A Call To Action

The much expected Super Tucano jets finally arrived in July. They were in the public eye. The first batch of six came weeks earlier. By this time all twelve had been received by the Nigerian Air Force. The game changer was here, so they said. The President and his media handlers had much talked about these jets and promised that their arrival was going to be the harbinger of the end of banditry in the country. Now the people were elated. It was music to their ears. They couldn’t wait to see a new day. Like Diana Ross who didn’t care if her man was young or old, as long as he had muscles, the people were not asking for much on banditry; they just wanted to see the jets exercise their muscles and have a show-down with bandits and terrorists. It didn’t bother them that the government spent money like water in the purchase of those jets. Whether or not the President would have the political will to bomb the forests was the 64 million dollar question.

With the arrival of the jets the governors of the nineteen northern states met in Kaduna and agreed to see the President in-person in Aso Rock, Abuja over the worsening state of insecurity in their region. Despite all the pressure they mounted on him over the past months they got no change out of him. It was as if they had been batting on a sticky wicket when the President had already pigeon-holed their demand. They prayed that this time around Bukhari would have a good bedside manner and be tuned-in to the feelings of the Nigerian people. They would seek assurances from him that the federal government would immediately begin a military campaign in their states, putting the newly acquired jets into use. At this time, not one of these leaders could sleep with his two eyes closed at night; daytime was no safer. Sokoto and Bauchi states, which had hitherto being a haven of peace and tranquillity, for no clear reasons had become the epicentre of banditry. Much more than the dust of disasters was what was blowing in the air around them.

The President’s Chief of Staff arranged the meeting with the governors. All nineteen of them made it to the venue in good time. As the Chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum El-Rufai led the delegation. For the first time since he was meeting with the President the top dog had butterflies in his stomach- and so, he might not be in the position to say much; Therefore, he decided to make it much early into the meeting room so he could exchange a word or two of the agenda with the other governors before the room should fill, but to his shock the governors who arrived earlier were not alone.

Bukhari was already seated before any of the governors entered the meeting hall. That was quite unlike him, they thought. Being in the picture of health with a radiant smile on his face he stood up and welcomed the men, asking them to have their seats.

The National Security Advisor, General Babagan Monguno and the Defence Minister, General Bashiru Magashy accompanied the President. They were close confidantes of Bukhari. Surprisingly, most of the men that surrounded him were fair weather friends- they abandoned him when he was busy struggling to gain political relevance. Like the close lieutenants of Saddam Hussein they always took their cue from him at meetings- whenever he laughed they laughed as well. And the way they both sat on either side of Bukhari reminded one of the two thieves that were crucified along with Jesus on Calvary.

The men all found it mesmerizing that while each of them was growing greyish hairs with the troubles encumbering their states the President was in clover- looking younger and fresher every day. How did he do it? He had had good innings, no doubt. When at eighty a man had enjoyed good health and a sound mind with all the creature comforts he might not want to risk his health hearing the kind of news that they heard daily. Perhaps his eyes and ears were closed to daily security reports; but who could blame him? He had said many times that age would limit his performance in office, yet no one had called for him to go to grass. When the news came in that in broad daylight 42 travellers in a coach commuting from Sokoto to Kaduna were roasted alive by bandits it wasn’t touching enough for the President to cancel his jamboree to commission projects in Lagos. The people’s problems were theirs- not his. And no one called for him to resign; but if any group dared, a lunatic fringe would arise to counter the demonstration and defend him, pledging their allegiance and support to his government.

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For spending just twenty five minutes at a drink party when Britons were daily dying from the natural death of Covid-19 Boris Johnson’s ass was on fire. After paying several police fines for breaking the law the British were still calling for him to quit office. What a different environment that was!

Once again the government demonstrated that it lacked the will power to bring an end to terrorist activities in the country. And there was no spectre of hope that normalcy would be restored anytime soon.

President Bukhari cleared his throat. ‘’I shouldn’t go first,’’ he said. ‘’Although I know why you’re here in this large number I think you should still say it- at least for the benefit of the generals with us.’’ He looked across to meet the eyes of the governors.

There was a moment of silence. The men looked in the direction of El-Rufai. He shrugged his shoulders and broke it.

‘’Thanks for having us, Mr President,’’ he said. El-Rufai wanted to congratulate the President on the safe arrival of the fighter jets but he was so irritated by the slow pace of action against insurgency that the words stuck in his throat. ‘’The spate of killings and abductions in the North is alarming. It is growing. We once again want to bring our concerns to you in the hope that you will feel our pains.’’

