.

•Retired Colonel Agbede: How manipulators sustain banditry

•‘With or without Super Tucano, military big wigs cannot perform magic’

By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor

“In January this year alone, we suffered not less than 50 reported attacks and loss of lives between 1st and 17th January. Within the same period, not less than 300 communities have been invaded, 220 killed. The number of people kidnapped is 200”.

This recent narration by Governor Sani Bello about the state of insecurity in Niger State (North-Central) captures the state of affairs in some parts of the country, especially the North-West, where daring bandits operate at will.

Bandits not also only operate freely in Zamfara State, reports say they levy communities in millions of naira. Sokoto and Katsina states don’t fare any better as bandits carried out raids sometimes unchallenged by security forces and act as if they are the governments in power.

In the North-East, although Boko-Haram, ISWAP terrorists, according to government and the military, have been degraded, reports show they are still very active in Borno and Yobe states. This is partly the scorecard of our Service Chiefs, three of whom were one year in office on January 26.

The Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao, and the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, took office on January 26, 2021, following nationwide calls for the removal of their predecessors for what many Nigerians considered as poor performance. Expectations were high that they would perform, given then widespread insecurity across the country.

Also Read:

FCT Council Debate: I’ll take 1,285 s3x workers off the streets of Abuja — SDP candidate

Only the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen Faruk Yahaya, assumed office after his predecessor, Lt. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, died in a plane crash in Kaduna in May 27, 2021. One year after the CDS, CAS and CNS took command of their respective services, a retired top military officer, Col Samuel Agbede, in this interview, assesses their performance.

Last year, there was euphoria over the appointment of new Service Chiefs. There were high expectations across the country given that their predecessors were believed to have performed abysmally poor on the security situation. One year later, what is your verdict?

There is relatively little improvement because the dynamics of the handling of security is static. The bandits, herdsmen and kidnappers are changing tactics. Much as the government is doing what it thinks it can do to step up the tempo of operation, they are not finding it very easy to cope with the manipulations of the operators in the bandits’ territory. Insurgency is always the most difficult thing to handle because you are not fighting a direct enemy frontally.

These are people who belong to our communities and systems. It is never easy in any way in any country. Unfortunately, the tempo is being stepped up by what I can call international manipulators and forces. The subtle connivance of some countries that I don’t want to start naming now is a source of concern. These terrorists pass through the Niger Republic to Katsina and border areas with well-equipped armoured vehicles is worrisome.

The service chiefs have done a year and one cannot judge them right now because none of us knows what they met on the ground. The changes in the deployment of troops have taken place, but are they enough to handle the happenings created by bandits, herdsmen and other internationally-backed operators in the fields? Other terrorists apart from ISWAP are making inroads, making the situation get worst by the day. The more the armed forces are doing what they think they can to stop these people, the more they sidetrack them and manipulate their deployment.

The activities of fifth columnists in these should not be ignored. All these are not making it easy for any of the service chiefs. I can’t see any of them performing magic, even when they have the Tucanos and other weapons of warfare. I just hope the bandits do not lay their hands on those weapons being used at the operation theatre. The service chiefs can never do more than their best.

Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara

Nobody should accuse the security chiefs of not doing their best under the present circumstances. The situation keeps on changing. The bandits were very active in Zamfara. They moved to Sokoto, Niger and Kaduna. In some states, they have assumed responsibility of government due to constant molestation and killing of people.

The people in those areas are now surrendering to the bandits and are now ready to obey and take instructions from them. And we have varieties of bandits. It is not just one group. The kidnappers have not given up.

They are in serious business. When talking about the performance of the service chiefs in this regard, we should realise that their job is not an easy one. We can hardly judge them now because of the proliferation of the bandits at the war theatre. What is happening to the morale of troops fighting day and night is also an issue. You cannot ask a section to face a battalion of bandits.

You are just asking them to commit suicide if you ask them to do so. The forces being deployed to these sectors may not be necessarily adequate to cope with the forces they are facing. This is irrespective of the modern weaponry being provided to fight these bandits. I cannot say the chiefs are not doing well because they are not just folding their arms, looking at what is happening around them.

Survivors of the attacks often lament that soldiers do not take the war to the bandits. They said security agents wait for villages to be attacked before taking action. In view of this, don’t you think offensive tactics would yield better results?

That is very correct. Before you can take the war on these people, you need to have sufficient intelligence. You can’t just face a direction in the forest and start going.

You have to consider your strengths. The bandits do not always come from one direction. They come from different channels. Without sufficient intelligence and cooperation from the local people, who will supply information, you can’t succeed.

And if the local people are not loyal to the troops, it would amount to fighting in an enemy ground. Taking the war to them means you know their location and strength. It is when you know what you are likely to face that you can plan your approaches. But do they?

I don’t know whether the government is sufficiently using modern drones and aeroplanes to locate all the areas these people are occupying. As far as we know, they don’t stay in one place. They move from one location to the other.

The people from Zamfara have now moved to Sokoto. The people in Sokoto have moved to Niger. And they are crisscrossing those forests. As we all know, the forest in Niger is even bigger than Sambisa. If those people can establish themselves in the Niger forest, it means we have a big problem before us.

It is a big problem and not an easy thing to solve. The local people themselves have to be ready to show loyalty to our troops and I am not sure they are doing that. They feel the military cannot save them. The bandits are so entrenched that they are now collecting taxes from the local people.

The villagers now pay for their safety because they feel our military cannot save them. It is a complicated problem. I think we should adopt more technology and see whether we can liaise with the local people to show loyalty to our troops. If not, we are just putting the lives of our soldiers in danger.

The pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits as terrorists gave the impression that doing so would translate into a total annihilation of the bandits. Now that they have been declared as terrorists, do you see such a development resulting in victory for the armed forces?

That is pure nomenclature. The move only gave the government the power to deal with them ruthlessly. It is also to make the international community more lenient in their criticisms.

They had thought the government was too harsh in the way they treat civilians. But now that they are changing the nomenclature to terrorists, all countries in the world embrace the way terrorists are treated. It is expected that they would be less critical of the government. That is just the purpose.

From your experience as a retired military officer, does a government need to declare enemies of the state as terrorists before moving against them?

No. It is because these people, bandits, have been pampered. They were not taken too seriously in the first place, making them grow wings. And collaborators were treated with kid gloves. If a governor stands up to say he knows those aiding and abetting terrorism and he does nothing about it, what do you expect?

When the bandits and their hideouts are known but the government did nothing, what do you expect? It is absolutely clear to the world that it is during this type of warfare that people make money.

And they make this money at the expense of other peoples’ life. If the government cannot address the leaking sides of security, the problem will continue. I just pray it won’t get beyond what we have seen.

Since banditry is not asymmetric warfare that is more difficult to prosecute, do you see it being surmounted any time soon?

I pray it will, but I don’t see it ending soon. If a personality like General Muhammadu Buhari, after spending nearly seven years is still languishing in this problem, who else is going to save us? It is not easy because I voted for Buhari in 2019, believing he would address insecurity.

Unfortunately, security has been over showed by political consideration. I can’t imagine any serious government opposing any group or group of persons trying to set up a security apparatus under the present circumstances. It is an anomaly for government to oppose those setting up security outfits to fight insecurity.

With a reported capacity of 223,000 troops, the Nigerian Army is one of the largest combat armies in Africa. In a period of warfare such as this, do you think employing more people to prosecute the war against banditry and insurgency should be considered?

The strength of the troops you send to combat any section of banditry has to be greater than the bandits you want to attack. You can’t send a section to fight a platoon of bandits. You need intelligence and equipment to fight any war or insurgency. I don’t think the strength is enough. Nigeria is very lucky to be facing only a sectional uprising. Let’s hope these elements do not commence operation in other parts of the country.

I don’t know how the military will cope in that circumstance. Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, is in the South-East.

The South-West is relatively quiet, but it is not totally devoid of the activities of bandits. For instance, if not that the people of Igbogan had intelligence of an impending attack by herdsmen, they would have wreaked havoc on the community again. Ondo State has experienced a few incidents lately.

The trademark of the bandits is to attack communities, kill people and burn their homes. Kidnapping is becoming a big business in the region. Travelling from Lagos to Ibadan, one has to pray fervently to arrive safely.

It is no longer the herdsmen alone that are kidnapping in the South-West, our people are now kidnapping their people. This is adding to the problem of the armed forces.

The police are trying but how much of the relative peace do we attribute to the police when nearly a quarter of them are guarding personalities. It is the duty of the police ab initio to handle insurgency. It is only when they cannot do it that they call the army. With kidnapping going on all over the country, the police are having their hands full. It is a hydra-headed problem for this government.

Unfortunately, Buhari is only talking all the time without action. I am just praying for his successor who would inherit all the problems. How he would face them, I don’t know.

But the President said recently that he wants to leave Nigeria better than he met it. Already, Nigeria is worse than he met it in every area. Do you think he can achieve a turnaround in less than 17 months?

Leaving Nigeria more than he met it is his view. Those of us who are outside know the difference. What do you expect him to say? We are used to their propaganda machinery. His appointees are there defending the indefensible. But people know the difference and know the facts. People living here know what they are going through. He may not know. He may not know because he is so much isolated from the realities of the problems.

That is why he can make claims he can’t substantiate. We don’t expect him to come out and say he has failed. A lot of us know the facts.

There is a resurgence of killings perpetrated by suspected herdsmen in the South-West. Recently, there were such attacks in Ondo and Ogun. What should Amotekun do in the face of this resurgence?

I feel Amotekun is making a lot of impact in the South-West, particularly in Ondo State. They cannot police everywhere. They haven’t got the resources to be at every point. And with the obstruction that came from the federal government, one can just give them kudos for what they have been able to do.

They are doing a lot, and that is making the states in the South-West better than others. Amotekun should be embraced by all and sundry. The federal government should join hands together with an outfit like Amotekun to solve banditry. Government can’t accuse governors who brought Amotekun of being overzealous.

They are doing what they are doing in the interest of the people, including the herdsmen living in the region. Unfortunately, the federal government didn’t see it from that perspective. The federal government ought to have supported them to assist the police because they are treading areas police would never dare to tread. If you had been around in Ondo State and witnessed any of their operations, you would have wondered how they did it.

I have seen one or two of their operations and wondered how they got the bandits from the forest. Some of these people they arrested are not all Nigerians. Some are from Niger Republic, Senegal, Mali and other places. Are we going to sit down and be watching these people overrun our country? Are we going to keep watching until this country is completely ruined? I don’t think it is good enough and I wish the federal government would have a rethink about Amotekun. Unfortunately, some states are hesitant because they are afraid of the federal government and its supporters.

As such, they are not giving much support to Amotekun. States like Lagos and Ogun are in this category. Recently, Amotekun arrested three buses loaded with armed bandits from the North. Amotekun is trying, but the federal government needs to be less political in its decision about the security architecture of this country.

Vanguard News Nigeria