A Zamfara community repelled and killed 37 bandits, drawing praises from security experts but warnings of possible retaliation.
Following the bold move by residents of Matusgi in Talata Mafara, Zamfara State who came together and stopped the incessant raid of their community by bandits and in the ensuing face-off, overpowered and killed about 37 of the criminals, security experts have said communities mobilising to confront bandits and terrorists was a positive way to stem the tide of insecurity which has ravaged parts of the country and disrupted the peace of the affected areas.
THISDAY gathered that the villagers in the Zamfara communities before the attack were informed of a possible invasion and they came out en masse armed with local weapons including fabricated guns, and waited for the arrival of the bandits.
According to a local identified as Abubakar Nura, unlike previous times when everybody toiled to take to heels for safety, this time, the bandits that invaded the Zamfara communities had unexpectedly received firepower by the locals from various angles, the situation which forced them to retreat.
“The bandits, while struggling to escape into a nearby bush, returned the fire on the locals during which three people were killed.
“Even before the bandits retreated, there were already twenty-five corpses of them lying in the blood who had been fatally hit by the unresisting flying locally made ammunition fired by the ambushing locals in defense of the community.
.However, while the security experts agreed that community resistance could help in securing the affected areas, they warned against sidelining the main security architecture of the country but advocated for synergy and refusal of locals to work with the bandits.
The experts were however in agreement that communities and individuals should desist from working with the bandits either as informants or supplying them with weapons and other logistics.
Managing Director of Beacon Consulting Limited, Dr. Kabir Adamu, described the action of the community as a natural consequence, stating that human beings would always protect themselves.
He also noted that there was nothing one could do about it when it comes to protection. According to him, “If you don’t protect them, they will protect themselves. So, this is a natural consequence of the failure of the state to protect them. The more that happens, the more they will seek ways to protect themselves.
“So, whether the government does it or not, we’ll see signs of this. But the danger is that the more weapons there are in the society, in the communities, in the hands of people, the more the security issue will increase”.
He however warned that while this may sound like success, in the long run it would not be a success, pointing out that the likelihood of reprisal attack was also extremely high, predicting that the bandits may regroup and stage a comeback.
He added that because the bandits have more weapons in their hands, they will most likely attack that community and the community will seek more weapons to protect themselves, therefore, the cycle will just continue like that, sadly.
On whether the action of the communities amounted to a no-confidence vote on the security operatives, Umar said that a no-confidence vote was even putting it mildly. According to him, “In Zamfara and Kaduna States, the level of insecurity is so bad that the average person is living in a state of anarchy. Because they have no protection, their lives are affected. Their livelihoods are affected. So, that provision in section 14, subsection 2 of the constitution, that says security is the primary responsibility of government, unfortunately, they are not feeling it. So, it’s really clear that public security does not really exist in parts of Zamfara, Kaduna and other Northwest, and North Central states”.
To him, the current arrangement, where we have more security personnel in the urban centres and very few in the rural areas, must be changed. Umar canvassed that there has to be enough security personnel and equipment in the rural areas to protect rural dwellers.
He called for the decentralisation of security in Nigeria, adding that, “whether that decentralisation means state policing or it means something else, the government can decide. But we have to decentralise security. We also have to improve security sector governance”.
He lamented situations where incidents occur and nobody is held accountable, stating that “security personnel are killed, villagers are killed and Nigerians are killed”.
“I mean, a traditional ruler was killed. As you and I are discussing, his corpse is still in the hands of the people who killed him. Even after killing him, they refused to release his corpse. And we know who those bandits are. And yet, nobody has been held accountable. Not a single security personnel has been queried to say, why did you allow that person to be abducted? And after he was abducted, why did you allow him to be killed? Nobody has been held accountable. So, unless we change that, we will continue in this circle”.
Former DSS Director, Mike Ejiofor opined that the killing of the bandits by the communities in Zamfara State, was borne out of frustration and desperation.
While calling on the people to continue to mobilise against bandits and terrorists as security cannot be left to the security agencies alone, Ejiofor cautioned against jungle justice. He urged the people to volunteer information to the security agencies, stating that they know the bandits who come to the market to buy things and go.
“But, you know, it will be too hard for people who are not armed to engage armed people. And they might come for reprisals. So, they should just volunteer information and complain to the police and the security agencies. Volunteer information. So that there can be peace talks. But taking laws into their hands might be very dangerous because there might be reprisals,” Ejiofor said.
Another security expert, Alhaji Zubairu Abubakar told THISDAY that it is not business as usual stressing the community should collaborate with security agencies to stem the tide of insecurity in their domain.
He noted that the residents should desist from being used as informants to the terrorists saying without insiders the terrorists can’t penetrate or operate successfully in any community.
Commenting on the development, a resident, Alhaji Garba Adamu explained that people in the area were aware of the devilish activities of the bandits.
“Let me tell you, these people terrorising us have no friends or religion, if you betray your people as an informant, you are also causing harm for yourself, because when they attack the community they will also kill your relatives,” he stated.
He enjoined the government to equip locals with local weapons such as pump action, Dane gun, and other objects as people are now ready to defend their lands.
Retired former Commissioner of Police FCT Command, CP Lawrence Alobi, said that if bandits have been known to be a threat to the lives of the people and communities, they have done well, noting that their actions are commendable.
He however cautioned against killing people on mere suspicion. He added that if they were confirmed to be terrorists then their actions are in line with the law. He averred that if the citizens now come to the realisation that they have to protect their environment and they do that in unison and purposeful action, they should be applauded.
The former CP noted that the people themselves were the prime beneficiaries of a safe and secure environment, as well as effective policing and security.
“The law protects them for standing up against adversaries of the state. The law of human rights provides that if the life of any other person is in danger, the people or the police have the duty to protect the person’s life and property,” he said.
He called on Nigerians to say no to terrorism, banditry and kidnapping. He further urged other communities to emulate these heroic actions to scare bandits away from invading communities. He concluded that security is everybody’s business, not only security agencies or the government.
Former Security Adviser to Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Rekpene Bassey, noted that what the community did can be called vigilante security. He explained that vigilante security “is the situation where maybe because the people are no longer getting satisfaction from government or they are not happy with government efforts resort to self-help so they can stay alive”.
He noted that the actions of the communities complement national security, adding that the communities need to be safe, and secure.
He also argued that the law allows for self-defense and protection. “If somebody is coming with a lethal weapon to attack you to the extent that this weapon will be used successfully against you and you would die and you have a counter-weapon to defend yourself, you are allowed by the law to defend yourself”.
He further averred that if the community did this and generally protected themselves against being killed by bandits, the government should rise up to the occasion to protect that community against possible reprisal attacks from the bandits.
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