Different groups of ragtag gangs with no known military training and described as ‘bandits’ are exposing the severe weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture through attacks that are humiliating for the Nigerian military.
The so-called bandits have murdered at least one army general, while a number of senior Nigerian military officers and several soldiers have been brutally killed at different times. A fighter jet is also on record as one of the material casualties suffered by Nigeria’s military formation, which appears clueless as to how to contain the security crisis.
As hapless civilians remain at the mercy of armed criminals that steal from them, maim, kill, and kidnap for ransom, Nigerian soldiers that should be the final defence of sort are also falling prey to the criminals. The embarrassing attacks on Nigerian armed forces have now moved from highway ambushes to daring killings and abduction of military personnel, right in their own facility.
Yesterday, the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, which is the country’s foremost military university, was attacked by bandits who killed two officers and abducted one other.
Ironically, the military institution, located along Airport Road, Afaka, in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, is close to the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, where 39 students were abducted by bandits on March 11, 2021.
“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning by unknown gunmen who gained access into the residential area within the Academy in Afaka,” said Bashir Muhd Jajira, spokesperson of the Academy in a statement.
“During the unfortunate incident, we lost two personnel and one was abducted,” he said, further stating that the Academy in collaboration with the 1 Division Nigerian Army and Air Training Command and other security agencies in Kaduna State, have since commenced pursuit of the unknown gunmen within the general area with a view to tracking them and rescuing the abducted personnel.
“It sounds like a hopeless situation, to be candid,” said Ade Adeagbo, chief operating officer, Halogen Training Institute, a security training company in Nigeria. “What that tells me is that even our military architecture is not robust enough to withstand attacks from external agents,” he told BusinessDay.
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Speaking yesterday on a Channels TV programme, Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue State, described the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the worst when it comes to handling security matters. His displeasure with the administration’s handling of security would not be hard to understand, particularly when recurring attacks in his own state are considered, where both civilians and soldiers are killed.
Some of the brazen attacks by the so-called bandits on the military include last month’s killing of Hussaini Ahmed, a major general who was once Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, along the Lokoja-Abuja Highway.
Also last month, gunmen suspected to be bandits killed seven soldiers and injured five others after ambushing troops of the Forward Operational Base and that of the Special Operational Command operating in Kebbi State.
It was also in July that an Alpha Jet Aircraft of the Nigerian Airforce was shot down by what was described as “intense enemy fire from Armed Bandits,” although the pilot of the aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo, successfully ejected from the Aircraft.
In June, it was reported that suspected bandits invaded the military barracks of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, and carted away a herd of cattle. BusinessDay has, however, not seen any confirmation from the army on the incident.
In April, the Nigerian Army buried 12 soldiers killed by bandits in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State, whose state governor also once claimed to have been attacked while visiting his farm.
“It is unfortunate that the level of security or lack of it we have now has gone that far,” said Adeagbo. According to Adeagbo, what needs to be done is for the government to take a much more radical approach on security needs, and rethink strategies to ensure national security.
He further explained that there was a policy side, people side, and enforcement side, all of which must be strategically engaged by the government. On the policy side, “we need to rethink the entire national security architecture, ensuring that the rules and regulations we have in place speak to our current context,” he said.
To him, there is a variance between the rules of engagement, the security systems in place, and the nature of the security challenges being experienced as a nation.
According to data from Nigeria Security Tracker, which was reported by BusinessDay, there have been 2,943 abduction cases and 5,800 deaths due to insecurity between January and June 2021. As millions of Nigerians remain helpless in the face of growing insecurity, the country’s armed forces are also increasingly becoming victims of the daring criminals called bandits.
