The decision of the Abia State Government to revive the dreaded vigilante group,  the Bakasi Boys, attracted some critical comments in some quarters, but Governor Okezie Ikpeazu responded that the local security outfit was not a militia group.

There were speculations that the action amounted to recruiting a local militia to fight Fulani herdsmen rampaging Abia and surrounding states. This came to a climax with the Ukpabi-Nimbo massacre in  Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area in Enugu State on April 25 this year.

The State Government had insisted that there was nothing strange in the decision to revive the group which came into existence eighteen years ago. Indeed, the Bakasi Boys formation was a citizen reaction to disturbances by hoodlums in Aba, and the state government later legalised it as a statutory vigilante group.

Due to their celebrated exploits, neighbouring states in the South East adopted them to fight armed robbers and kidnappers whose activities apparently overwhelmed the security agents.

Definitely, the measure the Abia State Government took was a proactive response to guard against the heinous crimes that herdsmen perpetrated in Agatu, Ukpabi-Nimbo and other places in Nigeria, where the Police and security agencies failed to respond to distress calls on time or apprehend the hoodlums.

The revival of the Bakasi Boys and the adoption of similar vigilante groups (such as the Oódua People’s Congress in the South West) are indirect expressions of loss of confidence in the police and security agencies’ ability or willingness to protect the people.

Since section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution prescribes security and welfare of the people as the primary responsibilities of the government, it is high time we reassessed the extant template to ensure the effective protection of the citizenry.

The Abia State Government’s declaration that the new Bakasi Boys will work together with the Police to provide security, especially in the rural communities, is a prompter for us to consider creating a new policing system whereby the federal and state police will work together under clearly defined jurisdictional limits to protect the citizens.

This will provide rapid response to crime alerts in all corners of Nigeria and also ensure that the constitutional rights of all Nigerians are protected.

It has become obvious that the Nigerian Police Force as currently structured has apparently lost the will or capacity to protect people at the grassroots. The current recruitment of more personnel into the Force may not solve this problem.
We need to involve the grassroots more in securing the nation.
We believe that unless the state’s capacity to protect the citizens is restored, time will come when people might be forced to take steps to protect themselves, and this could spell anarchy.