From John Adams, Minna
Fear is the order of the day in many communities in Niger State days after 36 officers were killed by suspected cattle rustlers in Akere village.
The communities where apprehension is most prevalent include Akere, Zungeru, Erena, Kwaki, Chukuba, Kwasasu and adjourning villages, all located in Wushishi and Shiroro local government areas of the state.
The communities have since become troubled following the heavy deployment of troops and military equipment by the Nigerian Army.
While Zungeru, for instance, witnessed deployment of soldiers and equipment, Erena recorded the doubling of military personnel in its operational area following the visit of the Chief of Army Staff a few days ago.
Although the military is yet to carry out any major offensive in the troubled areas, the communities believe a military operation is imminent as the armed forces are not known to allow the killing of their own.
Some members of the communities, who spoke to Daily Sun emphasized that it is a military tradition not to allow the perpetrators of such dastardly crime go unpunished and, “Therefore It is a matter of time for them to carry out strikes on suspected enclaves in these communities.
“For sure, they will go all out to deal with bandits and anybody caught in the crossfire will be regarded as collateral damage. So, it is advisable for everyone in the state to be cautious, no matter where you are,” a resident of Zungeru town, Abdullahi Mohammed, told Daily Sun.
Adamu Saidu, a resident of Erena town in Shiroro LGA, observed that, “Although we suspect that the bombardment of the area was to enable the military evacuate the bodies of those killed in the helicopter crash, we don’t know and cannot say what will follow next.
“As I speak to you, there is a heavy presence of soldiers in Erena town and I am sure that the military will go all out for the bandit’s warlord.”
To buttress their fear, an unidentified fighter jet was said to have killed a woman and injured two others in Kwaki village in Shiroro LGA on Friday morning.
The lone fighter jet, it was gathered, targeted suspected enclaves but unintentionally hit at some villagers who were preparing to go to their farms.
In the meantime, the Niger State Governor, Umar Mohammed Bago, has opted for dialogue with the bandits as a way forward.
At a ceremony to kick-off the distribution of farm input to farmers in the state on Saturday, he announced that government was seriously considering the idea of dialogue with bandits.
“We will discuss with the bandits and let them know that there is the need to live in peace than fighting. We intend to bring the Fulani herdsmen into the government and that is why we created the Ministry for Nomadic and Pastoral Affairs to handle all matters concerning farmers and herdsmen crisis in the state,” he said.
This position of the government has, however, attracted condemnation from a cross-section of the state, given the hardship and pain the bandits have subjected the people of the state to in the past few years.
Many of those whose relatives were killed by bandits or those who had been forced to relocate from their ancestral homes due to banditry are finding it hard to come to terms with the position of the state government.
While urging the governor to have a rethink and allow the military to flush out the enemies of the people, they observed that similar dialogues had failed to address banditry in neighboring Zamfara and Katsina states.
They also observed that a similar dialogue initiated by the immediate past administration of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello in the state also failed to curb the activities of bandits.
Hassan Mohammed, a legal practitioner, who spoke to Daily Sun, argued that “these are groups of people who are no longer content with their traditional cattle rearing and have now taken to criminality of kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling to earn a living, taking advantage of the country’s inefficient or non-functional security networks. They can never be appeased by word of mouth or any form of dialogue.
“There is no amount of dialogue that can stop banditry in the state because this is purely criminal activity. You can only go into dialogue with people who are known to you or who are agitating for something. In this case, these people have not demanded anything, rather, they are just kidnapping people for ransom and rustling animals and selling them for money.
“I think the governor needs to be reminded that these people have wrecked havoc across the state in the last eight years and they are still wrecking more havoc. Again the governor should be reminded that similar dialogue has failed in states like Zamfara, Katsina and Kadun; therefore, it will take a miracle for dialogue to stop the ongoing madness in the state.”
Saidu Aabdullahi, a retired civil servant in the state, maintained that it was unfortunate that the governor was opting for dialogue at a time when the military were hurt and red hot to take decisive action against the bandits in the state.
“If the Chief Security Officer of the state sees nothing wrong in the killing of those he is supposed to protect their lives and property by terrorists, bandits and criminals, only for him to come round for negotiations with those he is to go to war with, then the people of the state are doomed.
“He should take a cue from those that tried it in Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto states. Let the governor also ask his predecessor in office if dialogue with these criminals can work. What we expect from the governor is to allow the military go ahead with their operation against these terrorists and deal with them decisively,” he submitted.
A retired military officer who did not want his name in print believed that the governor’s position was far from people’s expectations on measures to take against the bandits, especially with the killing of soldiers.
“The total combat losses was over 36 military personnel in the state, including senior officers, as we were told. This is too heavy coming from non-state actors. So, leaving it without deadly response would embolden the bandits and weaken own forces.
“The governor shouldn’t have made such pronouncement openly at a time the armed forces were mourning their loved ones. The governor may in due course come begging for deployment of forces in his state when the situation gets bad because these criminals are not ready for any dialogue,” he said.
