•Militants attack on Isawo, Ikorodu, is brazen crime that must be punished
WHEN bandits, armed to the teeth, sweep into town and start picking off innocent citizens as game, the state should not just fold its arms.
If these criminals now go to the extent of killing five police officers and an army captain, that provides an additional incentive for the state to reclaim its right as the sole monopolist of legal coercion, in a territory founded on law.
The militants’ attack on Isawo, a riverine community in Ikorodu, Lagos State, crossed these two red lines — gunning down innocent citizens and killing security operatives. That is why the security agencies must go after these murderous criminals and ensure they face swift justice.
In the early hours of April 9, these bandits from the creeks struck at Isawo. When the smoke cleared, four policemen and one soldier had lain dead.
The marauding band, according to a bulletin by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), had earlier engaged security agencies stationed at the nearby Woodland Estate, in a gun duel, with reportedly no casualties. Perhaps being unscathed, at their brush with the security personnel at that estate, emboldened them to cruise over to Isawo, to attack that luckless community.
This attack is all the more strange because less than a year ago, a special security joint task force, codenamed Operation Awatse, had flushed these criminals from these same creeks, thus clearing the Arepo-Isawo axis, then notorious for illegal oil bunkering. That they were back, at their menace, showed a serious security breach. This is absolutely unacceptable.
What to do in the immediate? The security agencies should remobilise to the area. The job of last year is clearly uncompleted. This is the time to go back, hit them real hard, and drive them from these creeks, once and for all. No effort should be spared to blast off these vermin, and make the creek a no-go area for free-wheeling marine crimes.
This urgent action is imperative, because in the immediate aftermath of the Isawo attack, there were media reports suggesting the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) was gearing up to face-off with the criminals.
While the OPC outrage is appreciated and understandable, this is no ethnic or tribal issue. It is rather a crime and punishment matter that the constituted security agencies, not some ethnic militia, must swiftly and stiffly deal with.
But that is in the short run. In the long run, to avert future killings, a comprehensive security measure must be put in place. Last year, these creeks were cleared. This year, the bandits were back in them, wreaking havoc. That is clearly not good enough, though the Arepo axis of those creeks would appear still free of these bandits. But the question is: for how long?
These security uncertainties and inconsistencies would just not do it. They are too expensive in terms of lost lives and limbs, not to talk of the severe psychological siege, for Nigerians who live there. Besides, the economic cost of such seasonal insecurities is almost unquantifiable. So, the security agencies must think of a fool-proof security network
Towards this end, it is clear the job is beyond the conventional police. These criminals not only strike with heavy firearms, they attack as guerrillas, with maximum surprise, against the softest of targets.
The current hotchpotch of security task forces are just half way there. They got the job done last year but now the problem is back. It is therefore time for a comprehensive security network, as formidable as it is sustainable, to clear our creeks of these criminals once and for all.
The Federal Government may therefore want to charge the Nigerian Navy with this task. A well equipped and well motivated naval squad, specially trained for such creek patrols, all year round, might just be the solution. Other things being equal, that should better secure our creeks and offer Nigerian citizens living there the much deserved relief.