sworn to do of protecting and upholding the country’s constitution. Because we live in a country where some of its countrymen portray sabotage as a virtuous way to satisfy their narrow-minded desires. As a result, they will devote all of their useless energy to changing the great sense of our security personnel to compromise the country’s state of peacefulness.

Moreover, security personnel should be fully equipped with sophisticated weapons techniques to finish off these ruthless humans (bandits) and frequent motivational incentives that would boost their morale to serve uncompromisingly. They should also be retrained in modern battle strategy. A famous West African proverb says, “When the music changes, so does the dance.” It is high time the government changed all its tactics against these despicable fellows.

Mallam Musbahu Magayaki Writes from Sabon Fegi, Azare.Bauchi State. He can be reached via musbahumuhammad258@gmail.com.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

Reports indicate that airstrikes by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jet have successfully killed notorious bandit leaders Alhaji Auta and Kachalla Ruga in Zamfara State.

Yusuf Anka, a social media activist and an authoritative local reporting about the region’s security, confirmed the attack on his Twitter handle.

“About seven bandits who went to retrieve the body of their leader Alhaji Auta from the scene of the bombardment have [also] been bombed and killed by the NAF”, Anka added.

Zamfara is one of the northwestern Nigerian states plagued by bandits and kidnappers. Some of the identified bandit leaders were declared wanted by Nigerian security.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The Nigeria Police Force has rescued at least ten persons abducted on Wednesday in Zamfara State.

The victims were said to have been abducted in Bungudu Local Government Area when terrorist bandits stormed the Gada community.

In the attacks that lasted for hours, the terrorist bandits also killed a district head, Ummaru Bawan Allah, and abducted many others.

However, speaking to journalists on Wednesday, the state’s police commissioner, Ayuba Elkana, confirmed that his men had been able to rescue ten of the abductees.

He added that the rescue mission was successful after a coalition of police officers, soldiers, and vigilante members swung into action by chasing the terrorist bandits.

Zamfara State is one of the northwestern states that the activities of the gunmen have ravaged.

By Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi

The success stories emanating from the Boko Haram epicentre in Nigeria’s north-eastern states, particularly Borno and Yobe, must not be separated from the combination of unwavering military operations and the assistance given by the tactically planned Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF). CJTF is a local group founded in 2013 to support the Nigerian military’s operations against extremists and defend local populations from attacks like the ones currently taking place in Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina.

Recent events in Nigeria reveal that the region’s indigenes primarily carry out terror activities. The Northwest is no exception. To put an end to this brutality, the authorities in the Northwest should take a page out of Borno State’s book and organize a local militia to work alongside the military. Locals know their communities’ lows and highs, nooks and crannies way better than military personnel. Therefore, involving them would boost the chances of conquering non-state actors and their partners in crime.

The people of Hausa land have a history of bravery and, if given a chance, many will volunteer to work in the task force to bring respite to and rid their community of murderous bandits. On this note, Nigerian authorities should give Northwest people a chance to work with the military and salvage the region. In addition, the loose group should possess basic weapons and must have female members to help with handling women and children. When this is done, I’m optimistic about having Borno-esque results.

The going is now rough in the Northwest, and the people are willing to fight back, but the constituted authorities don’t allow that. This region is densely populated. Every state can recruit at least thirty thousand vigilantes and pay each member a twenty-thousand naira incentive per month. Notwithstanding, authorities should be very observant during the recruitment of this recommended vigilante group to avoid engaging the bandits’ Trojan horses.

Gathering intelligence would be easier with the CJTF in place. The locals hired would quickly identify criminals and their enclaves, resulting in more successful security operations. Apart from increasing security, another positive aspect of the CJTF concept is that it provides people with temporary jobs to keep them occupied and provide food for their families. Instead of governments and individuals paying large sums of money as ransom to bandits, the money could be utilized to pay vigilantes a monthly stipend.

Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi writes from Azare, Bauchi State. He can be reached via admabel86@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu