Lakurawa As A Diversionary Tactic, by Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia

For nearly a decade, the North West geopolitical zone of Nigeria has been suffering from the menace of banditry. The bandits who live in the vast forest spanning several states in the North west and North central zones started as cattle rustlers before metamorphosing into full pledged armed robbers. They attack communities, schools, travellers, etc. Wherever they go, it is a story of killing, kidnapping, rape, arson and other unprintable atrocities. 

Bandits lack the civility of the erstwhile armed robbers. Armed robbers of those days only looked for money and valuables like jewelries and once they got it they were satisfied and would leave without dropping blood. That is not the case with bandits. When they visit a community or block travelers on highways they, in most cases, start by killing some before kidnapping others. 

Payment of ransom is not a guarantee to get the kidnap victim freed. They may collect ransom from relatives and still kill the victim. The examples are many. 

Locations and leaders of bandits are well known to Government and members of the communities in which they operate. Many of them serve as the de facto Government in their domain of operation. This is not a story I am telling from one of those video clips circulating in the social media. Some of my blood relations have been going to work on the farm of the bandits kingpin in charge of their area. 

To agree to live under the protection of “officer” who is the de facto rural Government of Jibia and Batsari, a village has to send its elders with some money to go and beg for him to accept them. You may wish to go back to my writeup on “Submission to bandits authority”.

But “officer” is not the only bandit leader known to Government and people. There are more deadly and more popular “officers”. One of them is Ado Aleru who killed dozens of villagers in Katsina state and told the BBC Hausa service that he doesn’t kidnap, he only kill. Asked to give the number of people he killed, he said it is too large to remember.

Another officer is Bello Turji who, among other crimes, once burned a passenger bus with the 30 people in it days after opening fire on a village market that claimed 60 lives in Zamfara state. He is popular because he speaks frequently to public. That, however, doesn’t make him the deadliest.

Dogo Gide is another “officer” who was notorious for, among other things, the abduction of 90 students and teachers of FGC Yauri, 11 of whom he married off in the process. 

Among the many popular “officers” is Dankarami who publicly confessed of killing many combined troops of Nigeria and Niger Republic in addition to kidnapping and killing many innocent citizens in Katsina and Zamfara state. 

All of the above crime leaders and several others in their category are still alive and active.

The first blunder in dealing with the menace of banditry was made by the Buhari administration. The federal government under Buhari asked  Governors of the affected states to strike a peace deal with the bandits. Peace agreements were sealed between some state governments and bandits in 2016 and 2019 and in both cases the later reneged. 

Unlike what some of their sympathizers would want us to believe, the bandits are not freedom fighters but pure criminals and stark illiterates. The only thing that would make them drop their weapons is a continous flow of cash from Government, the kind of cash they make from their criminality. That is not realistic for a Government struggling to pay its civil servants a paltry minimum wage. Hence, the failure of the peace deals under Buhari.

It is obvious that the bandits’ sympathizers who gave the wrong advice to Buhari have found their way into Tinubu Government. The first indication of that is what a young Islamic scholar revealed early this year. The scholar alleged that under financial influence by unnamed Defence officials of Federal Government, some Islamic scholars are campaining for not just amnesty for bandits but their appointments into public offices by Government. He alleged that he was among those invited to take part in the campaign but he refused.

As far as we know, the Federal Government did not deny the claims by Sheikh Koza. If he were lying he would not only be arrested but asked to name the defence officials. Neither of that happened.

Then came the kidnap and murder of the Emir of Gobir. With the public outcry that followed the Federal Government had to show that it has the will to fight banditry. Thus, the Minister of state of defence and service chiefs were asked to move to Sokoto and end banditry. However, despite the budget, since the movement of the minister and service chiefs to Sokoto, the only bandit of note who was killed/arrested by the Government is Halilu Sububu. Banditry business has continued as usual even with the presence of our nation’s security heavyweights.

For example, as reported by national dailies, the Funtua-Gusau highway was blocked by bandits on several occassions in this period with no consequences. For frontline local Governments in Katsina state, the attacks became worse. In my local Government area, the only place considered safe was Jibia town, the local government headquarters. However, since the socalled “Operation pansan yamma” started Jibia town has lost its safety as bandits attacked, killed and kidnapped with impunity.

As Nigerians were waiting anxiously for the expected miracle due to the presence of security chiefs, the Lakurawa issue came up. According to sources, Lakurawa is a group with similar ideologies as Boko Haram. They have a total number of just 250 in Nigeria and no cases of frequent attacks on communities. Lakurawa are said to have been in Nigeria for some years at the instance of some Kebbi communities who sought for their protection against bandits. 

The question here is, why is the issue of Lakurawa now being brought up when we have a more serious problem to solve? Lakurawa are obviously not as dangerous as the bandits and their presence in Nigeria has been linked to the failure of Government to protect citizens from bandits.

From day one, the approach of this and immediate past governments has made Nigerians to believe that they are not ready to end banditry. If they are now talking about some Lakurawa instead of our real problem why should we not believe that they are using it to divert our attention?

My advice to President Tinubu is for him to remember that he is the person elected by Nigerians. Ribadu, Badaru, Matwalle or Christoper Musa did not contest and win an election. It is up to the president to appoint his aides and he has the responsibility to continuosly monitor them and make sure they are doing the right thing.

That the above mentioned officials are Northerners is immaterial.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia