By Mobolaji Sanusi
“In a sick country, every step to health is an insult to those who live on its illness.” — Bernard Malamud (1914-1986).
Banditry is one of the most heinous crimes ravaging parts of contemporary Africa. In plagued countries, control over mining of natural resource treasures by corrupt and influential indigenes, in atrocious collaborations with foreign interests, have been identified as the bedrock of this criminality. In other instances, it is more of political control whilst also in some cases, it has ethno-religious colouration. In Nigeria, my country where bandits’ inhuman activities is causing serious upheavals, one is tempted to observe that the cause(s) might be an agglomeration of the foregoing enunciated factors.
The spirits of our ancestors in this country are being troubled by bandits, who in contempt of existing governmental structures, have turned banditry into a thriving industry where billions of naira are routinely paid to criminals as ransom, with no dire consequences.
The bandits’ war looks turbulently orchestrated within the last few weeks. It may have been bad before now, but it seems to be getting worse. Few examples will suffice: On May 15, 2026, over thirty-nine pupils and seven teachers were abducted during attacks on three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Ogbomosho in Oyo state. In a barbaric viral video, a male mathematics teacher, Mr Michael Oyedokun, who was one of the abductees was cruelly slaughtered like an animal by bandits. On same day in Borno state, Mussa Central Primary School in Askira-Uba local government area was raided with over fifty school children reportedly abducted. Abuja, the federal seat of power, witnessed its own barbarity when by the end month of May, bandits reportedly invaded the Peze community in Byazhi, Kubwa. At the end of that criminal operation, sixteen residents were abducted, including a vigilante commander’s wife and a pastor’s four children.
Few days ago in this evolving sixth month of the year, rampaging bandits’ operations started in earnest. On June 1, 2026 in Kogi State, bandits reportedly barricaded the Ayegunle–Bunu Road in Kabba-Bunu local government council area where an unknown number of travelers were abducted. The timely intervention of troops from the 12 Brigade led to the successful rescue of no less than twenty-three victims. By early morning of June 3,2026 in Ibadan, Oyo state, Mrs. Olaide Busayo Adegoke John-Paul, younger sister of former Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, along with her twin sons were abducted by unknown gunmen. In Zamfara, a state that is becoming the theatre of bandits, six polytechnic students were reportedly kidnapped. All these and many unreported cases could not have been an happenstance. They were obviously orchestrated by enemies of the Nigerian state that the security establishments in the country must do everything to unravel and apprehend. Activities of these agents of destabilization that have been creating trepidation in the minds of the people at this critical period of the nation’s socio-economic revival should be clipped by whatever means possible.
For emphasis, the Wikipedia was handy in providing a panoramic interpretation of banditry when it describes it as an “organized crime committed by outlaws, typically involving the threat or use of violence…” The Wikipedia says “a bandit commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, either as an individual or in groups.” Furthermore, the encyclopedia of human affairs says Banditry is criminality which “in modern usage can be synonymous with gangsterism, brigandage, marauding, terrorism, piracy, and thievery.”
The above clearly defines what is happening in the country today and depicts the malaise that is making the citizenry think more about their safety than their well-being. Yet, the safety of citizens is statutorily the primary essence of government. Sadly in the country today, schools are no longer safe for the children, the farmlands are abandoned by farmers that Fulani herders/bandits trample upon while movements on our roads, including routine travels on major highways by the people have become dreaded pastimes. Our once peaceful towns, cities and villages have been entrapped by bandits who now deploy violence and kidnapping as a commercial weapon. They instill fear in the people, blackmail and coerce relatives of abductees, and sometimes the government, to negotiate with them after abduction of vulnerable people that are constitutionally entitled to guaranteed safety in this country.
The menace of banditry is no longer a northern affair. The more perturbing aspect is its incursions into the Southwestern part of the country, and out of intense fears, inhabitants’ hearts are now in their mouths rather than their chests. From Oyo town to Ogbomosho where school students, teachers and principal were recently kidnapped to Kogi, Kwara states where villagers were routinely abducted and killed, down to Ogun and Ondo where Fulani bandits were on rampage, the banditry situation is becoming sensitively cumbersome by the day for the government to handle.
It won’t be hyperbolic to say that the bandits, in line with Wikipedia’s description, are already waging a war of attrition on the country. Looking at the nation’s criminal code definition of treason, no single bandits should be allowed to escape justice. The Criminal Code Act in section 37 provides: “Any person who levies war against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the president or the Governor of a State, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.”
By whatever perception it is viewed, the actions of the bandits, whether in the northern or southern parts of the country, are tantamount to levying war against the country by intimidating or overawing the president of the country and governors of the affected states across the federation. The punishment as stipulated by the criminal code is very legible for all to read but the question begging for an answer: Why’s the Nigerian government giving amnesty to, or rehabilitating captured bandits, spending hundreds of millions of scarce resources on them when in the end, they still act as informants to fellow criminal elements or outrightly return to where they belong in their forest habitat?
Again. Why is the activities of the bandits increasing everyday? Despite the sophistication of modern technology, why are the security institutions of state finding it difficult to drastically checkmate the spread of the bandits’ activities? If truly non-state actors are presumed to be bandits, why is it difficult for genuinely sincere state actors to nip this ugly tide in the bud if there’s no complicity somewhere along the security architectural chain?
It is indisputable that there is something called burden of leadership and because of this, everyone is calling for the head of President Bola Tinubu, GCFR. Hmmm! Uneasy truly lies the head that wears the crown and this is further compounded by a warped federation like ours where control of the police and other security apparatus of state is centralised. But we need to ask ourselves what the traditional rulers and chiefs of villages, communities and states where these bandits hail from or are living, are doing with intelligence to help the central government in apprehending them? In several instances, civilian accomplices that supply foodstuffs, drugs, arms and ammunition, and even women of easy virtue live amongst the people. They have been reportedly caught by security agencies with the matter subsequently swept under the carpet. Question: Can the heads or prominent figures including some unscrupulous politicians in these communities claim not to know these civil conspirators?
No one can dispute the clear essence of section 14(2b) of the nation’s grundnorm that makes the security and welfare of the people to be the primary responsibility of government. The government should be taken to task on this. It is also true that the state as a sovereign entity is imbued with a might that cannot be supplanted by the fire power of its inherent criminal elements. This is why the people must feel safe because the government spends billions of naira yearly as budgeted security funds for the protection of Nigerians. But there’s a caveat: Breaking the chains of insecurity demands complementary roles between the government and the governed. Most communities harbour and protect criminal gangs and even confer chieftaincy titles on them while they blame government for the insecurity perpetrated by those criminals.
Leo Tolstoy, as if having this country in mind, situates the insecurity conundrum properly when he states: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Let us ask ourselves: If we’re not determined as individual and communities to rid our country of banditry, how far can the government go in achieving the desired results in this regard? Alternatively put: If unidentified powerful elements in government are surreptitiously involved in promoting banditry, can the efforts and toil of the government yield any tangible results? This is seriously a food for thought to all…
The efforts of government in resolving the banditry challenge can yield the desired dividends only if those saboteurs in the chain of criminality, whether in and out of government are caught and sanctioned; or if they voluntarily choose to turn a new leaf. Otherwise, the banditry menace, if care is not taken, portends perilous consequences for all in this country. Bernard Malamud, the famous American novelist and short story writer, aptly captures the problems of Nigeria, not only through banditry but in other spheres when he states: “In a sick country, every step to health is an insult to those who live on its illness.” With Malamud’s quote, l rest my case for the week.
•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency, is currently managing partner at AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS.(WhatsApp Only-07011117777)
