- The killings of these local security men will only push us further down the abyss of violence and insecurity and also give rampaging armed non-state actors more leeway and freedom to perpetuate their heinous crime
In Nigeria, the rumour mill is the only thing that functions or works. We hardly believe rumours until they are officially denied. The latest bombing of vigilantes in Zamfara State by the Nigerian Air Force has given vent to this postulation. On Saturday, the Nigerian Air Force carried out airstrikes in Garin Mani, a village in the Maru Local Government Area. But instead of killing the bandits, it’s the vigilantes who were protecting the village from bandits that the NAF killed.
The NAF had said the killing of the vigilantes, who were on the trails of bandits who had kidnapped 50 farmers, was a mistake. But this is one mistake too many. Nigeria’s decade-long war against insurgency and other criminal elements is replete with sordid tales of civilian collateral damage. The Nigerian military has accidentally bombed villages and killed civilians in the process at least six times in a decade.
The Saturday bombing of vigilantes in Zamfara is not the first time a local security outfit has been hit during a military operation targeting terrorists. On January eleven, at least ten men of Zamfara Community Protection Guards (ZCPG) were killed by the NAF during Operation Fansan Yamma after an airstrike aimed at bandits hit them. Eleven more were injured during the offensive. The Air Force said it mistook them for criminal gangs.
These “accidental” bombings of civilians and local security men do not do the image of the country any good, and they also hinder the fight against insecurity. If anything, it feeds into the narrative that the military is involved in the insecurity that plagues the nation. On several occasions, top politicians and public figures have accused security operatives, especially the military, of aiding and providing cover for terrorist bandits. Our security agencies are overstretched, and they need all the support they can get, especially when trying to address insecurity in a vast swath of land with treacherous terrain.
This is where these local security outfits and vigilantes come in. Many of these disparate local security groups were formed because the military could not protect the enclave many men who volunteered to be part of the security outfit hail from. They are familiar with the territory and how bandits and terrorists operate. Since we are still ages away from the creation of State and local police, these vigilantes and paramilitary misfits provide a quick and easy way out of the security conundrum we are enmeshed in.
The killings of these local security men, who dedicated their time and resources to protecting their land and people, will only push us further down the abyss of violence and insecurity and also give rampaging armed non-state actors more leeway and freedom to perpetuate their heinous crime since there would be no local and direct resistance to their attacks. Even more concerning is the fact that we rarely hear of punishment being meted out to those who carry out these airstrikes on these hapless vigilantes and villagers.
The fight against insurgency, banditry and other forms of insecurity has gone on for too long, and the cost and adverse effects on the nation have been enormous. The military needs to up it ante and put an end to the madness. But it must do so by not killing those who would help it win the war and those it’s meant to protect.
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