Vanguard Editorial of November 15, 2024
Defence Headquarters, DHQ, on Thursday, November 7, 2024, announced the emergence of what it described as “a new terrorist group” which goes by the name of Lakurawa in the North-West, especially the Sokoto, Kebbi and northern parts of Niger State.
The arrival of this new armed group will definitely worsen the terrible security situation in that axis caused by several bandit groups, particularly that of the notorious outlaw, Bello Turji. Apart from Boko Haram, the North and several other parts of the country have been under the siege of bandits and armed herdsmen whose stock in trade include invasion of indigenous communities, mass killings, abductions for ransom and extortion of farmers and the populace.
According to the DHQ, the arrival of this new group is a consequence of the break-up of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and others, due to political differences.
Following the military coups that swept through the Sahel, especially Chad, Niger Republic, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, had, at the bidding of Western powers, moved to “restore democracy” there with military might.
Though ECOWAS under the chairmanship of President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria had dropped the idea after second thoughts, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic formed the Coalition for the Sahel and pulled out of ECOWAS. That was how the MNJTF broke up, thus giving armed groups in the Sahel the freedom to cross our porous Northern borders to terrorise and exploit Nigerians.
Implicit in the military’s statement issued by its spokesman, Major General Edward Buba, was that the blunder Nigeria committed in its aborted move to lead a military coalition against sovereign countries and our former partners against terrorism, continues to haunt us, especially the hapless local communities in the embattled region.
According to Governor Umar Bago of Niger State, many of these armed groups from far and near are attracted by mineral deposits. They come with equipment that identifies the location of these minerals and simply exploit them while defending themselves with sophisticated weapons. The military lamented that most local communities welcome these bandits and fail to report them until they have taken root. What else can they do against armed invaders?
Nigeria is rapidly losing its ability to defend its territorial integrity. More groups are coming because they perceive weakness and low pressure in our security architecture. This is unacceptable!
We have always advocated for the full involvement of the states and local communities for their own defence. Just as the DHQ insinuated, the military alone can no longer cope. Northern Nigeria is rapidly turning into the Somalia of the 1990s where warlords divided the state among themselves.
We need something new, urgent and drastic. We must recover our territorial integrity.