By Ezinwanne Onwuka
‘I know where the bandits are, but I can’t act,’ cries Governor
Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal said on Thursday (Sept 4) that bureaucratic limits on who controls security forces are hampering efforts to stop bandit attacks that have terrorized communities across his state.
“I swear to Almighty Allah, wherever a bandit leader is in Zamfara State, I know it. If he goes out, I know,” Lawal said in a video of a media briefing that circulated widely. “With my phone, I can show you where they are. But we cannot do anything beyond our powers.”
A Glimpse of the Violence
Zamfara has been at the center of a wave of attacks by gangs of heavily armed men, known locally as bandits.
The bandit gangs have wreaked havoc across Nigeria’s northwest in recent years, kidnapping thousands, killing hundreds and making it unsafe to travel by road or on farms in some areas.
Last month, motorbike-riding gunmen abducted over a 100 persons, mostly women and children, during what was described as a ‘deadly attack’ on Gamdum Mallam village in Adafka, Bukkuyum.
Earlier in June, no fewer than 100 locals of Kairu community were taken from their homes as hostages by armed assailants. Locals say the gunmen went house-to-house to pick their victims.
These mass abductions and deadly raids across the state underscores the scale of the crisis Governor Lawal described.
Governor Cries for Autonomy in Fight Against Bandits
Lawal’s administration has tried a mix of measures: public visits to attacked communities, distribution of vehicles and equipment to security units, and appeals for stronger federal support.
But the Governor insists those steps are limited by the national chain of command for federal forces operating in Zamfara. He recalled one incident in Shinkafi County where security forces refused to respond to an attack unless they receive orders from Abuja.
“Most of the time I shed tears for my people, because I see the problem, but I cannot order the security men to act in time,” he said. “If today I have the power to give orders to the security agencies, I can assure you, we will end banditry in Zamfara within two months.”
A major step Governor Lawal took to fight banditry in the state was the establishment Community Protection Guards (CPG) in February 2024, to partner, assist, and work closely with security agencies to defend communities against bandits.
The Wider Argument: Bandit Appeasement
Governor Lawal’s remarks come amid a bitter public spat between former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai and federal security officials.
El-Rufai, during a live television interview, alleged the federal government had adopted a policy of paying or otherwise appeasing bandits under the guise of non-kinetic security measures to secure peace in the Northwest.
“That is the policy now – kiss the bandits. That is the new policy,” he said. “They are paying bandits; they are apologizing to them. Let the (Kaduna) governor or anyone come and deny—we have the evidence.”
Federal officials denied the allegation. The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) called El-Rufai’s comments “baseless” and “deeply insulting.”
“At no time has the ONSA, or any arm of government under this administration, engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals,” an official statement read.
President Says Nigeria’s Security Nightmare is ‘Surmountable’
President Bola Tinubu has admitted Nigeria’s worsening security crisis but insists the battle can be won.
Speaking last Tuesday while hosting Governor Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina State — another state in the Northwest under siege by bandits — Tinubu declared that he has given the armed forces marching orders to stamp out insurgents.
“The security challenges that we are facing are surmountable. Yes, we have porous borders. We inherited weaknesses that could have been addressed earlier. It is a challenge that we must fix, and we are facing it,” he said.
He added that new tools are being deployed to strengthen operations, saying “I have today directed all the security agencies to energize further and look at the strategies. We have approved the additional acquisition of drones.”
The President also reassured Nigerians that his administration will defeat insecurity. “We must protect our children, people, livelihood, places of worship, and recreational spaces. They can’t intimidate us,” he added.
A War Against Bandits and Bureaucracy
For people in Zamfara, every delay from Abuja is measured in lives. A missed order means bandits sweep into villages, family members and relatives disappear without trace, and farmers abandon their fields. In many communities, the low hum of motorcycles at night has become a warning of death.
Governor Lawal’s blunt message that Abuja’s delays are costing lives has now fused with El-Rufai’s explosive allegations and Tinubu’s cautious assurances to expose a deeper fracture in Nigeria’s fight against banditry.
Ezinwanne Onwuka is a special features writer for TruthNigeria.