The Benue governor, Samuel Ortom cut in on him, not minding that El-Rufai had not finished speaking. He first drew everyone’s attention with the noisy way he cleared his throat. Then he spoke.

‘’With all due respect, Mr President, we desire more than your sympathy at a dangerous time as this. And I am not going to use flowery language to make my point- I will say it as it is. Our people do not enjoy even a crumb of comfort. Every direction they turn to is soaked with hardship.’’ Those days of putting Bukhari on a pedestal were gone. ‘’We want you to embark on a massive military drive that will clear our forests of all the brainsick elements occupying them.’’ Ortom didn’t take his eyes away from meeting the President’s as he spoke.

The President patiently waited to hear more from the governors and keep the ball rolling. Since they were many and probably had different challenges in their various states he thought it wise to give them the space to air their views, complaints and concerns. And he watched them with growing interest.

‘’We need you to act early, sir. A stitch in time, they say saves nine. Insecurity is a precursor for the worst of hunger and poverty in our land. You need to get the Air Force to destabilize the bandits from the air and synergize with the army such that the artillery would immediately follow up on the ground,’’ Ortom added sharply. ‘’Without synergism it would be a herculean task decimating these gangs.’’

Before he could go any further lecturing the old soldier on military style and tactics the President told Ortom where to get off; and Ortom, the smart man that he was thought of Bukhari as an, ‘It’s jam tomorrow, jam yesterday, but never jam today!’ person.

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state raised his hand, indicating he had a thing to say. He was a loyalist of Bukhari and didn’t usually badger the President with the challenges and troubles faced by his people.

‘’To a large extent I feel so guilty that my voice was not heard when bandits were having a field day devastating parts of the north,’’ he confessed. He was in the habit of hanging upon the President’s words. ‘’In respect of these troubling times it is speech that is golden,’’ he said, ‘’silence gets a wooden medal. In the past, residents of Bauchi only heard of banditry and terrorism from the media- the way we all heard of it happening in Somalia, Syria and Yemen. We never experienced any of it first-hand.’’

‘’Today, however,’’ he continued, ‘’the bandits are terrorising our people in the same way as in other states in Nigeria. The bread and butter of our economy is being threatened. Farms have been abandoned for fear of what might come upon its owners if they were found there by these brigands. Our millet and sorghum farms have not been ploughed this year; our groundnut farms are suffering neglect and we fear a large scale food insecurity this season.’’

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He paused for a moment and then continued. ‘’The best we might make with all our efforts in building necessary infrastructures would be candle-end economies if we did not tackle insecurity headlong and in good time.’’

Dr Bello Matawalle, the Zamfara governor who had made a lot of progress with local hunters in fighting the gangs of criminals in some of the forests in his state did not hide his feelings. He looked worried despite the gains made in curbing the threats in some communities.

‘’Mr President, on our own we have made several arrests recently and have handed the suspects over to the Police for prosecution… but what we noticed was that the suspects were soon released from detention and their cases evilly closed rather than taken to court and having the book thrown at them. These are criminals that no amount of legal wriggling on the hook could or should change their fate. We are highly disappointed in the Police, sir… and I can say it to their faces,’’ Matawalle said, shaking his head.

Bukhari looked on… but the men could not bet that he was listening to anything they were saying.

‘’Don’t you think you are barking up the wrong tree?’’ Ortom responded to Matawalle’s comments. ‘’The Police are not the problem,’’ he added.

‘’But to give the devil his due,’’ Matawalle went on, ‘’the Police turned up trumps and many times shot our vigilante’s foxes- arresting and prosecuting armed robbers and petty thieves; and the incidences of heist in the state had reduced.’’

Remembering the challenges he faced at home pure spunk began to build up in El-Rufai. Today, the lines on his long narrow face were deeper than usual. He soon found his tongue. He then longed to mention specifically the new jets.

‘’That, which in your exact words you described as the game changer, is here, Mr President!’’ El-Rufai noted. ‘’Now you have the ball at your feet. We want to see that change you promised us, sir.’’ The President who had hung on their lips all the while pricked up his ears at the mention of the phrase ‘game changer’. He knew the Tucanos were what he was referring to. He reacted as if his only son had translated the Dead Sea Scrolls- with a beaming smile all across his advanced lips.

