It would be difficult for any Nigerian to claim ignorance of the increasing rate of wanton killings, banditry, and kidnappings in recent months, across the northwest region and parts of the north central like Niger.

Most alarming however, is the diverse dimensions it continue to assume almost on a daily basis. From kidnap of school children in their numbers on at least 3 different occasions since December, to the abduction of villagers and most recently, the payment of seven bags of seized rice to bandits by a Joint Border Patrol team of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the northwest in exchange for freedom.  It is obvious to even the blind that
the chips are down.

It is true that there have been much ado about granting amnesty to some acclaimed ‘repentant bandits’ in states like Zamfara (for instance), as well as other measures to combat the menace squarely.

Tuesday’s revelation by the Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Attahiru Ahmad, that over 100 miners operating between Anka and Maru local government areas (LGAs) in the state were abducted by bandits on March 2, brings to light a fresh dimension to the crisis.

The height of this new dimension is the assertion by the monarch that the bandits killed 10 persons during a Zamfara mining site invasion and that the abduction of miners took place when the state was focused on the rescue of the 279 female students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, on February 26.

Emir Ahmad’s comment is coming barely 24 hours after the federal government declared Zamfara State a ‘no-fly zone’ to halt the swap of gold for arms by armed bandits, other criminals and illegal gold miners in the state.

 “Even in Zamfara, there is a strong suspicion that some of those choppers are being used to ferry arms for bandits and also to evacuate gold and illegally smuggled out of the country, so the country loses everything in the mining,” Presidential Spokesman told Daily Trust in a phone interview.

Adding that the “…Nigerian gold market is a big business and the government wants to do two things at the same time by ending banditry and economic sabotage through the smuggling of gold,” it is predictable that bandits are hardly going to watch their industry crumble like a pack of cards.

It is also glaring to all now that the purchase of arms is at the centre of the ‘bandustry’ and efforts have to be doubled to see this scourge disappear into thin air.

A latest report by SBM Intelligence, notes that civilians are in possession of more firearms than security officials in the country, as it puts “the number of small arms in circulation, in the hands of civilian non-state actors at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively account for 586,600 firearms.”

These senseless kidnappings and deaths must be brought to a final end and these GOLD DIGGERS must be shown the door out of our national lives.

Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq

Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.