One of the surreal things about Nigeria’s perennial security crisis is the stranger-than-fiction and deeply confounding scenarios that characterise it. The latest in this mélange of troubling histrionics is the arrest of some armed vigilantes, who are suspected to be members of Miyetti Allah, a popular but controversial herders’ association, in connection with the violent attacks and killings in Kwara State. There is nothing wholly shocking about the news as herders linked to Miyetti Allah have been on several occasions indicted in heinous and despicable crimes, which include attacks and killings of unarmed and hapless Nigerians.
However, their latest purported involvement in the unrest and violence in Kwara is more than just their troubling antecedents to be caught on the side of everything that inhibits the nation’s progress and stability but the seeming involvement of prominent and influential characters in their abhorrent and sinister actions. Also, their arrest is never the news, it is the usual acrobatics by high-ranking government officials who are now trying to provide some cover or even legitimacy for their dangerous and invidious agenda.
When they were arrested, the suspects claimed that they were sponsored by the Kwara State government, a development that triggered public outrage and renewed fears over insecurity in the state. However, in a swift rebuttal, the state government distanced itself from the suspects and disclosed that they were actually armed and deployed by the office of the National Security Adviser, headed by Malam Nuhu Ribadu. ONSA later admitted to arming the notorious and violent non-state actors and absorbing them into regular and conventional security forces.
The admission of ONSA has elicited worry and concern, and rightly so, with serious questions being asked by conscientious and troubled citizens. Also, the reaction of ONSA to the claim of the Kwara State government has been tardy, incoherent and unconvincing at best and dishonest, devious and shameful at worst. According to the statement by the Head, Strategic Communications, National Counter Terrorism Centre, ONSA, Mr Abu Michael, said pursuant to Part III, Sections 4, 5, and 6 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), under the ONSA, continued to coordinate and support law enforcement, security, and intelligence agencies in countering all forms of terrorism in Nigeria.
While certain laws empower ONSA to take steps necessary to ensure the security and stability of the nation, no law gives it the power to hand over sophisticated weapons to herders or persons from a particular ethnic group, who have acquired a disturbing reputation of instigating chaos, orchestrating crisis and masterminding anarchy, leaving in their wake death and sorrow. ONSA cannot arm Fulani herders who are largely from the northern part of the country and send them to another part of the country populated by people whose culture and language are vastly different from those of the herders under the guise of providing support for security agencies.
If the objective of ONSA is truly to give a much-needed assistance to lawful, regular and conventional security forces by integrating trained non-state actors and irregular auxiliaries into their operations and drive to tackle the insecurity the nation is grappling with, then there is a more transparent, sincère and effective way to go about that. Some residents are indigenous to these hotspots and local hunters who are familiar with the terrain and know the people who live in their area, these people would bring more to intelligence gathering with their knowledge of the beleaguered area and the troubled people instead of someone from a far-flung enclave who has little or no knowledge about the area and the people.
Furthermore, describing the suspects as vigilantes has not done much to assuage the anger of the people and has further deepened the suspicion around the motives of the NSA. Vigilantes are banned from bearing high-end, sophisticated weapons in Nigeria, for the NSA to now give out such weapons, which State-backed security apparatus like Amotekun is barred from using, to persons from his tribal extraction, whose modus operandi when it comes to how they carry out their trade has been widely condemned, can only be interpreted one way; the NSA has an ulterior motive which has nothing to do with what he wants the public to believe is the real goal. There are verified stories of how vigilantes in troubled towns and villages of the middle belt, who are constantly under attack from suspected herders, are forced to surrender their weapons to security forces, leaving them at the mercy of the ruthless invaders.
Finally, if truly NSA Ribadu had no ulterior motives, he needs to answer some real and tough questions that strike at the core of Nigeria’s security crisis. Nigerians would like to know the criteria used in selecting the vigilantes majority of whom just so happened to be from the same ethnic group as the NSA — Fulani? Also, Nigerians would like to know the reason and thinking behind deploying a Fulani-dominated vigilante or task force to Yoruba-dominated areas under the pretext of providing support for security operatives even though there are many hunters, vigilantes, and paramilitary outfits already in these areas whose members are indigenous to these places.