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.

Olayomi Koiki

A Nigerian human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that his country’s government cannot arrest Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, and other criminals because they were created for political purposes.

Speaking on Monday when he appeared on Voice of The People FM, Sowore alleged that government officials have links with the criminals, using them to gain power and later protecting them.

He explained that this is why it is hard for the country to make any meaningful progress in the fight against terrorism and banditry.

Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow movement said: “The people who are in government are bandits themselves. They know where these bandits are.

“You have to look at the history of banditry, kidnapping and militancy. If you recollect well, I think in the 2000s, most of the deadliest Niger Delta militants were the creation of Peter Odili and Co. They used them for election. They even came out and said after the election, they left us without remuneration and we have to take up arms against the state.”

He continued, “That is how Asari Dokubo started. The former Governor of Borno, Ali Modu Sheriff, he allocated a commissionership position to a Boko Haram commander who was later killed by the Nigerian police.

“I am giving you all these backgrounds so that you can understand that these guys are friends of those in power. They are the ones who helped them get into power. When they get into power, they protect them. It’s the same thing with all kidnappers. 

“Even in Zamfara, a former governor who is now the Minister of State for Defence has been exposed as a person who was providing logistics to the bandits. The bandits have spoken about it openly too. 

“So how do you expect these people to grab these militants, these bandits, these kidnappers when they themselves are facilitators of terrorism?”

– 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.

Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.

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.

In August, the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said insecurity in Nigeria is weaponised by politicians for political and selfish reasons.

A Nigerian soldier, Suleiman S., also alleged that the government’s practice of paying ransoms to terrorists – dubbed as bandits in the country was hindering the military’s ability to effectively combat them.

He urged the public to redirect their blame from the Nigerian Army to the government, emphasising that soldiers are constrained by orders and cannot take independent action.

The soldier said the military has the capability to eradicate bandits, particularly in hotspots like Zamfara State forest within a week if given the necessary orders.

He expressed frustration that the military’s potential is being wasted due to a lack of direction from leadership, whom he accused of profiting from the ongoing crisis.

He cited the assassination of a Sokoto State monarch, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa as an example of a coordinated plan by certain individuals or groups to perpetuate insecurity.

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