By Oguwike Nwachuku
While addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of the security meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari, Service Chiefs and other heads of security agencies in Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, April 11, acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said the Abuja-Kaduna expressway is now safe for all travellers.
Many Nigerians believed him. Some who do not trust the police did not.
The day’s deliberation, among other security challenges facing the country, dwelt on the killing field that has become the Kaduna-Abuja highway, and what the heads of security agencies including Adamu are doing to tame the menace.
President Buhari specifically summoned the security chiefs over massive killings taking place across the country, and specifically in parts of the North.
It was therefore heart-warming to hear the acting IGP say that the hell the Kaduna-Abuja highway has lately become was now a thing of the past.
To say that Nigerians felt relieved when Adamu said solution had been found for the notorious activities of kidnappers and armed banditry on the Kaduna-Abuja highway was to say the least.
When Adamu hinted that a good number of the kidnappers had been arrested by security agents on special operations in the affected areas, the joy of many Nigerians did not know any bounds.
“I want to assure Nigerians that Kaduna-Abuja road is now safe. We have cleared the road, we have arrested a lot of kidnappers and some of them were fatally injured during the confrontation we had with them.
“The road is now cleared for use by travellers and our patrol teams, comprising a combined security services are there constantly working for 24 hours each day,” he assured.
Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonishakin, corroborated what Adamu said earlier, adding that President Buhari had ordered the nation’s security agencies to immediately find a lasting solution to cases of banditry and security challenges ravaging some parts of the country.
“The marching order is for us to deal with these issues immediately and ruthlessly and also ensure that all those bandits are immediately dealt with and all issues that are affecting the security of the nation are properly addressed,” Olonisakin said and assured that the meeting reviewed existing strategies adopted to check the insecurity menace.
The launch of the “Operation Puff-Ader” by Adamu to tackle kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway happens to be among the numerous strategies Olonisakin spoke about.
Adamu said “Operation Puff-Ader” is being carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Department of State Services (DSS), and involves massive deployment of personnel and combined operational assets from the various security agencies, and tailored towards ridding the country, especially the Kaduna – Abuja highway, Kogi, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara States of all forms of crimes and criminality.
And like those who doubted what Adamu said earlier that Kaduna-Abuja highway was safe, it does appear the acting IGP has dashed the same hope he raised among some Nigerians regarding their safety in the North in particular and elsewhere around the country. I will explain.
Kidnappers are having a field day in today’s Nigeria. Those in the business are killing and collecting ransom from innocent victims every second with ease and live large in the society.
In the same vein, armed robbers and other bandits have been busy unleashing terror on innocent citizens, robbing and maiming them at will and escaping without trace. Most of them are also believed to belong to the club of the so-called big boys in Nigeria that the security agencies are aware of.
Apart from kidnapping and armed robbery, we are also living in a country where a new form of crime called Yahoo Yahoo with its adherents (I hear it has been upgraded to Yahooplus) either getting involved in ritual killings, drug dealership and other brands of criminality that pose great challenge to the security operatives and affect all of us negatively.
The above criminal acts and more, form part of what the security operatives are expected to deal with to make our country habitable, governable and attractive to foreigners.
The cardinal role of government is the protection of the lives and property of its citizens and the government does so by engaging its agencies such as the police, the armed forces, and other forms of security agencies.
From the North West to the South South, the South East to the South West, to the North Central and North East, kidnapping, ritual killing, armed banditry and other forms of criminality have become rife in recent months and making nonsense of the efforts of security agencies and the government. The situation has become so worrisome, scary and incomprehensible. An example will suffice.
Recently, Adamu reeled out statistics from a security report that indicates all is not well with the security situation of Nigeria.
According to Adamu 1,071 Nigerians lost their lives in crime-related cases across the country in the first quarter of 2019.
He told the quarterly Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council meeting in Kaduna recently that the crime statistics showed that between January and April, 685 persons were kidnapped across the country, with 767 persons killed in the North alone.
