An Unusual View Of Banditry

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, is hardly successful the news. Lawal has capable connected his sheet successful a portion struggling with banditry and insurgency, and successful a authorities whose governmental heavyweights reason him implicit governmental differences.

He has learned to caput the state’s business, hardly ever throwing stones but erstwhile attacked by Abuja politicians who unrecorded successful solid houses.

It was, therefore, a astonishment past week erstwhile helium released a viral video that made headlines. Following the summation successful banditry successful the region, particularly successful Zamfara and neighbouring Katsina State, which near astatine slightest 17 dormant successful 2 weeks, the politician said that, near to him, helium could extremity the scourge successful 2 months.

The question is, how? “I curse to Almighty Allah,” Lawal said, “Wherever a bandit person is successful Zamfara, I know. And if helium goes out, I know. With my mobile phone,I tin amusement you wherever these bandits are today. But we cannot bash thing beyond our powers.” If lone helium had the powerfulness to springiness nonstop orders, the politician said, helium would extremity banditry successful Zamfara successful 60 days.

Complicated reality

The world is simply a small much complicated. Depending connected your source, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 radical person been killed successful banditry and insurgency-related fatalities successful the North West unsocial successful the past 10 years. This is connected the standard of lives mislaid successful the Kosovo War, oregon 40 percent of the toll successful Sierra Leone’s 10-year civilian war, adjacent though non-state actors are waging banditry.

The numbers hardly bespeak the suffering of thousands of children whose parents person been killed, homes without mothers oregon loved ones, individuals permanently injured oregon displaced, sources of livelihood destroyed, futures ruined, and a contiguous lived successful fearfulness and uncertainty.

Lawal erstwhile told a communicative of however immoderate bandits, whose plans were intercepted based connected intelligence, managed to get distant earlier helium could get done the Byzantine concatenation of subject bid successful Abuja. He is close to beryllium frustrated by a strategy that reduces governors to figureheads successful the look of terrible information challenges, due to the fact that we’re acrophobic that governors could maltreatment authorities police.

Sociology of banditry

Yet, it would instrumentality much than exertion and decentralised policing to curtail the menace. That is what an August2025 survey by the Danish Institute of International Studies suggests. The findings, which were conscionable released, are worthy considering.

The survey by Peer Schouten and Barnett James, the erstwhile a elder researcher, and the latter, a PhD pupil astatine Oxford University, is entitled “Divided, They Rule? The Emerging Banditry Landscape successful Northwest Nigeria.” It examines the sociology of banditry, its roots and evolution, and however it has displaced jihadists who were predominantly a Sahelian franchise successful standard and impact.

The accustomed communicative frames bandits, jihadists, and spiritual extremists arsenic “criminals and terrorists.” The study, however, takes a nuanced attack that offers an alternate view, distinguishing banditry from jihadism oregon different transgression franchises chiefly based connected ideology, geography and modes of operation.

It says, for example, that, “Unlike jihadist groups, bandit networks run without ideological ambitions, but importantly power agrarian governance, challenging authorities authorization done some roving predation and stationary extortion.”

If it smells similar banditry….

I often usage the presumption interchangeably. If they speech similar bandits, onslaught similar bandits, and permission down a way of sorrow, tears and blood, then, for me, they are bandits, jihadists, criminals and terrorists. The constituent of the study, however, is that without establishing motive and methodology, effect and argumentation could miss the mark.

To talk Lawalese, the Zamfara State politician oregon immoderate politician successful Nigeria’s North West, who is funny successful tackling insecurity, mightiness request much than enforcement authorization to succeed. They would need, successful summation to authorities constabulary (which I enactment fully), to recognize the societal science of the force they’re dealing with. Otherwise, we mightiness beryllium worse disconnected successful 2 times 20 months oregon immoderate clip Lawal mightiness need.

This survey shares how, done a signifier of “roving predation and stationary extortion,” bandits have, since 2011, created a strategy of governance “that echoes, successful important ways, precolonial patterns of regularisation and extraction successful the region.”

Echoes of the Caliphate

In plain language, the survey says that banditry, which has evolved implicit the past astir 15 years, especially, is reproducing a chiseled diagnostic of the Caliphate strategy successful Northern Nigeria, which, among different things, depended heavy connected “raiding and tribute-taking” for its enlargement and sustenance.