Many communities in North West and North Central are contributing money to buy guns and other weapons to protect themselves against bandits, terrorists and other criminals, Daily Trust reports. Wealthy individuals are also reportedly buying personal guns to protect themselves against aggression or buying weapons for groups.
Villagers in Niger, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau and Katsina States are on the lead as many communities in States having security challenges have stockpiled assault rifles to protect themselves.
The states have been in the spotlight for many years as most of the stories coming from there are about killings and destructions mostly by sundry criminals.
While the residents could not go to farms or markets for fear of invasion, some of them rarely sleep in their houses at night.
Community leaders and residents who spoke to our correspondents said they resorted to self-help because security operatives have not been deployed to protect them or the few deployed are overstretched.
It was reported that the community leaders were only amplifying the position of their governors who at different times expressed frustration with the level of insecurity in their domains.
As chief security officers in their states, they had said they were helpless when it comes to security matters even as in some cases they “formalise” the activities of vigilantes, hunters and other non-state actors to beef up security.
For instance, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State had severally noted that the use of local vigilantes had helped in addressing the numerous security challenges in his state.
While receiving an award in Owerri in May this year, he had said: “We in Borno State have been experiencing security challenges for over 12 years, however, a lot of transformation is taking place but part of what we are doing to put under control the security situation in the state is to engage the local vigilante; they have taken over the policing of the state to the extent that they had driven the insurgents far away from the state to Sambisa Forest.”
While some communities bought Dane guns, others buy pistols, revolvers, pump-action and in some cases AK-47 rifles.
Many of those who discussed the matter with our reporters said apart from reaching consensus at the community level, they rarely push to get a licence from relevant authorities before buying the arms.
A source from a community that had suffered from several attacks in Shiroro Local Government told Daily Trust that even though they did not have access to the type of sophisticated weapons being used by bandits, they have already resorted to self-defence using locally made weapons.
“Recently, we killed about 10 bandits when they came to attack us,” he said. Another source from a community in Rafi Local Government, which had also been attacked severally said they did not support arms procurement.
“It was suggested that we should buy arms but our community didn’t support it because if it solves the problem now, it will lead to another problem in the future,” he said.
“If communities have problems with one another in future, they will use it against each other,” he said. An effort to get the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane to speak on the matter proved abortive as of the time of filing the report.
In the last three years, some communities bedevilled by insecurity in Kaduna State have found ways of acquiring arms to defend themselves against banditry.
Our correspondent reports that communities in Kaduna’s Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi and Chikun Local Government Areas have narrated how they now assign young men to keep night vigil of their communities against impending attacks by bandits.
A member of a community in Giwa LGA told Daily Trust that, “We know for a long time that government cannot protect us and so, we now protect ourselves and we don’t need any permission from anyone to do so.”
Another villager from Igabi LGA told our correspondent that when they defended their communities sometimes in a shootout with bandits, the bandits then shift their attention to other vulnerable communities who do not have the firepower to defend themselves.
“We have noticed that there is no point running from our homes because they will still come back. So, it is better to stay back and defend our homes even if it will cost us our lives,” he said.
It has been the same in some communities of Plateau State where local blacksmiths make local firearms for communities to defend themselves against attacks.
“Some of us have obtained a licence from the relevant authorities and went ahead and bought pump-action,” a merchant who does not want his name mentioned, said.
“Even AK-47 is not difficult to buy these days because some people import them provided you are ready to pay. This is the only way to protect yourself, your family and your wealth,” he said.
Residents of many communities across the fourteen local government areas of Zamfara State are also stockpiling arms to defend themselves against bandits. Checks across the communities in the state revealed that residents have since discarded the idea of relying on federal security operatives to defend them.
For instance, in one emirate, there are communities known for their bravery when it comes to self -defence to the extent that the armed criminals also suffered losses whenever they raided the communities.
“We are stockpiling our arms…Every household or every individual has a gun and if we sense trouble we come out en mass to defend ourselves and this is helping us,” a community leader, who does not want his name mentioned for security reasons, said.
“There was a time they launched a daring attack on this community. We inflicted severe loss on them and they were forced to limp away in defeat,” a resident told our correspondent.
In some local government headquarters and other relatively bigger towns, some well-to-do individuals are buying arms for vigilantes or Yan Sakai.
The individuals with relatively good financial standings are sponsoring the vigilantes by purchasing locally made arms, torchlights, mackintosh, clubs and machetes for them,” he said.
Residents had earlier formed and armed local vigilantes or Yan Sakai but authorities in the state disarmed them during the last botched peace deal with the armed criminals.
Later, when they realised that the armed men were not willing to surrender their arms, the vigilante groups rearmed themselves again vowing that they would never give in to intimidation by criminals.
In Katsina, some residents who spoke to our reporter said though the call by the governor to acquire arms for self-defence could serve as a confidence booster, it was rather late as most of the villages that suffered banditry attacks don’t have the means to acquire arms.
A resident of Batsiri, a town that was attacked recently, said, “Even if we are to acquire arms, we cannot acquire the ones that can match that of the bandits. Some of the weapons they carry we don’t see them even with our security agents,” he said.
Also speaking, a resident of Kurfi, Salisu Sani (not real names), said some well-to-do individuals had acquired top action guns with which they protect themselves in the event of an attack.
“I am a member of our local security committee and I know a lot of what is going on. I can assure you that the situation is similar in most of the affected LGAs such as Batsari, Safana, Danmusa and Jibia because we work in synergy with them through intelligence sharing and I know some of those who have licences to hold a gun for self-protection,” he said.
