BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
A former Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, said at one time in 2019 that some highly placed traditional rulers in restive communities aid bandits to perpetrate criminal activities.
He said then that the Federal Government was working with the military to tackle the menace of banditry and killings in Zamfara State and the entire North West region.
The former Minister added that the traditional rulers also “compromise military operations,” warning that the armed forces would go after “any person or group of persons who choose to connive or sympathize with bandits to perpetrate crime against law-abiding citizens.”
Dan-Ali had stated then in a release signed by his Public Relations Officer, Col. Tukur Gusau, saying the military had been directed to deal decisively with anybody identified to be helping the bandits under whatever guise, “no matter how highly placed the person or persons may be.”
In spite of the concerted efforts of the armed forces and other security agencies, some unpatriotic persons, including highly placed traditional rulers have been identified as helping the bandits with intelligence to perpetuate their nefarious actions or to compromise military operations.
Last week, the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, ordered the immediate suspension of the Emir of Birnin ‘Yandoto of Tsafe Local Government Area for honouring Ado Aleru, a notorious terrorist, bandit and kidnapper with the title of Sarkin Fulani (The King of Fulani) of Yandoton Daji Emirate in Zamfara State.
Aleru had been declared wanted by Nigerian government for sundry acts of terrorism and banditry.
The ceremony took place around 3:30 pm on Saturday, July 16, 2022 with so many in attendance including security officials.
The Emir hinged the decision to honour Aleru with the title on the fact that he had repented and was helping with the fight against bandits in the area.
The government statement reads: “This is to inform the general public that the Zamfara State Government has dissociated itself from the alleged turbaning of a Sarkin Fulani by the Emir of Birnin ‘Yandoto of Tsafe Local Government Area.
“In this regard, the State Executive Governor, Hon. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, MON (Shattiman Sokoto) has directed for suspension of the Emir with immediate effect.
“Accordingly, the Executive Governor has approved the appointment of a Committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the action of the Emir. The composition of the Committee is as follows:
Hon. Yahaya Chado Gora, Chairman; Hon. Yahaya Mohd Kanoma, Member; Hon. Muhd Umar B/Magaji; Hon. Lawal Abubakar Zannah; Isa Muhd Moriki (Rtd P/Sec); Barr. Musa Garba, SG/PSec. MOJ , Secretary.
“In the meantime, Alh. Mahe Garba Marafa, who is the District Head of ‘Yandoto is hereby assigned to take charge of the affairs of the Emirate.”
Thereafter, Governor Matawalle barred all traditional rulers in the state from conferring traditional titles without government clearance on anyone.
The directive was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by Zailani Bappa, the governor’s Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications.
“All Emirs, Senior District Heads and District Heads in the state are hereby directed to officially seek permission from the State Government before conferring traditional titles on anyone,” Matawalle was quoted as saying in the statement.
He said the directive became necessary to check indiscriminate awards and possible abuse of the traditional institution.
“Henceforth, no Emir, Senior District Head, or District Head must appoint anybody into any traditional office without securing official permission and clearance from the state government.
“Compliance with this directive is now mandatory and failure to abide by it will attract serious reprimand from the state government,” he warned.
The State Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara, told journalists that though traditional rulers were given the mandate to appoint title holders, the case of Aleru was different.
“The emir ought to have written to the government seeking approval through the governor who will forward the request to the State Security Council who will screen to look at the pros and cons.
“In October 2019, a committee set up by the governor to proffer solutions to banditry in Zamfara said some traditional rulers were colluding with bandits, and recommended to the governor to dethrone them”
“None of these was done. It is after the recommendation of the Security Council that the State Executive Council will also have to ratify the recommendation.
“But like I said, this has not been done, that is why the state government felt there was a need to suspend the emir,” Dosara said.
According to him, the six-man committee investigating the suspended emir has been working and will soon submit its report.
He said that the Zamfara government has no objection if communities reconcile to restore peace, “but there are limitations”.
The commissioner said that local negotiation for peace with the bandits has been going on in places like Dansadau, Kaura Namoda and Zurmi.
“The report the government is getting is that there is relative peace there as farmers have gone back to farming.
“In Zurmi Local Government Area for instance, with the peace between repentant bandits and the community, the people are farming together without intimidation or fear.
“So, the government has no problem with the localisation of the negotiation, and that is what is going on.
“All we are praying for is that, let this be the root cause of having lasting peace in Zamfara,” he said.
The Chairman, Katsina State Traditional Council of Chiefs and Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, recently raised the alarm over what he described as multifaceted worsening security challenges besetting residents of the state.
The traditional ruler said the spate of insecurity in the state was at the moment deteriorating thereby degenerating the state of affairs with regards to the security of lives and property of the citizenry, particularly in farming communities across the state.
