Since the Kankara kidnapping, concerned citizens, including myself, cautioned all Governors to take further security measures to mitigate any potential threat. Every day we see new evidence which sets a new behavioural pattern for these deadly criminals. The threat has persisted in the North-West with further kidnappings of students in Mahuta, Kagara, Jengebe, and Damaga. Now, with Mando, it is one too many.
Last week, President Buhari mandated the service chiefs to secure Nigeria within five weeks, and they assured to deliver. However, a week later, Kaduna residents woke up with a piece of terrible news as more than two hundred staffs and students were kidnapped in Mando town. Surprisingly, the location of the crime is within the parameters of the Nigerian Defence Academy. It is a dent in the credibility and public confidence, which is not a favourable signal the service chiefs want to demonstrate as they begin their reign.
Of course, the responsibility does not lie with the military alone—the military works with the chief security officers of each state of the federation, the Governors. Shortly after the kidnapping was reported, the State authorities reported that the Nigerian Army had rescued about 180 students and staff, but about 30 students remained missing. We all pray the hostages are rescued and remain in good health.
Unlike other situations, the current kidnapping will be highly magnified due to Kaduna’s peculiar position in Nigeria’s security stability and El-Rufai’s verbal commitments in the media. Although, some may see it as a row with other public figures. Only four weeks ago, the El-Rufai disagreed that negotiating with ‘bandits’ should be considered. However, negotiations have worked for all the aforementioned kidnapped students.
Contrary to his statement, back in 2016, he once proudly narrated how he sent security personnel around West Africa to negotiate with Fulani herdsmen – who we now refer to as bandits.
As we face this undesirable event in Kaduna, eyes are fixed on El-Rufai from all around the world. We attempt to answer two questions. First, how will he facilitate the release of these hostages?
Of course, his abilities are notable when it comes to security issues. Only recently, he ordered the police to conduct a house-to-house search to return the palliatives that the EndSARS protesters looted from the government’s warehouse. He was also recorded on video in 2019, chasing bandits into the forest along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway together with his security personnel. The public is unaware of the security protocols, but the method looked effective. We hope he would demonstrate his credibility by ordering a military rescue operation in the forest. I hope he leads the charge by himself. A new wave may be laughed at, but if successful, it will take over.
Secondly, how will El-Rufai convince the public that Kaduna’s lack of security is not the state’s chief security officer’s fault?
In terms of military personnel, the state has a huge advantage because it hosts 1 Mechanised Infantry Division. The state has the highest concentration of high profile military training barracks in the country. The issue of coordination should not be a problem for the Governor based on evidence.
On a grand scheme things, El-Rufai has always tagged himself as a leader. His aide once boasted that El-Rufai tackles security issues head-on. He compared him to Benue State’s Governor while noting that Ortom always blames Buhari for security challenges. To be precise, the aide based his argument on how they utilise their security votes. Although El-Rufai’s government has not disclosed the amount of security vote it receives, we can extrapolate from the record of 2014 that the state receives around N4.8 billion annually. Security votes are a significant aspect of maintaining security for every Governor. However, the legality of the funds is being debated.
The final note takes us to one peculiar debate, in 2017, that influenced El-Rufai to account for the state’s annual security vote. If the allocation is correct, the public will not worry about finding the hostages and El-Rufai’s plans to keep the state’s security balanced.
In that year, the state government reported having procured and installed CCTV cameras for monitoring and surveillance to reduce the Metropolis’ criminal activities. The state claimed it had procured geo-position interceptor and GSM UMTS System location for checking the trends, intercepting and locating kidnappers’ GSM calls. The state government also claimed it had procured drones/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to identify locations of armed bandits in the forest across the state. The procurement also included setting-up a forensic laboratory to determine substantial evidence in cases that otherwise proved difficult in the past. The state government also claimed to have allocated N2.6 billion to support Kaduna’s federal security agencies’ network with communications, logistics, and material.
In reality, the surveillance cameras were only launched in January 2021, but they cannot come at a better time. The public will be interested to see how the crime happened in Mando. If true, and knowing that bandits negotiate via GSM phone, the time for using these gadgets cannot be overemphasised. The support can be a morale-boosting operation as El-Rufai launches the military operation. Although no one chose this moment, the time has come to measure these investments’ effectiveness on Kaduna state residents’ lives.
Thus, with all the resources available, this is the time to attack these dreadful criminals once and for all. For El-Rufai, the state’s chief security officer’s, this is the time to walk the talk. There is confidence that the rescue operation will be world-class.
Long live Nigeria!
Dr Nasir Aminu
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