The commander of a local security agency in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Katsina has accused soldiers of complicity in banditry.
Major A. Ibrahim (Retired), the commander of the Community Watch Corps in Katsina State, levelled serious allegations against some Nigerian soldiers, accusing them of supplying arms to bandits and extorting local farmers, especially during the harvest period.
He made this known following the arrest of one Malam Hafizu in Sabuwa Local Government Area of the state.
The Watch Corps had trailed Hafizu for days before intercepting him with an ample supply of ammunition suspected to be meant for bandits operating in the area.
Hafizu reportedly confessed during interrogation that a soldier, identified simply as Ade, gave him the ammunition.
Ibrahim said the confession confirmed fears among residents that some security personnel were colluding with criminals.
“I am the commander and head of the Watch Corps Katsina, overseeing the operation,” the local security commander said.
He noted that several complaints had come from communities, particularly in Funtua, about soldiers working with bandits to intimidate, extort locals and aiding in paying ransom.
“Soldiers who are meant to protect the people are now causing harm. We must enforce the law, stop these abuses, and restore trust,” Ibrahim said.
He added that the situation in the Nabi community was particularly dire, where farmers were reportedly forced to pay levies multiple times before entering the farms and being allowed to harvest their farm produce.
Everything they harvested was allegedly taken from them by force.
“The Committee has resolved: Enough is enough. We want peace. The military must protect, not oppress,” Ibrahim concluded.
INSECURITY AND VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.
At least 50 people were killed while many others were injured in a Palm Sunday attack by assailants said to be Fulani herdsmen in a community in Nigeria’s north-central state of Plateau, in an attack believed by many as an ethnic cleansing agenda.
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