Breaking down the death statistics further, Adamu said the North West topped the list with 436; North Central came second with 250 while the South South came third with 130 during the period under review.
According to the acting IGP, Zamfara State with 203 murder cases topped the national prevalence rate, followed closely by Kaduna State with 112 reported cases while 90 people were killed in Benue State.
Adamu said most of the murder cases recorded in the North are banditry and communal violence-related.
Still on banditry, he said, a total of 175 deaths were reported between January and April this year and that Zamfara topped the list with 104 reported cases, followed by Katsina State where 21 were killed and Sokoto State, 19.
On kidnapping, the acting IGP said 546 or 79.8 per cent of the national total were recorded in the three northern geopolitical zones.
The highest zonal prevalence rate, Adamu said, occurred in the North West with 365 persons kidnapped during the period under examination.
His words: “This is followed by the North Central geopolitical zone where 145 persons were kidnapped.
“It is pertinent to mention that Zamfara State has the highest national kidnap rate with 281 victims in what has been directly linked to the activities of bandits in the state.
“This is followed by Kogi and Niger states where 65 and 51 persons, respectively were kidnapped within the period.”
Adamu disclosed that a total of 212 major armed robbery cases were reported nationwide during the period under review, and that the North recorded 130 cases representing 59.43 per cent of the national total incident rate, thereby topping list of armed robbery profile in Nigeria.
“The North Central geopolitical zone with a total of 81 armed robbery cases represents the zone with the highest rate while Niger State, the FCT and Zamfara State with 32, 23 and 18 cases, respectively occupy the three topmost states in the national armed robbery profile,” Adamu said.
No doubt, statistics of the North topping in core criminal cases involvement alarmed the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad (111), that he quickly said the monarchs in the region should not be held accountable for the sundry cases of kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery.
With the dawn of the second quarter of 2019, nothing suggests that cases of kidnappings and armed banditry seem to be ebbing.
For instance, recently, the Chairman, board of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Muhammed Mahmood, and his daughter, Yesmin were kidnapped by bandits along the now notorious Kaduna-Abuja expressway. The driver of the vehicle was shot dead.
Also, Musa Umar, father in-law of the ADC to President Buhari, and the district head of Daura, was kidnapped by four gunmen shortly after he returned from the mosque in the evening and was taking a deserved rest in front of his house with some family members.
Umar was taken in a Gestapo way by armed men riding in a Peugeot 406 saloon car that left the people with him bewildered.
Daura in Katsina State is the hometown of President Buhari and the so-called “Operation Puff-Ader” covers the area.
On Wednesday, May 1, gunmen stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Moriki, in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara State and kidnapped six people.
BBC Hausa service reported that the gunmen abducted two teachers of the school and four women who are nursing students. The Moriki kidnap tale brings to memory the sad saga at Chibok in Borno State where some of the girls taken away years back are still in the captivity of their abductors.
Zamfara State Police Command spokesman, Superintendent of Police Mohammed Shehu, said the armed men entered the school through the back fence with intent to abduct students but could not.
“The police are collaborating with the school authority to establish the where-about of the missing persons. To this end, a search and rescue operation team has been dispatched to the surrounding bushes for an extensive bush combing.
“Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the school and its environment to forestall further happening,” a statement by Shehu read.
On Tuesday, May 7, Adamu will have a day with the Nigerian Senate in plenary to answer questions relating to rising insecurity across the country.
Senate President Bukola Saraki summoned Adamu during plenary on Tuesday, April 30, to appear before it on Tuesday, May 7.
The senators want to hear firsthand from the police boss the measures he has put in place to address the current security situation in the country.
The lawmakers’ curiosity was fuelled by the earlier attack on Kajuru Castle Resort in Kaduna State, where gunmen killed a Nigerian and a British national, and also abducted three other persons in the process.
Senator Shehu Sani, who raised a motion on the attack had also called attention of the Senate to the abduction of Chairman UBEC, Muhammed Mahmood and his daughter, a day earlier, Monday, April 29.
