Speedy Trial of Bandits and Safeguarding National Security
By Abdulsalam Mahmud
Armed bandits in Nigeria, who have been tagged terrorists by a federal government gazette, are one of the criminals holding the country to ransom. In the North West and Central parts of the country, they reign supreme.
They have and continue to kill and maim thousands of lives. They have sacked hundreds of communities and villagers, displacing millions of Northerners. They have also abducted several persons, who they later released after receiving hefty sums of cash as ransoms.
In Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna and Kebbi States, the activities of Bandits have been particularly worrisome, in the last few years. The activities of these bandits’ ranges from kidnapping to murder, robbery, rape, cattle-rustling, and the likes.
Their modus operandi involves maiming and killing their victims when they least expect. Usually, they mobilize themselves through the forests into the neighborhood riding on fast motorcycles especially in the nights and shoot at will.
Sometimes in the afternoon, once they were sure there was no security presence of the police or military around, they unleashed terror in the communities.
This growing threat is claiming victims in hundreds. Several children have been orphaned and women became widows overnight, while the issue of food security as well as humanitarian tragedy will further make life unbearable for many Nigerians.
The facts are scary. While about “1,100 people were murdered in 2018 in the six states of North west Nigeria, over 2,200 were killed in 2019 and 1,600 were killed between January and June 2020 by bandits”.
But like the counter-insurgency operation in the North East, various military exercises have led to the elimination of top bandit commanders, gang members and their groups in the North West and Central, in the last one year, particularly.
To add, there have been successful arrests of many wanted bandits and their commanders by military troops. The continued detention of notorious bandit-terrorists, also, has helped deflate the strength of many bandit groups.
However, Gen. Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, has said the delay in the trial of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and others for terror-related crimes is undermining efforts at curtailing security threats in the country.
Irabor spoke on the topic: Contemporary Security Environment and National Development: Efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), in Lagos.
Quoting activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), the CDS noted that only 359 out of the 5,359 suspected bandits, kidnappers and terrorists arrested by security forces in Northwest and Northeast zones between 2017 and 2020 have been prosecuted in court.
He also quoted the lawyer, saying the remaining 5,000 suspects were being held in prisons across the regions.
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The development, Irabor said, has hindered timely punishment of criminals to serve as a deterrent to others.
He said: “The processes involved in criminal investigation, trial and prosecution in Nigeria are cumbersome, hence leading to delay in the arraignment and dispensation of justice to suspected terrorists and other violent non-state actors arrested by troops and held in different correctional centres across the country.
“This has often given criminals the impetus to believe that they will not be made to account for their evil activities. The recent upsurge in attacks by terrorists on correctional centres in the country can be viewed as part of efforts by the criminals to free their colleagues who have been in detention over time.”
Irabor said the delay in the trial of such criminals was militating against military efforts at curbing security threats, thereby undermining national security and development.
On alleged Fulanisation and Islamisation of the country, the CDS stressed that nobody, including President Muhammadu Buhari, ever directed him to treat Boko Haram militants with kid gloves.
Responding to reactions from the audience, Irabor dismissed the call for use of mercenaries in the war against Boko Haram militants and other terrorists.
The CDS argued that those to be invited could be part of the security challenges.
He restated his preference for proper kitting and capacity-building for the Armed Forces to tackle border and maritime breaches rather than creating border and coastal forces.
According to him, such calls amount to creating more problems than tackling the root causes of the current national security challenges.
Irabor said insecurity is a global phenomenon that has spilled into Nigeria as a member of the global community.
The CDS listed the areas of national insecurity and the challenges they pose to law-abiding citizens.
He said: “As part of the international community, Nigeria is currently grappling with various security threats that pose challenges to the country’s national development.
“These security threats include activities of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) in the Northeast, militancy in the Niger Delta, banditry in the Northwest, secessionist agitations in the Southeast, cattle rustling in the Northcentral as well as kidnapping and farmer-herder clashes in virtually every part of the country.
“These asymmetric security challenges are aided in very large measure by the proliferation of small and light weapons and the emergence of groups that engage in banditry, kidnapping, political violence and other mafia-style violent activities.
“Added to all these challenges are the internal social contradictions related to politics, ethnicity, resource control, religion and corruption which continuously generate acrimony and heat up the polity.
“This unfavourable situation has impacted negatively on peace and security for Nigerians with negative consequences on the country’s national development.”
*Mahmud is the Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, and can be reached via, [email protected]*
