Following a disturbing trend of insecurity in Nasarawa State, Linus Oota, reports ongoing efforts by the Abdullahi Sule-led administration in Nasarawa State to address the challenges.
Nasarawa State has been in the spotlight for various forms of crimes and criminalities. Over the past months, the state has recorded gunmen invasion, banditry, killings, kidnapping, rape, herdsmen/farmers clashes, and armed robbery, among different forms of criminality.
According to Governor Sule, the incidences of banditry and kidnapping have increased in about eight out of the 13 Local Government Areas of the state.
The governor, since inception, has made tackling insecurity in the state a top priority. As the state evolves a strategy to fight insecurity, another pattern of criminality resurfaces.
Not fewer than 31 persons were kidnapped in different locations across the state and were released on ransom, between 2023 and 2024. Sadly, the majority of the kidnapped persons were low-profile individuals whose cases were not brought to the media space.
To compound the security situation in the state early this year, the National Executive of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural association led by its national president, Abdullahi Bello Badejo launched a voluntary ethnic security outfit in Nasarawa State. The personnel of the security outfit were made up of only Fulani men, to help tackle incessant cases of kidnapping and banditry in Nasarawa.
Badejo launched the security outfit in Lafia with 1,144 personnel, and declared war on kidnappers and other criminalities in the state, vowing to make the state very hot for them.
A week after the launch of the security outfits, operatives of the Department of State Services arrested Bodejo, over the creation of an ethnic vigilante group in Nasarawa State.
Sources said Badejo was arrested over fears that the creation of the nomad vigilant group could escalate the security challenges in the state and across the country, noting further that the group was not registered with the DSS, the police, or any other security agency, hence it was not recognized by the federal government.
The government of Nasarawa State equally denied any knowledge or approval of the formation of ethnic security outfits.
The governor had openly denied involvement in the formation of the nomad vigilante group.
He explained that if the state government was interested in the formation of such an outfit, it would have since initiated legislation through the state House of Assembly to give it legal backing.
A few weeks ago, while in the DSS custody, the detained Bello Badejo attempted to implicate Governor Sule when he accused the governor of actually sponsoring the formation of the vigilante militia groups, a development which infuriated the governor to proscribe and ban the group alongside other ethics groups, operating in the state.
The rising insecurity in Nasarawa State, especially, in recent times has put the gover nor and security agencies in the state in the spotlight because Nasarawa is one of the major gateways into the city of power, the FCT, Abuja, which has recently been under the siege of insecurity.
To worsen the security situation, eight, out of the 13 local government areas in Nasarawa State namely: Keffi, Karu, Obi, Doma, Lafia, Keana, Nasarawa, and Awe LGAs, have recently become the targets of bandits, kidnappers, and other militia groups.
Many lives, properties, and houses are being destroyed by the men of the underworld in eight frontline local government areas of the state. Bandits are on a renewed offensive in the state. The attacks, particularly on rural communities in recent times have forced many residents to flee their ancestral homes to the state capital. Some major roads in the state are not safe due to the activities of the bandits.
Today, the state is almost under siege by a rampaging gang of bandits, armed robbers, kidnappers, and cattle rustlers as they arrest rural people at will and demand ransom which, if not paid, may result in killings of their victims.
Recently, the criminal elements advanced into the urban areas of the state, particularly in Keffi and Karu LGAs, which share a border with the FCT Abuja, and several lecturers and students of the state university in Keffi, were kidnapped with heavy ransom paid.
In the last few months, despite the tireless efforts of the Sule administration, residents of the state have been living under the siege of criminals.
In an attempt to find a solution to the insecurity in the state, Governor Abdullahi Sule recently convened an emergency security meeting with all the top traditional rulers, security agencies in the state, and other relevant stakeholders, to find a lasting solution to the rising cases of banditry in the state.
At the meeting, the governor expressed concerns over the escalation of security challenges in the state, especially kidnappings, as well as activities of ethnic militia groups..
“The purpose of the meeting has to do with the security situation that we have seen, especially during my absence, when certain issues were escalated. It’s indeed a point of worry that we continue to see an increase in the number of kidnappings, especially in Keffi, Doma, Lafia, Awe, Obi, Keana, Karu, and Nasarawa Local Government Areas of the state.
“We have also seen an increase in the activities of the Bassa militia terrorizing innocent people, especially in areas surrounding Shegye, Katakpa, and some other villages in Toto Local Government Area.
“We have on the other hand seen some increase in the dispute, especially between communities, similar to the one we have seen in the Udege area where a person was killed as a result of misunderstanding within the same ethnic group,” he stated.
Sule disclosed that having met with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu as well as some security chiefs in Abuja, where security matters were discussed, it became necessary to call for the emergency security council meeting.
He pointed out that as a result of the activities of the Bassa militia group, which has previously been operating under the ambit of the Bassa Vigilante Group, his administration was considering banning all single ethnic group vigilante groups operating in the state, including the Fulani Vigilante Group that has existed in the state since 2009.
“One of the discussions that we are going to have today is to consider the banning of any single ethnic group vigilante that is operating in the state. Any particular ethnic group establishing a vigilante will be banned,” he said.
The Governor added that his administration would give members of such ethnic vigilante groups a grace period within which to join the already existing community vigilante groups.
“By the time we take the decision about banning single ethnic group vigilantes, especially the Bassa vigilante group, we will work towards ensuring we want peace in the state. We will give them a period of roughly one to two weeks to return their uniforms to us so that we can ensure they are disbanded. We will also ensure they are willing to abide by the system in the state and the policies of the government,” he added.
He particularly appreciated the members of the security agencies for working hard to mitigate security challenges which would have been worse than was recently experienced.
“We are also aware of the crisis between farmers and herders recently, especially between the Eggon and Tiv community in Kadarko, where five people were killed. We will also discuss this today with a view to finding a way forward,” he said.
At the end of the emergency security meeting, Sule issued a proscription order banning all ethics vigilante groups operating in the state and directed all ethnic vigilante groups affected by the order to hand over their uniforms and weapons to the state Commissioner of Police within two weeks.
Citing the powers vested in him via Section 97A of the Penal Code, as well as other relevant laws vested in him, Governor Sule, acting on the advice of the state security council, banned the Fulani ethnic vigilante group known as the Kungiyar Zaman Lafiya, Bassa Vigilante group, as well as the Eggon Vigilante Group.
Through Executive Order No. 1 of 2024, signed by the Governor, the Nasarawa State Government also banned any other association, movement, organization, or society affiliated with the group operating under the guise of ethnic vigilante.
“Similar Organizations include any association, movement or group of persons or society in whatever name called or form, with the aim and objectives of providing security amongst particular ethnic groups within Nasarawa State through the use of force or arms etc.”
Accordingly, the Kungiyar Zaman Lafiya Nomad Vigilante, Bassa Vigilante, Eggon Vigilante, and other similar organizations are henceforth proscribed and declared unlawful societies that are inimical to good governance in the state.
The State Government, therefore, directed that members of the Kungiwar Zaman Lafiya Nomad Vigilante, Bassa Vigilante, Eggon Vigilante, and other similar organizations, to handover all weapons or arms in their possession along with uniforms to the Commissioner of Police Nasarawa State within two weeks from the date of issuance of the order.
The governor, therefore, urged citizens of the state to keep hope alive while assuring them of his government’s commitment to tackling insecurity, expressing the determination of his administration to rally every resource to address the security challenges and make “communities safer for life, liberty, and livelihoods.”
