Captives of the gunmen

More than 100 people were kidnapped by gunmen during raids on three villages in Zamfara State. Alhaji Bala, head of a district in Birnin-Magaji LGA, said gunmen attacked the villages of Gora, Madomawa and Jambuzu and that 38 men and 67 women and children or more were missing. On the same day, five soldiers of the Nigerian Army were killed and 11 others injured by terrorists who attacked a military camp in Faskari LGA of Katsina State. A member of a vigilante group, Aliyu Tukur, was also killed in the attack.

As mass abductions and displacement increasingly become a feature of the crisis in the Northwest, it is important to understand that the layers and attractions for a lot of these developments vary. In the Birnin-Magaji abduction, the kidnappers are not merely looking for ransom. Contacts between the kidnappers and the state government have indicated that this incident might have a political motive, one possibly aimed at procuring an amnesty deal or the release of arrested comrades in exchange for the prisoners. The current Zamfara State government has been publicly very defiant and opposed to such quid pro quo deals with the bandits because it believes, and rightly so, that previous amnesty deals have not worked, and there is very little guarantee that subsequent ones will. However, the nature of that resolve will be tested in yet another kidnap case, in an environment where kidnappers kill off their victims when negotiations make no headway. Usually, jihadist groups are blamed for attacks on government security forces in stationary positions, and this might not be different with the presence of the Islamic State’s West Africa Province in and around Gusau. However, more pressing reasons for revenge have fuelled the bandits’ angst in recent weeks, and these attacks have been an active rant against some of the successes the military has achieved. The bandits in the region have become increasingly daring in their raids, with Zamfara experiencing particularly brazen assaults. Successful coordinated attacks on police stations and posts have escalated to spirited attacks on military formations. In other parts of the world, kidnappings usually involve the abduction of a small number of people, but Nigeria’s absurd situation now involves the seizing of hundreds. The ungoverned spaces of Northern Nigeria and weak government presence give Islamist groups and bandits ample room to operate with impunity. Years of perceived or actual ineffective governance have eroded public trust, weakening the rule of law and encouraging criminals who see no consequences for their actions. And when law enforcement struggles to maintain order, fear and insecurity take root, leaving communities more susceptible to kidnappings. Additionally, sparsely populated regions make it easier for kidnappers to snatch victims and disappear without a trace. Calls for a reform of the security sector have been made repeatedly. While the availability of well-trained, equipped security forces would help, it is equally important to have community engagement and cooperation, which makes it difficult for these criminals to thrive.