Usman, who spoke in Hausa in a two minutes viral video, said some traditional rulers in the state had forfeited their salaries to enable the state government to combat banditry in the state.
He added that the state had literally been overrun by terrorist, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, and other sundry armed criminal gangs who terrorise and kill, abduct and rape innocent citizens indiscriminately in the state.
“You will see two or four persons (terrorists) on a bike with live ammunition out to kill anyone they could lay hands on, we all have to stand on our feet. It’s not as if we don’t have the money.
“We have the money and weapons to fight these people (terrorists). We have even forfeited our salaries so that they can fight insurgency but they don’t. Many emirs have been abducted.
“It has gotten to the extent that everywhere you go you will be in constant fear of not knowing what may happen. It was just yesterday that I came back from Kaduna, l had to be escorted front and back.”
He added “Imagine we and our country living in such fear because of those irresponsible drug addicts. We can tackle them, we have the money and weapons to fight them. Are we afraid of them?.
“We can’t fold our hands and be killed and have our wives abducted and raped in our presence, it is not fair, so this is my answer.”
Earlier this year, the Zamfara State Government had dethroned two traditional rulers for their alleged involvement in banditry.
The affected traditional rulers are the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, and the Emir of Dansadau, Alhaji Husaini Umar.
Also dismissed was the district head of Birnin Tsaba, Alhaji Suleiman Ibrahim.
The State Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara, who disclosed this at a press conference, said the monarchs were found guilty of all the allegations leveled against them.
Dosara said, “After going through the reports submitted to the state government by the two committees, the state government has found it necessary to implement the committee’s recommendations.
“Based on the recommendations, the two Emirs, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of Zurmi Emirate and Alhaji Husaini Umar of Dansadau Emirate are hereby dethroned.
“Similarly, the district head of Birnin Tsaba, Alhaji Suleiman Ibrahim, has also been dismissed.”
The commissioner added that all the lands allocated by the two Emirs have been revoked.
The two Emirs were suspended by the state government in June and were kept at the Government House, Gusau.
They were then taken before a court following a series of complaints from both the families of the two Emirs and civil society organisations.
A former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party in 2015, Martin Onovo described the turbaning of Ado Aleru as a proof that the government of the day is culpable in the inability of the country to successfully curb insecurity.
Speaking to The Point, Onovo queried the choice of an individual who was declared wanted by the Police, as the most eligible for a chieftaincy title, even though he is said to have repented.
“It would be surprising that of all the Fulani in the locality, the only one they find appropriate to be made the Sarkin Fulani is the repentant bandit, a leader of bandits, though said to have repented. Someone who was declared wanted by security authorities in the country, nothing more could justify the claim that the government is culpable in the inability of Nigeria to effectively tackle insecurity and terrorism in the country.
“I think it goes further to reaffirm our conclusion, which has been confirmed both locally and internationally, that the government is culpable. The evidence comes from people like General Theophilus Danjuma about the Armed Forces not being neutral, and of course, we know that the government has the controls and commands of the Armed Forces. We have the testimony of Commodore Ola Oni, we have the confession of Kawu Baraje, and so many others.
“Internationally, we have the judgment of the Court in Dubai that convicted some Nigerians for terrorism financing. So I think that all this removes any doubt that the government is not culpable. So if an Emir is making a bandit as Sarkin Fulani, all in the name of he is a repentant bandit or that so the Emirate may have peace, and we have government officials present at such a ceremony, security operatives there, too, then we cannot wave it off as unimportant. There is no way the government of the day can be exonerated,” he argued.
Ab initio, Governor Matawalle has been accusing some unnamed traditional rulers of sabotaging his government’s peace efforts in the state.
At a recent meeting with the heads of security agencies in the state, he said the traditional rulers were not playing their expected roles in the fight against banditry.
He said this has led to the recent deterioration of insecurity in the state.
The meeting was also attended by religious clerics, traditional rulers and journalists at the Government House in Gusau.
Matawalle said some traditional rulers were aiding the illegal activities of outlawed vigilante groups in their domains, which he said was provoking reprisal attacks by bandits.
The governor said security is a collective responsibility and not that of the government alone.
He said if the residents and traditional leaders are not interested in his administration’s dialogue with the bandits, he would withdraw from it.
In October 2019, a committee set up by the governor to proffer solutions to banditry in Zamfara said some traditional rulers were colluding with bandits and recommended to the governor to dethrone them.
The committee, headed by a former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Abubakar, also disclosed the bandits had collected over N3 billion as ransoms from families of abducted persons in the state.
The committee said 4,983 women had been made widows, 25,050 children orphans and 190,340 persons displaced by bandits from 2011 to 2019.
Years later, the governor has not implemented the major recommendation of the committee which also recommended sanctions against those indicted in crimes across the state.