‘’Well,’’ the President stated, moving his head from side to side, and capturing the attention of everyone, ‘’the fighter jets are here, and I’ll now be free from your regular arm-twisting, especially the pressure from Nasir.’’ He looked in the direction of El-Rufai who deliberately didn’t meet his eyes, but thought ‘actions speak louder than words.’

Tambuwal was not smiling- jets or no jets. Before the arrival of the jets some bandits with the bulk of their business activities in Zamfara state had made Sokoto their flank base- a side show, gaining a toe-hold on a number of communities and settlements, and demanding levies from farmers and from community heads in Sokoto. Those who didn’t comply with their directives were summarily executed.

‘’Mr President, the pressure to deploy the military will now be coming from me, sir,’’ Tambuwal promised. ‘’But I know, Sir, that you are up to the task and would not broach over this subject like you’re treading upon eggs. You are a man of integrity, and I trust that this time you will leave up to your reputation. Remember, you will get the credit for getting the show on the road.’’

The President waved a hand to indicate that he didn’t give a damn about any transfer of pressure source, although he was not looking in the direction of Tambuwal. He turned to face Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba, hoping to get him to speak.

‘’Other than taking on these bandits,’’ Ishaku stated, ‘’I strongly want Your Excellency to work on attacking the seat of the trouble- naming and shaming the sponsors of these criminals, arresting and prosecuting them in a competent court. Until justice is served we may only be window-dressing the problem.’’

The President in his usual evasive trick had no response for Ishaku. It was not in his plan, and had never being, and probably would never be to name and shame any sponsor of terrorism. He was running a no names, no pack-drill policy- for reasons best known to him. Under his leadership heads never

rolled. The saint entrusted with the lead job of fighting financial crimes was himself alleged to have dipped his hands unlawfully in public purse. To this day he had not been charged or prosecuted. But when a petty thief was caught stealing he was exposed on national television crime fighters, as if Jack is not as good as his master.

‘’We are clearing the decks for the launching of a massive military campaign to clear our forests. I have spoken with the Service Chiefs on the commencement of the operation in the most troubled areas- from the air and then on the ground with our artillery forces,’’ Bukhari premised. ‘’I assure you that there would soon be a sea change in the security situation. We don’t want to end up as an also-ran. We want to get back the safety of our people.’’ he added.

Promises are like pie-crust, El-Rufai thought. The number of times he had heard the same word of honour from Bukhari were so many that he had lost count. His actions following his words were weasel ones. In any case he was thankful that the President had once again agreed to take the offensive the way of the bandits. But how many deaths would it take till we know that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, says the song, is blowing in the wind. He really led them a pretty dance. One day they’ll get there, he hoped.

The meeting ended with the governors trusting that Mr President would play a straight bat and not be a slow coach this time around.

Bukhari smiled and shook hands warmly with everyone around the table before strolling out of the boardroom.

The principal of the Baptist School went to see the Chairman of the Kaduna Baptist Conference, Reverend Adetola over the abduction. He was willing and ready, if need be, to give thirty pieces of silver to the reverend to get him to obtain the support and cooperation of the church. The reverend promised that the church leadership would move heaven and earth to effectuate the release of the abducted students; the church would negotiate with the bandits and do her utmost to raise the ransom demanded. The Chairman also provided money for the quick purchase of all the food items demanded for the upkeep of the children. The items were all delivered as instructed.

Raising the large amount of money demanded for the release of all the children was a big challenge to the Baptist Church in Kaduna. In an effort to gather up part of the money quickly the church decided to sell a large portion of the school compound. The money realized from the sale was a far cry from what had been asked for. The bandits however collected the money but didn’t set the students free. They make it clear to the church that they would not release any students until they got the full amount.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a member of the Baptist Church contacted Sheikh Gumi over the abductions. He was one octogenarian who was highly respected the world over. He had made risky visits to rebels and terrorists in their camps in many parts of Africa and in Nigeria. Now he knew he must get involved in this as well. But he feared that his intervention might cut no ice with this gang since they were reported to have links with Boko Haram. The last time the elder statesman met with Boko Haram leader, Shekau in Sambisa forest over another school abduction he had sworn not to release any of the abducted school girls in his custody- and he was true to his words- none of the girls were let go until he died. The only difference with this situation was that ransom was demanded in exchange for the students.

