It is hardly surprising that the people of Gobir in Sokoto State, last week took matters into their own hands and mobilised in an effort to rescue about 150 residents of the town abducted for ransom by bandits. Their mission was also to recover the body of their traditional ruler, Sarkin Gobir, Isa Muhammad Bawa, who was slain in the bandits’ den.

The bandits had demanded N60 million and five motorbikes to release the body of the monarch, thus adding insult to the people’s injury.

This is not the first time that communities mobilised to confront armed criminals occupying their forests and farmlands, killing, raping, extorting and abducting their people for ransom. In most cases, especially in the Middle Belt and Southern areas, the armed forces were sent to arrest the vigilante members and release the arrested culprits, especially during the Muhammadu Buhari regime.

This gave room to the speculation that the Buhari regime was sympathetic to the bandits, especially the killer herdsmen fighting to grab lands from their indigenous owners.

If the Gobir people should succeed without being harassed by the Police and the Military, communities across the country might take up their security in a similar fashion. While it may in many cases record great successes, it could lead to other unpleasant outcomes.

The criminals are essentially terrorists and outlaws. They are extraordinarily armed and willing to kill to assert their will. Going against such evil forces with basic instruments such as Dane guns, machetes and clubs could lead to disastrous losses of lives. It is important to avoid playing into the hands of these terrorists and insurgents.

We have always called for an emergency approach, whereby the Police, Army and other security agencies will work together with able-bodied people and communal vigilante outfits to stamp out all illegal occupants of our ungoverned spaces.

This requires expert planning and division of responsibilities. In every war situation such as the one we find ourselves in, roles are specified between the military and civilian irregulars. The civilian components should be trained to provide intelligence and participate in aspects of the combat to mop up the threats. Since the police and military cannot solve this problem alone, they must work with the civilians.

We must strive to exploit the strengths in the military and civilian segments of our society synergistically. We do not want a situation where civilians turn into warlords after uncontrolled exposure to combat situations. Some might simply replace the bandits and terrorists as the new threats to the society. We have seen this happen in Somalia, Libya, Chad, Sudan and other parts of Sahel Africa.

We commend the Gobir people for their act of bravery. However, the best approach is to work with the security architecture of state.