Zamfara’s belated security remedy

The last time I visited Zamfara state was when the late Inspector-General of police, Tafa Balogun visited the state.He had gone for an official security programme, precisely, he was in Zamfara to receive some security vehicles donated to the police by the state government to aid in combating crime and criminality and I was embedded in his entourage as a security consultant.

Zamfara State is located in the north-western geopolitical zone of Nigeria and was carved out from Sokoto State on October 1996. It has a border with Niger Republic. Its  proximity to the Sahel country has created an opening for terrorists to have easy access into our country, Nigeria. Records of attacks by terrorists on Zamfara and the casualties are staggering. For example, attacks on the State in 2021 include the kidnapping of 279 Secondary school girls in Jangebe and the massacre of over 50 villagers in Zurmi in June. Shortly before the attacks, bandits led a raid on a herd of 3,000 cattle but were confronted by local vigilantes, leading to a gunfight and battle between the two sides.Also, from 4th to 6th January 2022, over 200 people were killed by bandits in the State.

Terrorist attacks by armed fulani bandits in recent time which claimed thousands of lives have often been described as “farmer-herder conflicts”. This is a deceitful and heartless way of deodarising atrocities of these terrorists. It offends sensibilities that innocent people people are kidnapped and killed, not in their farms but in the comfort of their homes, and a whole community attacked and wiped out, yet such horrific crimes aree gleefully dressed and presented as “herders- farmers’ clash”. As I was settling down to write this column there was a news break that least 50 people were killed and several women and children abducted in an attack on a village in Zamfara.

The assault, carried out by Fulani terrorists alias “bandits” began Thursday night and continued into Friday morning.

In 2022, a banker, Dauda Lawal who had contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP defeated the incumbent, Bello Mattawalle who is now the Minister of State for Defence.Note that under Bello, terrorist attacks on the defenceless Zamfara citizens and communities happened almost on daily basis, so one would have thought that  Governor Lawal already had his job cut out for him: Riding Zamfara of the marauding mass murderers.But alas! The state is still held on the jugular by the terrorists and the situation is today even worst than what was obtained under Mattawalle. Among the states that have recorded high number of deafly terrorists attacks, Zamfara is on the same list as Borno State, the birth place of Boko Haram terrorists. It is in Zamfara that we have the highest number of illegal mining by foreigners. One therefore would have expected Governor Lawal, upon assumption of office, to hit the ground running in terms of combating insecurity in his state but he waited until February this year before waking up from his deep slumber to start searching for  solution to the raging  insecurity. At the last count over 5,000 innocent citizens of Zamfara, amomg whom are those who came out in 2022 to vote the governor have been killed by terrorists. All these heinous attacks did not prick the conscience of the Governor Lawal until the former Chief of Defence Staff now Minister for Defence, General Christopher Musa intervened by suggesting to him the need to provide security equipment for all the security agencies operating in the state.The question is, why would the governor wait till it was time for second term politicking before doing the needful? Was the governor not aware that he is the chief security officer of the state and was he not aware of the security reports from the military, the police and the intelligence agencies on the number of attacks in most of the communities in the state? Was the governor not aware that a large number of the people who voted for him had been brutally murdered while others had their children in school abducted by the heartless terrorists?

Was the governor not aware that he is constitutionally mandated to provide security to the people of Zamfara state?

Was the governor not aware that he was constitutionally mandated to take care of the welfare of the people of Zamfara state? Why did the governor wait until now when his is preparing to to run for second term before doing the needful? Many would have appreciated the governor if he had started from the beginning to ensure the safety and protection of the people of Zamfara state.

What did the governor do few months to the commencement of his reelection? He invited security stakeholders, experts and other dignitaries from Abuja to witness the unvailing of,and presentation to security agencies of high precision surveillance and combat drones and Armoured personnel carriers.

At the occasion,  Governor Lawal disclosed that the state government had procured and distributed 150 Hilux operational vehicles, 20 Toyota Buffalo vehicles, including armoured variants, and more than 600 specialised motorcycles to security agencies.He added that the 25 newly commissioned armoured personnel carriers (APCs) would significantly improve troop protection, convoy security and rapid response capability in high-risk environments. Inasmuch as one would appreciate and commend the governor’s gesture to the security agencies, it is pertinent to question why the governor wait until the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) came out with timetable for the 2027 elections before acting. To me, his move is belated, political.This is clearly a belated effort in fighting insecurity in the state. According to  Irvin S. Cobb, an American Author, “a funeral eulogy is a belated plea for the defense delivered after the evidence is all in” . This is exactly what Governor Lawal has done!

And then the clincher: How accountable is Governor Lawal to Zamfara people? Do Zamfara citizen know how the Governor spend their common patrimony? It is obvious that he is not accountable to them hence the cost of the security equipment he unveiled is shrouded in mystery!

Note too that Governor Lawal’s belated security efforts came upon the arrival of  of the hundred American troops on our soil.The first batch of 100 personnel of the US troops that landed in Bauchi were specifically technical specialists, not combat forces, and were deployed for specific advisory roles to boost the capacity of local troop and to identify and neutralise threats. However, one still wonders what the special military technique the American troops want to impact on Nigerian soldiers that they don’t have already. We are talking of Nigerian soldiers that have been graded very high on the United Nations list, Nigerian soldiers that are the favourite of the United Nations for peacekeeping operations across the world. Have we suddenly forgotten Nigeria’s role in ECOMOG in Liberia and Sierra Leone and other war zones across the world? It is my view that the current military collaboration between Nigeria and America ought to have taken place when the heat was on the country.

The coming of the Americans which is a welcome development anyway, like  Governor Lawal’s efforts, is however, belated.

Although, some Nigerians, including security stakeholders frown at this collaboration, notable others like Rtd Major General Chukwunedum Martins (Rtd), a Security consultant, have criticised those against the coming of the Americans and have described them as enemies of Nigeria.

It is his view that a stronger man is always invited when the need arises. The argument is that America has been a very strong ally of Nigeria and having been invited by Nigeria to help fix our security problem, their presence is in order. General Martins hailed the necessity of beckoning on the stronger man(America) for help.

The Americans are here and like the patriot and optimist that I am, I hope and believe that their intervention will go a long way in thawing the debilitating security situation our country is experiencing.