The Nigerian Government has been accused of colluding with
bandits following the recent attacks on the Kaduna International Airport and a
rail line in the State.
Deji Adeyanju, the convener of Concerned Nigerians, said
President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Service Chiefs and
governors would take the issue of insecurity seriously when they become
victims.
Within one week, bandits attacked the Kaduna Airport and
also blew up the Kaduna-Abuja rail line.
The bandits were said to have stormed the Kaduna Airport on
Saturday at about 12.30 pm and prevented an aircraft from taking off.
Confirming the incident, the Federal Airport Authority of
Nigeria, FAAN, said security agents repelled the bandits and restored normalcy
to the airport.
While the State was yet to recover from the incident,
bandits struck again; their latest attack was the bombing of a rail line
between Katari and Rijani train station, along the Kaduna-Abuja route.
It was observed that banditry activities along the
Kaduna-Abuja road has reduced, while the rail line seems to be those gunmen’s
latest target.
The heavy presence of military and other security agencies
in Kaduna, which houses almost all training schools for the military and other
security architecture in the country, has not been maximized in tackling
insecurity in the State.
Amid this security presence, the State has continued to
witness a high-level increase in insecurity, a situation that has made some
Nigerians believe that the Government is colliding with these bandits.
Speaking on the matter, Deji Adeyanju, an
Abuja-based activist, said the way bandits operate freely leaves room to
suspect that the Government was colluding with bandits.
Adeyanju said: “Our politicians do not take the insecurity
situation in the country seriously; the Service Chiefs do not take it seriously
because it’s a business to them now; you know they are smiling to the bank at
the same expense of the Nation.
“The governors, Senators, National Assembly do not take it
seriously. They would only take it seriously when the governor or Minister
becomes the victim or parliamentarians become the victim. My appeal to these
bandits is that they should leave the ordinary Nigerian and face these big
people.
“The only way we can find a solution is if the President,
Vice President, governors, and Service Chiefs are affected.
“Our leaders are playing politics and joking with the lives
of Nigerians; insecurity in the country has become an enterprise; you can see
what happened with Abba Kyari.
“There is no way you can tell me that these criminals will
be operating freely. The DSS had intelligence when people wanted to protest,
but they had no intelligence when an airport was attacked. The DSS does have
intelligence reports and even kill innocent protesters all over the country,
but when it’s time to have imminent reports on a place like the Kaduna-Abuja
railway and a major airport in the country, they claim to be ignorant.
“There is deliberate collusion somewhere, it seems like the
Government and these bandits are working together, or the bandits are working
for our leaders and the Security Chiefs, because there is no explanation that
there would be a complete failure of intelligence in the entire country. In the
whole country, there would be no intelligence to suggest that there would be an
imminent attack on critical infrastructures like the Kaduna Airport or the
Kaduna-Abuja railway line, but they have security reports on every protest in
the country. So, you can see that there is collusion somewhere.”
He alleged compromise by Nigerian leaders in the area of
insecurity.
“We must call a spade by its name; there is no gainsaying
that there is a high level of compromise by our leaders in the ongoing security
challenges in the country.
“Recently, these bandits attacked a military barrack in
Kaduna and abducted someone with ransom paid. So you can see that there is a
complete failure of architecture in the country, and that is why I alleged
compromised.
“In my mind, the Government is working with bandits because
there is no justification whatsoever that these guys are working unabated or
are not being aided by people in Government. After all, that can be the only
explanation for what is happening in the country,” he added.
Similarly, an Abuja-based lawyer, Anthony Ehilebo, accused
politicians and some military officers of having an “understanding” with
bandits.
Ehilebo accused the Government of being lackadaisical about
tackling the activities of banditry.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, Director of New Media, recalled that Governor Nasir El-Rufai once
paid bandits off.
He said: “My security people told me that such operations
would not take the Nigerian military police 24 hours. Still, the Government has
been lackadaisical about it; perhaps it’s because we are getting close to an
election. Don’t forget that bandits have been known to say they were brought in
for election purposes in 2015, and they have not been settled.
“We are politicians, and some of us think long-term. They
believe that they would decimate a particular population so they can’t vote
from there, which is Kaduna’s unfortunate story.
“They started with the road three or four years ago, and I
dare any brave politician to travel along the Kaduna-Abuja road. To think that
our Government can’t secure two hours road? People are no longer traveling on
the road; they now prefer trains, and these bandits sometimes kidnap them. What
makes you think these bandits have an agenda? They don’t have an agenda; the
agenda of Boko Haram has been outlived, and now what they are doing is
survival; they are making a lot of money.
“Our intelligence agencies have so much resources that can
be used to pick up all these bandits. There is a guy on Twitter that knows all
the bandits and their leaders and he is very accurate in his information, so,
why should Nigerians be made to pay for this Government’s incompetence?
“These politicians have deals with these guys (bandits) to
help them deliver areas during elections. There is nothing anybody will tell me
that these military don’t have an understanding with these guys (bandits)
because you can’t come to Edo State and say you want to kill people, and they
won’t go after you. Don’t forget that El-Rufai paid these guys money at some
point and what did they do? They used the money to buy arms, and this is what
you think you know. Do you know how he has been settling them?”
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