Resort to self-help will worsen the security challenge

Apparently frustrated by the widespread criminality and wanton killings of innocent persons in Katsina and environs, Governor Aminu Masari recently asked residents of his state to stand up and defend themselves against banditry and terrorism. Last weekend, Masari doubled down on his call which he said was informed by the reality of existence in Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari. “The situation we have on ground is such that bandits would come to a village, kidnap and collect over N500,000 from villagers and in some cases get N5 million from them,” said Masari. “And in the same village, when you ask them to contribute and train vigilantes to defend them at night, they would not give you N20,000.”

We understand Masari’s desperation, given how sundry criminal cartels have made life difficult for residents of his state. In the last two years, he has tried several measures to restore peace to his domain. On two different occasions, the governor entered into an agreement with bandits terrorising the state. He has had to engage representatives of gangs of criminals – cattle rustlers, armed robbers, kidnappers, for an agreement to maintain the peace. In the process, the state government bought off the weapons of the gangsters at enormous cost. But the bandits soon reneged.

However, as much as we appreciate where Masari is coming from, resort to self-help is no solution to the challenge at hand. It can only worsen the security situation in Katsina and beyond. The proliferation of weapons that is bound to happen will fuel and aggravate insecurity in the state and bring in more distress. Besides, advocating that Nigerians should defend themselves against criminals is an admission that the government has failed without accepting responsibility. With Nigeria gradually descending to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “nasty, brutish and short”, this is an open invitation to anarchy.

Meanwhile, Masari is not alone in the call. In February, Defence Minister, Bashi Magashi, made a similar call that citizens should defend themselves against criminal gangs bearing arms. We dismissed his call because the rule of law, as opposed to that of the jungle, presupposes that anybody accused of a crime, however heinous, is entitled to a fair trial before punishment could be meted if found guilty. That perhaps explains why more and more Nigerians are shunning the instrumentality of the law in the settlement of disputes. Because the state is not only powerless, but also showing in words and deeds, including negotiating with bandits for the release of students abducted from schools) that it has surrendered power to criminals.

The danger ahead is real. According to reports, many individuals, and communities in the Northwest and North central are already contributing money to acquire weapons to self-arm in response to the security challenge. These are weapons that may lead individuals and communities to rise against one another and worsen the security crisis. Only recently, former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar said there are estimated six million weapons in the hands of nonstate actors in the country, adding that the numbers “exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million internally displaced persons.”

Without any doubt, the most pressing challenge facing the nation today is that of insecurity. The solution to the crisis cannot be in everybody carrying arms to defend themselves. As Masari also suggested at the weekend, we must embrace a multi-level policing system. But for it to make any meaning, it has to be under a holistic restructuring of the current system to ensure a devolution of more powers and resources from the federal to the states.

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