Uneasy, William Shakespeare wrote in King Henry the Fourth, lays the head that wears the crown. For Nasir El-Rufai, a self-acclaimed ‘Accidental Public Servant’ and governor of Kaduna State, the task of securing Kaduna, which is constantly in the news for attacks by criminals, means that he has to be constantly innovative and think outside the box, to be ahead of the rampaging creatures.
I am not a fan of the Kaduna governor. But I like his position on the treatment of deviants who had self-abrogated their right to peaceful existence by taking up arms against the state, killing and maiming others. El-Rufai is about the only governor in the northern divide of Nigeria who has remained unequivocal in his condemnation of such persons. Many Nigerians call them bandits. He calls them criminals. He does not play with words when condemning them. Besides, he believes, and insists, that they are not entitled to anything in the semblance of amnesty, which some others had advocated.
“Our position in Kaduna State has been clear, unequivocal and consistent. Bandits, cattle rustlers and armed militias must be degraded and decimated to a state of unconditional submission to constituted authority. We will neither negotiate with criminals of any description nor support any grant of amnesty. Criminal gangs, bandits, insurgents and ethno-religious militias made a conscious choice to challenge Nigeria’s sovereignty and menace our citizens. These criminals must be wiped out immediately and without hesitation,” is Gov. El-Rufai’s position. He wins my heart here.
Why did he take this hardline position? El-Rufai said that “…banditry here has severely impacted the rural economy and shaken the confidence of citizens. It has driven farmers from their land, putting food security at risk, displaced communities, stolen property and deprived people of their right to life. We must put a stop to these criminal acts and enable our people to live their lives in peace and safety.”
El-Rufai’s usage of “our people” in the last sentence is significant. Kaduna people have been at the receiving end of insecurity and they look up to their governor for solution. However, the government is often accused of orchestrating a religious or an ethnic uprising against people of the state, especially, the people of Southern Kaduna. That has been the narrative, which is driven by perception that Southern Kaduna is the most unsafe region of the state. However, a recent report on insecurity in Kaduna State, between January and December 2020, falsifies the narrative that Southern Kaduna has been the crying baby.
The report, titled “The Security Situation in Kaduna State for the Period 1st January to 31st December 2020,” followed a study carried out by the Kaduna State Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs. It outlined the trend of insecurity in the state with some startling revelations. For instance, the study found that insecurity has been felt more in Kaduna central senatorial district. It found that the total number of people killed in the state is 937 while 1972 suffered kidnap and a total of 7195 animals rustled. Of this figure, Kaduna north recorded 34 killings, 94 kidnaps and 413 animal rustlings while Kaduna central recorded 67 killings, 1561 kidnaps and 5614 animal rustlings. Conversely, Kaduna north recorded 286 killings, 317 kidnaps and 1168 animal rustlings during the same period.
These statistics indicate that criminal activities in Kaduna state are more prevalent in Kaduna central and thus puts a lie to perception that Kaduna south is the base. According to the report, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun and Birnin Gwari, al in Kaduna central, come across as the most unsafe local government areas. For instance, while Igabi recorded 152 killings with 411 kidnaps and 1536 animal rustlings in 2020, Birnin Gwari recorded 122 killings with 519 kidnaps and 1106 animal rustlings. Giwa recorded 74 killings, 211 kidnaps and 2109 animal rustlings while Chikun had 120 killings, 320 kidnaps and 804 animal thefts. Kajuru LG, also in Kaduna Central had 144 killings listed against it with 98 kidnaps and 57 animal rustlings. Kaduna North and Kaduna South LGs recorded zero animal rustlings, one kidnap case each and three and two killing apiece.
The only LGs in Kaduna South senatorial district that recoded high figures all through 2020 are Zango Kataf which recorded 114 killings, five kidnaps and 11 animal rustlings; and Kachia which had 924 animal rustling cases with 57 killings and 254 kidnap cases. The remaining LGs in the zone had figures lower than 30 for killings, animal rustlings and kidnaps expect Jaba, Jema’a and Kauru that recorded 45, 60 and 88 animal rustling cases during the period. In Kaduna North senatorial district, expect for Kudan and Zaria which recorded 150 ad 240 rustling cases and 32 kidnap incidents in Zaria, the remaining local government areas in the zone recorded crime cases lower than 15 on each score.
The novel report, thus far, is the first of its type in any Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. It offers insight into what states ought to do in order to contextualize security challenges facing them and help destroy perceptions that tend to draw wrong and injurious conclusions. I guess it is for his reason that a prominent leader in Kaduna South, Agwatyap Sir Dominic Yahaya, who had been at the forefront of finding solutions to security challenges in the state, lauded the report as “transparent”. He acknowledges the report as showing a truer picture of the situation in the state.
The situation in Kaduna Central is worrying. And Gov. El-Rufai believes that there is need to put more booths on the ground. Unfortunately, it is either that Nigeria does not have the numbers and the equipment, in the police and the military, to overpower those responsible for these situations, or it lacks the will to overawe them. Either way, the situation in Kaduna, as in many other states of the country, calls for a more effective policing of the states.
For El-Rufai, the best approach towards effective policing of the state is an unbundling of mindsets against a restructure of the police system. He votes for the creation of state and community police structures. He said: “critical to multiplying and reinforcing state power is a decentralization of policing.”
According to him, “there simply are not enough police officers in Nigeria and the idea of policing such a vast, federal republic of nearly a million square kilometres in a unitary manner is not pragmatic. This arrangement has already proven inadequate and we should promptly replace it with state police and other levels of policing.”
He also reminded that “the security of our communities depend on the robust projection of state power, and that can only be done with sufficient security numbers to overawe and deter criminals. The prerogatives of the state need to be asserted, not merely proclaimed. The people we put in uniform must never be placed in avoidable danger, outgunned or outnumbered by non-state actors.”
El-Rufai’s call here is patriotically nationalistic. It answers to several agitations about restructuring the Nigerian system and creating a new structure that responds to the yearning of the people for good governance and security. Such yearnings, as far as the security of lives and property is concerned, include total defeat of all criminal elements making lives difficult for the people. However, their defeat may not be possible if the security agencies fail to innovate and take advantage of new tech in crime fighting. That is what the Kaduna report recommends. Part of the innovation must therefore include creating better understanding and trust between state security apparatus and the people such that residents are protected when they share intelligence with security operatives.