Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto State
By Yakubu Ahmed-BK
The barbarism in Sokoto East has gotten out of hand. It is, from whatever angle you look at it, a genocide. A situation where bandits maraud villages at will, maim, kill and destroy to their satisfaction, is to say the least, unacceptable.
The bushes of Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto have become killing fields, on account of the leeway rag tag vagabonds’ audacity to cross the line of decency, dare the government and become outlaws, brandishing big guns, operating criminal cells and moving unhindered across villages and spilling blood of innocent people.
Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal appeared to have exhausted all the tricks of leadership to save his people and from the look of things, he has resigned to fate.
To my mind, the Governor had not done enough. Agreed that he is an acclaimed Chief Security Officer of Sokoto State only on paper and that in reality, Abuja holds all the aces. But is this enough reason for the Governor to stand akimbo and live his people to the mercy of these blood thirsty thieves?
He needs to learn a lesson or two from Borno state where former Governor Kashim Shettima, faced with similar scenario, initiated an effective Youth Vanguard response, who were fully kitted, well trained on intelligence gathering, provided with the right logistics and placed on some stipends in order to help the security forces up the ante of war against insurgents.
The scale of government’s commitment to the C-JTF format of Borno and the synergy created between them and the troops prosecuting the war will go a long way in producing quick results.
Tambuwal’s joker
The most important joker for Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is for him to make it an article of faith to be personally present, soon after each deadly attack, to attend the burial rites especially the Jana’iza prayers, to console families of the victims and to make strong public statements on the need for the federal government to take the matter more seriously.
The Governor must be seen to be actively involved in dealing with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the banditry, providing succor to them and highlighting the matter in such a way international, national donor agencies and NGOs would be attracted.
The pogrom in Sokoto is under-reported by the Nigerian and international media, partly because the Governor himself has been derelict in his response to it. The moment the Governor become alive, active and prompt in his response, by way of racing to scenes of incidence, in no time the media will learn to give attention to the matter. If the Governor succeeds in keeping it in the front burner of national discourse, it will become headline news. And as soon as the NGOs begin to deploy, the searchlight will be beamed there.
The ultimate objective is to find a way to stop the killings and to achieve that, the Governor must provide the leadership. On top of that, President Muhammadu Buhari must behave and act like a true president of the whole country. These bandits are only exploiting the gaps in the security architecture of the country. They are not beyond the capacity of our security forces to deal with. On a good day, the Mobile Police Unit can handle these hooligans.
How they were allowed to become a law unto themselves, requiring being negotiated with, which they betray at will, is what I just cannot fathom.
The time to be serious and bring the full wrath of the law on this outlaws is Now.
