Banditry’s Boom

Bakori Bandits

In a faltering economy, what could be more profitable?

On March 28,2022, gunmen stormed a train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna that had hundreds of passengers on board. The attack led to the death of about eight passengers, injuries to dozens more while many others were abducted one of which was the Managing Director of Nigeria`s Bank of Agriculture Mr. Alwan Hassan. He was released on March 6,2022 after reportedly paying ransom to the tune of about 100 million to his tormentors.

On July 5, 2021 121 students were of the Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna were abducted by bandits. The Nigerian Baptist Convention has since revealed that it spent about 250 million naira to secure their release.

On Friday, November 26, 2021, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declared bandits terrorists. But the bandits have continued to act with little let or hindrance. In fact, if anything, they have become more daring in their in their attacks on innocent Nigerians.

At every point in time, one of the measuring rods of any government is whether those it leads are able to sleep with their two eyes closed. With insecurity ravaging vast swathes of the country, this measuring rod can be said to have abandoned the current administration.

Nigerians used to know crime and criminals but not on this scale. Nigerians used to witness armed robberies, rapes and the occasional kidnapping. However, since 2009, when Boko Haram launched a blistering assault on the country, thereby watering the grounds for other terror groups to sow terror, the Nigerian nightmare has been real and raw. And it is the most vulnerable Nigerians, those who live in rural areas, that are the most affected.

In states like Sokoto and Niger, bandits have been known to take over entire communities, slaughter as many as they wish, abduct just and even impose tax regimes.

In some Nigerian states, bandits have been known to become emergency financial advisors who dish out advice to relatives of their victims about how they can sell their farm produce to raise money for ransom. It truly beggars belief that large areas of the Giant of Africa have been brought to their knees by criminals who somehow find the cheeks to threaten more attacks unless their savage demands are fully met.

For those who do these things, business is not just full-time, it its raking in profits and seriously booming. And as with any other business that is thriving exponentially, expansion is a matter of course.

The irony bites. It bites most painfully that at a time where many Nigerian families who used to know abundance now struggle to eat, bloodthirsty criminals pick off people at will, demand and actually collect ransoms running into millions of naira.

That it has been so difficult trace them through their communications or the millions they collect and cut them off heavily indicts those who occupy the halls of power in Nigeria. In a country where the gulf of inequality gains width every other day, it is an incandescent insult that hooded criminals continue to rake in millions from each criminal operation.

The bandits are making the kind of money – blood money – that   many Nigerian public officers make while in office through wanton stealing. And with many sights trained on 2023, there is no telling what the plan is. However, it would be foolhardy to argue that there is no connection between the staggering amounts banditry rakes in every month and the 2023 elections in Nigeria.

Elections in Nigeria are about a lot of money. Contestants usually need a lot of money to buy the tickets of their parties, bribe INEC officials and buy the votes of the people in order to win.

Because it has been long suspected that some well-heeled Nigerians sponsor these bandits for their own ends, it is anyone`s guess why they are furiously turning the country upside down.

Kene Obiezu,

keneobiezu@gmail.com

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