•Warns: overrunning Niger, Zamfara, others may be easy

By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor

Last week’s multiple attacks by bandits in Kaduna and Niger states have brought Nigerians to the point of losing hope in the nation’s security architecture. Besides, the incidents left in their trail questions on whether the unchallenged reign of bandits stems from absence of political will or capacity on the part of security forces. A former Director of Department of State Security Services, DSS, Mr. Mike Ejiofor, speaks on what could be the reason bandits are having an easy  ride in northern Nigeria. He also reveals what security agents could do differently forthwith.

Last week, bandits became more daring in northern Nigeria, attacking Kaduna airport, a train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna, Kaduna/Abuja Expressway and some villages in Niger State. What does this say about Nigeria’s security situation?

I think we should change our strategy in terms of tactical approach. We have been letting these people have a field day. If effective drones are deployed, we should be able to know the movement of these terrorists. Every day, we hear that 50 people were killed by the military, 1, 000 were killed but we don’t see any corpses and no arrests are made. We should be able to display the corpses of the people who are allegedly killed and possibly make some arrests. With those arrests, there could now be leads in terms of investigation to know how they operate. We should be tired of all these stories of killing and surrendering. Yet, the thing is escalating. Therefore, we should deploy more efforts on that. As we can see, they are becoming more daring. They attacked the airport, they attacked the rail line and they are kidnapping people. Don’t forget that there was a time they shot down an air force aircraft and the pilot ejected. Who says they can’t attempt it with commercial flights. As a result of the attacks, two commercial airlines have already stopped their flights to Kaduna, I think we should go on the offensive instead of being defensive every day. Let’s take the war to them.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Governor Nasir El-rufai said he had long warned against imminent attack. Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, also said the bombing of the Kaduna-bound train was avoidable. In view of this, is it right to suspect intelligence failure?

We are not lacking in intelligence. It is just the capacity of intelligence agents to handle the challenge that is the problem. The Minister of Transportation confirmed that they had received intelligence but approval was not given to him. He was not even asking for money. They needed approval to get the equipment when a dollar was about N400. Now, the problem has escalated and we are not going to get it for less than five billion.

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The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation confirmed that they received intelligence about this attack in December. What did they do? They relaxed. The Chief Security Officer of Kaduna State, who is at the centre of the theatre of war, said they had been receiving intelligence reports from security services. It is either they don’t have the capacity to move against these people or they have other reasons for not going against them. Only God knows. But I am advising they should go out on the offensive, using both air and ground forces. The argument some people are making is that there would be collateral damage. But when they are destroying physical infrastructure, kidnapping people, and making life unbearable for the citizenry, does the argument stand? I think we should just change our strategy by going on the offensive against these people.

Government has said it is going to use locals and planes to protect the rail lines. Do you see this as the needed solution?

For me, that doesn’t make sense. How much do you use in operating an aircraft? Is it sustainable to be overflying the rail lines daily? It doesn’t make sense. The better thing for us to do is to deploy effective drones that would provide real-time data on the activities of these people. After that, security agents should now be deployed to the locals for intelligence gathering, but everybody is scared of giving out information. I think they need to cooperate by giving out information to security forces. If you are afraid of giving information, you will become a victim. The most important thing is that we should try as much as possible to assist security agencies. The locals should also be given assurance for them to provide information. As I have always proffered, we need to localize security operations because the problems are local. That is why we have been calling for state police because those operating under such a system would have a good understanding of the environment. They can monitor the areas and liaise with conventional federal forces to get the problem solved.

What would you say is emboldening the bandits lately?

I can give a few reasons. The first is to make government unpopular and weaken people’s confidence in government, especially now that elections are approaching. Don’t forget that these are groups of people who haven’t told Nigerians what they want. These are just anarchists. And I also believe that taking Kaduna where we have several military formations is strategic to them. Don’t forget they have attacked the airport. They have attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, rail line, several institutions and kidnapped people. If they can overrun Kaduna and environs, other areas that do not have military installations like Kaduna, become an easy ride for them. They want to make a statement. That is why I said we must fight this war, especially in Kaduna and environs which include Niger, Zamfara and others. We have to dislodge these people from wherever they are after which we take it up from there.

Reports and some persons in authority had pointed to the lack of political will as one of the reasons northern Nigeria is held hostage by terrorists…

To some extent, one would agree there is no political will. Put differently, the capacity to deal with this issue may not be there. So, it is either there is no political will or there is incapacity of security forces to deal with the problem. We shouldn’t also forget that our security forces are not adequately funded. Even the little appropriated, the budget is not released. Even when it is released, the National Assembly is cutting corners in the name of oversight. The little that is eventually released is not always utilized well by the leadership of security forces. At the end of the day, when they want to buy equipment, you see them buying those that won’t survive the test of time. With all these, we can see that it is not entirely about lack of political will. It was reliably learned that during a security meeting in one of the troubled North-West states, security chiefs advised that the only solution is to wipe out these bandits in the forests. The governor of the state was said to have consented to the proposal. And what was needed was for the Commander-in-Chief to okay the proposal. But for whatever reason, the order wasn’t given. Is this not enough to say that absence of political will is chiefly responsible for the absence of security in the North?

I am not aware of that. To the best of my knowledge, I have always heard the President say that these people should be dealt with. I knew that before the bandits were designated as terrorists, the fear was that Nigeria would be accused of human rights violations if it deployed Super Tucano fighter jets against them. But since they have been classified as terrorists, I don’t know what is stopping our security forces from bombing them in their enclaves.

The delay is worrisome because their enclaves are known. The government said so and claimed they are being monitored. If that is the case, why not take the war to them in their enclaves? By the time the bombing is sustained, the attacks by these bandits will definitely reduce.