Bandits’ Audacity

The recent abduction of 287 pupils and teachers from Kuriga primary school in Kaduna state, swiftly followed by the kidnapping of about 61 people in Buda village of Kajuru local government area, underscores the traumatic state of insecurity troubling Kaduna, much like its neighboring states.
Fact is, Kaduna state, like Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto states in the northwest, has suffered the worst form of insecurity with thousands of residents, especially those residing in rural areas, killed or abducted and communities displaced. The latest abductions serve as a frightening reminder of the dire security crisis gripping the region.

As the attacks and abductions for ransom continue, Nigerians are alarmed by the brazenness with which these bandits operate, exhibiting a sheer audacity that defies belief. These criminals are so audacious that they have the guts to demand for a jaw-dropping N40 trillion, hilux vehicles and motorcycles as a condition to release 16 Kaduna residents, recently abducted.
To say it was shocking hearing a community leader, John Yusuf divulge that the bandits contacted the community to demand for N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans, and 150 motorcycles for the release of 16 people being held captive, is an understatement.

With anguish written all over his face, Yusuf said: “Where are we going to get this kind of money? Even if we sell the entire community, we cannot raise N40 trillion. Even Nigeria as a country has never made a budget of N40 trillion”
Such demands not only highlight the depths of their depravity but also insult the nation’s integrity and its security forces. How did we get to a level where some rag-tag will arrogate to themselves the power to pick residents and demand for any amount of money as a condition to release them?

The spike in kidnapping has seen Nigerians paying billions of naira to secure the release of their loved ones. According to SB Morgen intelligence, kidnappers demanded about N5bn as ransom for different abductions that took place between July 2022 to June 2023 and got paid N303m. Early this year, Nigerians crowd-funded to raise ransom money for the release of the kidnapped Abuja sisters. Ransom payment, which is the growing source of revenue for these criminals, has turned banditry into a lucrative economic activity of some sort.

Funding for terrorists
Amidst this chaos looms the menace of terrorism financing, a scourge that continues to evade decisive action from the government. A lot has been said about terrorism financing in the country but the government has failed to go after those behind it.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari made so much noise about unmasking terror financiers but spent eight years without naming them. I find it hard to explain why, despite promises to root out terror financiers, the last administration faltered in this regard, allowing the nefarious activities of these groups to persist unchecked. Perhaps doing that would have drastically curtailed what we now face.

The task ahead of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to unmask these elements and quickly too because doing that is at the heart of addressing the current security challenge. The president, I dare say, faces a monumental task in confronting this crisis head-on.
But it appears the Bola Tinubu administration has its job neatly cut out as only recently, the chairman of Economic and Financial Commission, (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede recently said the agency uncovered a religious sect laundering money for terrorists and that another religious body was found to be protecting a money launderer with money suspected to have been laundered traced to the organization’s bank account.

That revelations from the EFCC boss further underscore the urgent need for action. Failure to address this issue not only jeopardizes national security but also undermines the fabric of our society.
It is worrisome to note that months after the EFCC chair made this worrisome disclosure, nothing has been done and there is nothing to suggest that the commission will name, shame and, importantly, prosecute those involved in providing livewire for terrorists through funding.
In recent times, terrorists have killed many Nigerians, destroyed property, prevented farmers from accessing their farmlands, imposed levies and carried on with the level of impunity never imagined. Yet the government has, perhaps due to political expediency, failed to publicly name and prosecute those funding this crime against the nation and humanity. The time to do that is long overdue.
President Bola Tinubu has a choice between electing to be politically correct and going after those funding terrorists. Whichever choice he makes will be remembered by posterity.

No to negotiation
But one thing which should not be condoned under whatever circumstances is heeding the calls to negotiate with these killers. It is vexatious to see that while the terrorists carry on with impunity and the government foot-drags in unmasking their financers, some Nigerians find it convenient to advocate for peace talks with these marauders.
Calls for negotiation with these perpetrators ring hollow in the face of their heinous crimes. Advocates of dialogue fail to grasp the gravity of the situation, suggesting appeasement in the face of unbridled violence.

One prominent cleric who has remained consistent in advocating for negotiation with these killers is Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, who earlier this week, urged President Bola Tinubu to open talks.
“The government’s stand of no negotiation with the bandits is an unfortunate position’’ Sheikh Gumi has said while urging “dialogue with the bandits not only for these Kuriga school children abduction but all the cases”.
The sheikh’s insistence on negotiations with bandits overlooks the fundamental principle that criminals must be held accountable for their actions.

I find it extremely difficult to rationalise the call for dialogue considering the fact that these are criminals who have turned abduction for ransom into an economic venture. These people kill, rape, displace communities, and collect huge monies in ransom yet someone is suggesting government negotiate with them? Why should the nation negotiate with them after killing, raping and destroying peoples’ property? It is illogical to think that a man who is used to getting free money will willfully surrender that privilege.

Had this been an ideologically driven issue, the call for adoption of a non-kinetic approach would have been justified. But no, that is not the case therefore, to suggest as some Nigerians currently do, that the government adopts a non-kinetic approach in dealing with these criminals is to encourage criminality.

We must remind ourselves that this is criminality pure and simple. And it has to be confronted and defeated. In confronting this threat, there can be no room for equivocation. The nation must unite in its resolve to root out these criminals and restore peace to our communities. It’s time to strengthen ourselves against this scourge of criminality and emerge victorious in the battle for our nation’s soul.