SIR: Governor Nasir El-Rufai was recently reported by numerous media outlets to have made two major suggestions on how to combat banditry in Kaduna and neighbouring states. The first suggestion, made on Wednesday, March 30 while hosting the ex-Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi in Kaduna, shortly after the infamous train bombing, was that the army should go after their enclaves to wipe them out.
“Let the Air Force bomb them”; he was quoted to have said. On another occasion, Governor El-Rufai specifically advocated wholesale bombing of villages in the Birnin Gwari axis where many bandits are based.
The second suggestion, made on May 18, was for wholesale ejection of Katari, Rijana and Akilibu from their abodes and the transfer of their respective inhabitants to another location near Kagarko. In his simplistic proposal, the demolition and clearance of the three settlements will get rid of the “criminals and informants” they allegedly harbour, and thereby, mitigate the spate of kidnappings along the Kaduna – Abuja highway.
One of the many negative results that is certain to emerge from an audacious ejection of the settlements is that uprooting the inhabitants from their ancestral homes and forcefully re-settling them in a new and unknown locality will subject their lives to many years of trauma, despair and uncertainty.
On the earlier suggestion of carpet bombing of the bandits, it is common knowledge that a wholesale bombing of a large swathe of territory in most conflict situations will be expensive, heinous and ineffective. These were the lessons learned by Americans in Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan, and by Russia in its current invasion of Ukraine to a certain extent. Although Russia has the second best air force in the world, it is finding it difficult to track and eliminate conventional and relatively fixed Ukrainian military targets from the air. In comparison, the Nigerian Air Force is next to nothing in terms of numbers, equipment and combat experience to that of Russia.
Moreover, our military is not fighting a conventional war, but an irregular one in which the enemy remains elusive and engages in constant hit and run within a vast territory. The truth is: the combined combat enclaves against bandits located within Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger States may be larger than Belgium and Turkey combined. This makes it a huge and complex military challenge that may not allow the Nigerian Air Force to easily “wipe them out” as El-Rufa’i advocates.
The extent of the enormity of the task facing the Nigerian military can be seen in the fact that in Zamfara State alone, according to a recent study by Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, there are over 10,000 bandits operating in different parts of the state. In parts of Niger and five affected states of the northwest there were, according to Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, over 30,000 bandits which, according to some sources, may be an underestimate. Therefore, bombing and effectively eliminating this large number of bandits, widely distributed across the six states in small groups is next to impossible.
Our point of departure as a nation must be anchored on a frank admission that the military cannot make any headways by fighting bandits with an inadequate number of poorly motivated soldiers armed with light weapons, manning check points in small groups, or hunting kidnappers on the back of vulnerable pickup trucks, which serve as ambush magnets.
The current inept approach of the military must be urgently replaced with smart and effective strategies. Such entails taking concerted steps to put in place an adequate number of well trained and highly motivated soldiers, whose welfare and needs are well provided for. It also requires the supply of the requisite arms and ammunition in adequate numbers and quality. These must include armoured personnel careers, high calibre machine guns, body armour and night vision goggles, among others. The objective of the new strategy should be characterised by banning ransom payments, and tracking and eliminating bandits ruthlessly.
More significantly, the key to success in fighting banditry or insurgency in the world nowadays lies in the mass acquisition and deployment of drones in tracking and eliminating targets. A single drone can more effectively discharge the task of a thousand soldiers during daytime or night, regardless of weather conditions. If the military acquires 60 of such, millions of traumatised Nigerians will be assured that the days of bandits operating freely in our country are numbered. If not, kidnapping will continue for the next 10 years, even if Katari, Rijana, Akilibu and other settlements are relocated.
- Usman Ladan, PhD,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.