By Emeka Omeihe
Those still confounded by the ease with which bandits bombed an Abuja-Kaduna passenger train, killed eight people, injured many with several others abducted should hold it.
The reasons for its successful execution and the general reign of terror that has reduced human life to nothing in Kaduna state and the north-west are beginning to emerge. If it takes the train calamity for us to get at the root of the festering banditry/terrorism that has consigned the country to a verity of the Hobbesian state of nature, the incident though condemnable, may be serving a useful purpose.
Before last week’s attack, there had been a similar attempt that destroyed the rail track on the same route though the train successfully maneuvered its way out. But the level of mortal damage both in human and material capital from the recent terror attack exposed the vulnerability of the citizens to continuing onslaughts of bandits/terrorists.
The train attacks have been roundly condemned with blames heaped at the doorsteps of the federal government for its serial inability to guarantee the safety of lives and property. Not a few have also expressed frustrations with the seeming kid gloves the government treats the mortal danger posed by the activities of bandits/terrorists in this country.
Not long ago, fiery Islamic preacher Sheikh Ahmad Gumi had warned that bandits were fast acquiring ant-aircraft guns. But the authorities never gave attention to that until they successfully brought down one of the Nigerian Air force jets. Gumi had also sought amnesty for the bandits as the only condition for them to come out of their evil ways.
The manner Gumi conducted himself in his interactions with bandits in Zamfara forests and elsewhere had raised suspicion that he knew more than he was making the rest of us to believe. Suspicion of complicity in the banditry in the north-west gave rise to calls on the Buhari government to have Gumi arrested.
Though the government never gave heed to such calls, something of significance emerged from Gumi s account of his interaction with the bandits in Zamfara forests. The two camps he had discussions with in the forests were those of the bandits and the Fulani.
According to Gumi, during the presentation of their grievances, leaders of the bandits listed them as cattle rustling and attacks on the Fulani by the military and indigenes of Zamfara. What emerged from the disclosure was that both the bandits and the Fulani herdsmen shared common identity and challenges. They are two sides of the same coin.
In this column in May last year titled “A Bandits’ republic”, I had drawn copious attention to the increasing slide of the country to a verity of the sovereignty of the bandits. My position then was in part, based on the escalating kidnapping escapades and killings by the bandits in the face of the inability of the government to rein them in.
Additionally, Gumi’s account of his interaction with bandits which showed no difference between the grievances of the bandits and Fulani herdsmen had injected complications into the matter and diminished quick prospects of workable solution. It was envisioned that with such mixed identity, the challenge of banditry was bound to assume a complex dimension.
The body language of the federal government on the insurgency of the herdsmen did not help matters. So a bandits’ republic had become an emerging possibility in the face of the inability of the government to smoke them out of the ungoverned forests they had firmly established authority.
It is not surprising they subsequently grew in strength and sophistication to the extent of attacking the Kaduna International Airport killing one and disrupting flights. As if the airport attack was not grave enough, the train terror onslaught brought the reality of the mortal danger of armed banditry/ terrorism closer to the doorsteps of the authorities.
And for Kaduna state, it was the tonic for the truth to come out. It provided the window for equivocation and doublespeak to give way to truth. And that moment came when Governor Nasir El-Rufai received in audience, the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi.
El-Rufai was so devastated by the incident that he had to spill the beans only if that will prick the collective consciences of the authorities to halt the scourge. Hear him “The bandits’ hideouts are known. We know where they are. We have enough intelligence for us to take action. The SSS have their phone numbers, they listen to them and they give me report. We know what they are planning.”
These disclosures are as weighty and grave as they are revealing. Even as they provide a lead to the unceasing insurgency of the bandits, the issues are not entirely new. It had long become evident that the camps of the bandits are known to Gumi, security agencies and government officials that were part of his trip.
Despite this weight of credible intelligence, the government failed to act citing the need to avoid harming innocent inhabitants of the camps. Yet, it is from the same camps the bandits levy terror on innocent citizens at their homes, on the roads and elsewhere killing and maiming them. That is why the Buhari regime has been accused of duplicity in the reign of terror that has held the country prostrate.
This lethargy allowed the bandits to perfect in sophistication to attack airports and passenger trains. It is good El-Rufai has been forced by frustrations to speak out. He had in the past justified duplicity in selective military responses to banditry and self-determination campaigns on the ground that the former was only in the business of collecting ransom.
He is now in a better stead to know there is no difference between banditry and terrorism and that bandits are terrorists. But it is late in the day as innocent citizens have had to pay dearly for this tardiness. Curiously, Kaduna state has been at the receiving end of banditry.
Its annual security report had it that 937 people were killed by terrorists in 2020 and 1,972 kidnapped. In 2021, 3,348 residents were kidnapped and 1,192 murdered. These are chilling statistics from just one state. But they speak volumes on the general slide to anarchy in the country. The cat has been let out of the bag. The government owes explanation on El-Rufai’s revelations.