“He (Mahmood) was kidnapped with his daughter and his brother was killed immediately,” Sani told his colleagues, adding, “kidnapping along Abuja-Kaduna expressway is something we talk about every day, yet the road is still as dangerous as it has always been. That route has become one of the most dangerous and tragic routes in Nigeria.”
In commending Senator Sani, Saraki noted that the senate had agreed that Adamu would appear before it. “I also think there will be an appropriate time to take up some of these issues that you have raised. I think that will probably be the best way forward on this. Hopefully when he comes here, we will have a more holistic approach to finding a solution to this unfortunate and rampant incident of kidnapping, particularly on this Kaduna-Abuja Road,” Saraki said.
The invitation extended to Adamu by the senate is both timely and significant. It is significant to the extent that the IGP’s “Operation Puff-Ader” may not be yielding the needed result and needs review.
He needs to tell Nigerians why. Besides, Adamu needs to demonstrate in clear terms how much of capacity he and his team have to deal with the rising tide of criminality in the North in particular.
Granted that Adamu has moved in to rejig the leadership of the command structure in the affected Northern region (contiguous states) where “Operation Puff-Ader” is in place, truth is that the police must rise to the challenge of emerging crime in today’s Nigeria which is kidnapping, that appears to be more lucrative than armed robbery and ritual killing.
The time to invest enough human and material resources in anti-kidnapping squad of the police is now, bearing in mind that there may be a nexus between proponents of kidnapping and armed banditry.
Time was when certain criminal activities are linked to certain parts of the country, but not anymore going by the statistics Adamu reeled out that showed that the North is leading in virtually all the criminal indices.
It will therefore be erroneous to assume that kidnapping and armed robbery are still more prevalent in the South East and South South if the ubiquity of such teams that litter the regions’ landscape and highways once you step into Delta State and heading towards the Oriental states and other parts of South South is any guide. If anything, what one sees as anti-kidnapping squad teams in the South Eastern and South Southern axis should be replicated in quadruples in parts of the North as a starting point to dealing with the menace there.
The police must also pay attention to what needs to be paid attention to, rather than getting involved in frivolities like chasing after patrons and patronesses and other subscribers to Night Clubs in Abuja and elsewhere in the name of going after prostitutes as we recently witnessed.
Yes, most prostitutes, if confirmed, can be found in the company of their armed robbers and kidnappers and ritual killers friends in Clubs, but effective crime surveillance and intelligence gathering by the police in collaboration with owners of such Clubs will yield more result to the cops than the fanfare that the public were recently serve regarding arrests of Abuja Club attendees.
Crime prevention strategies work better in a collaborative effort, and the police must not lose sight of potential collaborators who may as well be owners of Night Clubs. Storming Clubs in the name of pursuing prostitutes in this 21st century is both rancid and not likely going to yield better result no matter the justification Abayomi Shogunle may want to give to it on behalf of the police.
The timeliness of Adamu’s summon by the senate can also be gleaned from the fact that in July the acting IGP will expect his appointment to be confirmed.
What that means is that Adamu’s confirmation as substantive IGP is two months away. He should not expect that come July 15, a letter would be handed over to him as IGP in substantive position with insecurity threatening the lives and property of the citizens he swore to protect.
Adamu came highly recommended as Nigeria’s police chief, far above his predecessor, Ibrahim Idris. He must not allow the impression Nigerians have of him to be messed up early enough.
On his appointment in January 15, 2019, former Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood wrote: “Adamu is a versatile and seasoned police officer, a professional per excellence. He attended several Senior Officer Courses on Law Enforcement, Crime Prevention, Control and Management within and outside Nigeria.
“Before his appointment as the acting Inspector General of Police, he was a Directing Staff at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
“He was Commissioner of Police in Ekiti and Enugu States and also Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 5 Police Command Headquarters, Benin, Edo State.”
The senate would want Adamu to march these qualities written against his person with capacity to deal with the rising insecurity anywhere around the country as long as he remains in the saddle as Nigeria’s number one cop. It would be disastrous if he fails to live up to what they say he is.
