It is almost 17 months since Nigerians were glued to their television screens on May 29, 2023, listening with rapt attention to their then newly elected President, Bola Tinubu, as he read out his inaugural speech to them.
Tinubu had survived a fiercely contested election that was held a few months earlier in February and was getting sworn-in as the President of Africa’s biggest democracy, Nigeria.
So, having high expectations, the world, not least Nigerians whom Tinubu promised Renewed Hope, waited to hear what he had to say concerning pressing national issues, especially insecurity, and the former Lagos State Governor’s remarks on the subject did not disappoint.
Although Tinubu’s languid demeanour when he was delivering his speech might have created quite the wrong impression that he would be a weak Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, his plans for outmaneuvering criminals, bandits and terrorists were arguably promising and also packed a punch.
Tinubu also pinpointed five principles he said would guide his administration and explained that one of them was that his government would defend the nation from terror and all forms of criminality “that threatened the peace and stability of our country and our sub region.”
He added, “Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence.
“To effectively tackle this menace, we shall reform both our security DOCTRINE and its ARCHITECTURE.
“We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide better training, equipment, pay and firepower.”
Perhaps, the result of that “reformation” in the country’s security doctrine and its architecture is what Nigerians are commending today and this is because the onslaught on bandit leaders, as people know them, has been yielding fruits since Tinubu took over the reins of power.
“For crying out loud, Buhari refused to touch criminal Fulani herdsmen and bandit leaders who were terrorizing Nigerians in the North”
Since the start of 2024, the Nigerian military, at the last count, has eliminated more than a dozen senior bandit leaders, and many of their foot soldiers, who operated mainly in the North West and North Central regions, and went from community to community as they left destruction and misery in their wake.
Bandit leaders who have been eliminated by the military via airstrikes and other military operations are Kachalla Halilu Sububu, Buhari Alhaji Halidu otherwise known as Buharin Yadi, Dogo Rabe, Dogo Gudali, Boderi Isyaku, Dangote, Kachalla Dan Chaki, Rufai Maikaji, among others.
These bandit leaders were responsible for most of the bandit-related violence, illegal mining activities, killings, cattle rustling, arson, and kidnappings in Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and other States in Nigeria, including neighbouring countries.
Indeed, since 2011, bandit activities have been confounding the North West and the International Organisation for Migration reported that over 1.3 million Nigerians were displaced from their homes due to rural banditry.
Strangely though, during the administration of Nigeria’s immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, the bandit leaders operated with impunity and were even thought to be invincible.
And the country’s armed forces and other branches of the security apparatus, to the chagrin of Nigerians, could not so much as locate the various bandits’ enclave and annihilate them.
The fight against terror suffered because of this and it almost always took the intervention and sometimes the mediatory roles played by a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, for officials in Buhari’s government to achieve closure in many kidnap-for-ransom cases in the North.
Gumi, a former army captain who in 2021 helped effect the release of some students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, recently left many Nigerians thunderstruck after he revealed that the Police and Government officials accompany him to negotiate with bandits.
Gumi’s seeming familiarity with the workings of bandit organisations on Buhari’s watch may have compelled Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, to cast aspersions on the former President’s Government.
Omokri said, “No bandit leader was killed (by the military or other security agencies) under Buhari. Rather, General Buhari sanctioned that Sheikh Gumi meet with them.”
In contrast, Omokri highlighted the progress made by Tinubu in the fight against banditry,
“In the last 8 years, our global terrorism index score was above 8; right now it is under 7. That means there has been progress.
“And in the last year, we have seen bandit leaders getting killed.
“But in the 8 years of the last administration, not one bandit leader was killed; they are getting killed now and we are seeing progress in the country.”
Omokri’s claim that no bandit leader was killed throughout Buhari’s tenure sounded too good to be true and a political activist, Aisha Yesufu, took him up on it. She asked to know who killed Abubakar Shekau, a former Boko Haram terror leader who died in 2021.
“In the last 8 years no bandit leader was killed? Who killed Shekau? If one has to lie, do it with something that will take fact checking to disprove,” Yesufu confronted Omokri.
Omokri, however, told Yesufu that there are differences between a terrorist and a bandit.
He said that according to the Global Terrorism Index handbook, a terrorist, which Shakau was, uses violence and intimidation against civilians to achieve a political objective while the occupation of a bandit is organised theft, often in a group, but with no political motives.
A socio-political commentator, Maxwell Igwe, told The Point that the killing of the bandit leaders showed that they were not invincible and neither were they indestructible.
According to Igwe, Buhari did not do much in tackling insecurity and banditry.
Igwe questioned how Gumi knew the hideouts of the bandits but the Police and the DSS did not.
He also said he was in agreement with those who have said that the President should continue with the military onslaught against the bandits in their hideouts.
“Their deaths show that they were not invincible or indestructible.
“Unfortunately, the last administration allowed them to wreck so much havoc and get away with their atrocities.
“They operated with reckless abandon and thought they were gods who could not be destroyed.
“For crying out loud, Buhari refused to touch criminal Fulani herdsmen and bandit leaders who were terrorizing Nigerians in the North.
“The people lost faith in Buhari’s government. I remember vividly that Nigerians asked how Gumi was the only one who knew the bandits’ hideout and our gallant policemen, Army and DSS did not. It was a big shame.
“I agree with Nigerians who insist that Tinubu continue with the onslaught against bandits in their hideouts. The airstrikes are effective and tell you how dangerous those criminals were. They didn’t deserve mercy.”
An Abuja-based security analyst, Collins Iwuji, who shared his views on insecurity and banditry with The Point said, “If any government official has contributed one way or the other to the growth, expansion or arming of terrorists or bandits, they must be made to face the law.
There should be no sacred cows this time around.
“Tinubu promised that he would address insecurity during his inauguration as President. Although he is doing it gradually, he can do more.
“Last month, Tinubu ordered military chiefs and the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to move to Sokoto State where they can effectively fight bandits in Zamfara and other states. It proves the President wants total victory.
“And as some communities in the North are still under the control of bandits, the President should invest more in technology that can help security operatives to fight the menace to a standstill.
“Tinubu should also call minister Matawalle and Zamfara Governor, Dauda Lawal, to order. The rift between them over who sponsors bandits or not has to end.
“In Abuja, I can confidently say that kidnappings and “one-chance” robbers are gradually reducing. We don’t hear much about them now, but if they are totally eradicated, that will be a plus for the government.
“I read that some of the bandits now want dialogue. What kind of dialogue is that? Because they are being killed? We didn’t hear of dialogue until this government came in. My candid position is that those in charge of security in this country should never enter into any kind of dialogue with these career bandits.
“They want dialogue but are still brandishing their weapons on the internet. Such is only common in Nigeria, but gradually we will get to a position where bandits will no longer be able to tarnish this country’s reputation.”
