Northwest Nigeria is gradually becoming another major regional theatre of violence, kidnapping, banditry, and sundry criminal activities which have continued unabatedly. It seems to me that the problem from the outset appeared as localized disputes between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers overland access, but has now morphed into an intractable crisis posing a major threat to national and regional security.

The level of rural banditry escalated to incontrovertible heights in Zamfara State in the Northwestern part of Nigeria, where rampaging gangs of armed bandits engage in a gale of violent acts, marauding villages while attacking and killing innocent villagers. These bandits have become transactional kidnappers, armed robbers, mindless killers as well as cattle rustlers. To be honest the casualty figures from these senseless attacks are quite alarming.

For instance, in the Anka Local Government Area of the state, over six thousand people have been internally displaced as a result of the series of attacks by criminal gangs. These hordes of criminal gangs are known to be bandits operating out of eight major camps in Zamfara State. Suffice to state that indeed, Zamfara State is now the hotbed of banditry in the Northwest as the images coming out of the state paint a gloomier picture than it is being portrayed.

Although the activities of these bandits and criminal elements continue unabated, the incumbent Governor of Zamfara State, Dr. Bello Matawalle Kutungwila is playing to the gallery and roll playing the script of an ostrich. The governor's senseless rhetoric and insidious vituperations are indications of bad fortuitous leadership in the state. The governor who swore to uphold the constitution and serve the people is one of the emboldening of these bandits by his actions and inactions. His baseless conspiratorial fallacies against some security agencies stem from his visionless leadership and gross incompetence as a Governor and Chief Security Officer of the State.

Irrespective of the sinister diatribes deployed by the Governor to disparage those statutory employed to protect the citizenry, the buck basically ends at the table of the Governor. It is common knowledge to those of us in Zamfara that Bello Matawelle is hobnobbing with the bandits for his own selfish interest and the detriment of the general populace and overall security of the state.

The actions and inactions of Governor Bello Matawalle made the bandits so brazen and emboldened bandits in the state to notify villages of impending attacks, and impose illegal tax/toll on farmers seeking to gain access to their farms. The irony is that despite enormous resources invested in military and security operations, the situation seems to be deteriorating because of the lack of political will and commitment by the governor in dealing with banditry in the state.

One of the grave actions of the Bello Matawalle’s led administration in Zamfara State is the issue of granting amnesty to bandits and other criminal elements arrested by security agencies, this development has proven to be one of the most ill-conceived and hastily articulated policy-decision in dealing with the issue of insecurity in the state. The governor fritters away scare state resources inevitably taking himself to the zenith of the pantheon of depraved leadership in the country. Just recently the governor complained that the misfortunes of his people-centered on the deprivation from the gold mined and carted away from the state even as his people are ravaged by poverty. Such whimsical assertion by a grossly incompetent leader.

Leadership myopia from which Matawalle is suffering is the bane of tackling banditry in Zamfara State in particular and by extension the whole of the Northwest in general. There is no gainsaying that Zamfara State is blessed with huge gold deposits which are mostly mined at the artisanal level. It is worth noting that the bandits in Zamfara State, occupy the land where verifiable gold deposits and mining activities are prevalent. As it turned out in the recent claim by the Governor that he has purchased a substantial quantity of gold from artisanal miners. This unsubstantiated assertion leaves much to be desired. I personally implore the security agencies to painstakingly investigate this spurious claim.

This is because the gold purchased by the governor was ostensibly obtained from illegal mining by bandits and other foreign nationals in Zamfara State. The CBN should be wary of the Zamfara governor’s intentions when it stated the apex bank will purchase N5 billion worth of gold to shore up its gold reserve.

Also, the Governor is perceived to be taking advantage of President Muhammadu Buhari's open-mindedness to pursue his personal interest in the State at the expense of people’s lives, while masquerading as the defender of the people's security interests with his amnesty and peace conciliatory initiative.

Bello Matawalle’s unholy alliance with the bandits terrorizing the State is one in which he is familiar with their modus operandi and location of the hideouts of the bandits but is yet to champion a coordinated onslaught against them. It is common knowledge during the last Eid festivities, the governor gave out cows and cars as gifts to the leaders of bandits operating in the state. Additionally, he once revealed during a local radio interview that he is aware the bandits terrorizing the Northwest are based in Zamfara, from where they launch attacks on other States.

Some of the bandits have purportedly pledged their loyalty to the Governor even as a notorious bandit leader operating around Jangebe Talata Mafara LGA, of the state stated that the Governor is their main benefactor as such his boy will not carry out activities inimical to the Governor’s personal interest. Another instance is how supposedly ‘so-called repentant’ bandits are relocating to Gusau, the State capital, at the behest of the Governor after receiving generous compensations from one of his aides.

The move is so that the bandits can enjoy the freedom of movement and carry out the Governor’s selfish bidding. It is also common knowledge that the Governor has negotiated and secured the release of members of his gangs arrested by security forces while using the same avenue to arrest his political opponents.

It would be recalled that during a press conference he held on October, 7, he vehemently lashed out at politicians specifically the opposition who he accused of politicizing the security situation in the state. In his address at the conference, the governor called on security agencies, to cooperate with his government in addressing the lingering insecurity challenges in the state. He claimed that the peace reconciliatory process initiated by his administration has yielded positive results as 99 percent of mass killings have stopped yet senseless attacks and loss of lives are being reported on almost a weekly basis.

Unless something is urgently done to cut short the governor’s excesses, strengthen the legitimacy and capacity of state institutions and non-state actors, including traditional authorities to address issues of corruption and widespread poverty, the security situation may likely continue to deteriorate. It is also vital for the state to address the deep-rooted grievances that drive conflict in the region, as well as other neighboring states. Will the Governor allow his oath of allegiance in upholding the constitution as against primordial politics be supreme? That is a difficult question.


Hassan Anka writes from Gusau

Imagine the whole governor rewarding bandits with amnesty. Does it mean there is no advantage of being a law abiding citizen in Nigeria?

It is unfortunate in Nigeria that it pays to be a criminal, when their victims are languishing in the IDP camps, th Vilians are being rewarded for unleashing pogrom on innocent ones.