Speaking apparently out of frustration on Monday, June 14, 2021, at his palace in Zaria, the Emir of Zazzau, Ambassador Ahmad Nuhu Bamalli, said his emirate is under siege. He made the assertion while addressing a delegation of security heads in Kaduna State led by the State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan. Indeed the ancient city of Zaria has recently become a den for armed bandits and kidnappers.
The obviously disturbed emir told the security chiefs that if Zaria that has many military formations could be so vulnerable to kidnappers’ attacks, it shows that the security of the country was in serious trouble. Lamenting, Emir Bamalli listed all the military and paramilitary formations in Zaria Emirate, including the Police College in Kaduna, the Nigerian Military School, the Nigerian Army Depot, Military Police Cantonment, the Command and Staff College at Jaji, the Air Force Base and the 1 Mechanised Division. Crying out for help, the first-class traditional ruler acknowledged current onslaughts against banditry but further appealed to the security chiefs for more action and more deployment.
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The recent incidents in Zaria community include the abduction of a medical doctor and his family within the premises of a hospital. The Dutsen Abba community as a whole was sacked by bandits. The most recent incident took place when a gang of armed men stormed the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, killed one HND II student, injured another and abducted a pregnant woman, her two daughters, two lecturers and eight students. Bandits have also attacked some neighbourhoods within Zaria city including Kofar Kona, Kofar Gayan, Kofar Bai and Jos Road areas where they took away about 12 residents. Earlier in April, kidnappers invaded the Low-Cost Housing Estate in Zaria and kidnapped two women.
The Zaria situation is not too different from the story in other parts of the country; meaning that nobody in the country is safe. As a metropolitan city linking many parts of northwest Nigeria to other parts of the country, the more insecurity remains unchallenged in Zaria, the more education, farming and other socio-economic activities in most states within this geopolitical zone risk collapse. This is not entirely without its adverse effects on the country’s economy; believing that travelling across Zaria is not safe. Zaria, and indeed Nigeria, is under siege.
Commissioner Aruwan said they were at the palace for confidence-building and to commiserate with the emirate over the unfortunate incident at the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic and neighbouring communities. He said the state government was doing its best as they were recording successes in the fight against banditry in the state. Aruwan reiterated their commitment to the fight against the bandits as he called for more support from the traditional institution and members of the communities in the struggle.
It is sad that instead of becoming a thing of the past, kidnapping is gaining more ground. It is also unfortunate and rather embarrassing that Zaria, which is part of Kaduna State, host to several military formations is under siege by kidnappers. This regrettable and most inexcusable development is bad for the entire country because if people in Kaduna are not safe, the fate of others in states without these military institutions is better imagined. While the emir’s charge to Imams to engage in fervent prayers for God’s intervention may be in order, asking unarmed citizens to defend themselves against heavily armed bandits is neither a realistic counsel nor the best option.
We must not allow banditry and kidnapping to see Zaria as a fertile ground to blossom. They must be tackled head-on. The federal government should be more proactive in working with state governments if the battle against banditry and kidnapping is to be worn. This is a matter that is evidently beyond the security capacity of state governments. Besides, a country that is heavily under-policed should not have many of its policemen and women guarding politicians and VIPs. This practice must be discontinued to engage more police personnel in security operations. The government needs to realise the imperatives of embarking on massive recruitment into the police force. The government must take concrete measures that will end kidnapping and other forms of insecurity in the country.
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