He flew into Kaduna and with the cleric went into the forest to have a talk with the bandits. They met Al-Barnawa and pleaded for the release of the children in captivity. The sheikh seized the opportunity to once again preach peace to the kidnappers. Their intervention softened the hearts of the bandits a little, only a little; and they agreed to release a few of the students, especially the youngest ones. They said they would not release any more until the full amount demanded was paid.

A week before one of the young girls took ill. She was just about thirteen years old. She ran a temperature and was feeling too weak to walk or even talk. Every food she ingested was thrown up. But the bandits didn’t give a damn about her condition. Fortunately, Ayesha got to know about her illness and she arranged for the girl to be transported to the home of the Seriki of Kamuda where a trained nurse would meet her and administer necessary medications that would help improve on her health. When, two days later it was seen that she had recovered she was returned to the camp.

A few days after the visit of Obasanjo some of the students regained their freedom. Before they left the camp Sister Regina asked one of them to alert the authorities as soon as he could that the Federal Cooperative College in Gonin Gora, situated on the north eastern outskirt of the city was in the plan of the bandits for attack. She had overheard the gangsters saying openly the institution was the next in line. They freely discussed their plan before her believing she didn’t understand their language. The young teenager, on his release passed the message across and the school was quickly evacuated of all staff and students.

By the time, two days later when the bandits arrived at the school compound, through the back fence as they always did, not a soul was found on the Cooperative College campus. All the hostels were empty. Even the security men on duty that night took to their heels at the sound of gunshots. Al-Barnawa and his men were stupefied and they went through the roof. They didn’t leave the school compound until they had angrily disfigured some of the buildings with bullet holes.

The same night, on the spur of the moment the men decided to take on the Nigerian Turkish School. They rode their motorbikes through the back of the city and got to the school fence. Although the distance between the Cooperative College on the southern end of the city and the Turkish School on the northern end was no more than thirty kilometres it took the bandits over two hours to bye-pass the city as they travelled through the forest.

They broke down the fence to gain entrance. It was unknown to them the school had engaged the services of armed soldiers of the Nigerian army in readiness for such an attack. Knowing that there was a military barracks just adjacent the school the bandits did not want to fire gunshots and alert the barracks. They feared a massive back-up from there. As they began entering the compound a soldier saw them and began shooting in the air to alert other soldiers. The bandits, knowing the sound of a Chinese-made AK-47 sensed that they were up against a corresponding force. They also fired shots. In minutes a truckload of soldiers arrived from the nearby 1 Division barracks. On sighting them the bandits began to withdraw into the bush where they left their vehicles, mounted them and fled.

This unfortunate incident scared the governor so much that he called a meeting with the stakeholders in the education sector and tabled the motion regarding the security of schools- and its staff and students. The meeting was attended by all the governor’s security aides, the state commissioner for education and representatives of the both the teachers’ union and the schools’ board. They deliberated on ways to prevent a reoccurrence. No one had any suggestions or ideas on how to save boarders. Engaging soldiers to secure school compounds at night, they reasoned was not a feasible idea. There were lots of boarding schools and so few military men. They would surely be overpowered and overrun by hundreds of marauding bandits. At the end of the day it was agreed that all schools should be closed indefinitely. Though most of the elementary and high schools were near to writing their exams for the term, they all shut down as ordered.

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The closure of schools took the gangsters by surprise. They already had a list of prominent boarding schools situated away from town which they planned to attack- schools for the children of the affluent that were not as protected as the Turkish school which was near a military facility. Shutting them down was a ruination of their programme. They started thinking of an alternative evil- one that would elicit the emotions of people, creating fear in all. Meanwhile, they added another item to their list of demands of material things from the Baptist School- they wanted ten motorcycles- and they should all be of a certain named brand.

The gangsters had no qualm attacking the Defence Academy itself. Since the Abu Ali gang were able to carry out abductions from the nearby Forestry School, they reasoned, it would a piece of cake for them entering the military training institution and shaking the soldiers a little. To them it wasn’t a risky venture, since they had insiders supplying them with accurate information. They would be riding, not on a tiger but on a donkey. The NDA was located about twenty kilometres away from the city- just before the Kaduna International Airport. They would enter the premises in the middle of the night and kill a few soldiers, without incitation, and just leave.

A week to the end of August they entered the facility through an unfenced part of the compound at about 1 a.m. They went to one of the officers’ quarters, took two men out and shot them dead, right there. One of the victims was an army officer; the other a naval officer. A third officer was abducted and taken away. Shockingly, the operation was not carried out in a hurry. The bandits took their time to execute it; even in leaving the compound they were carefree.

The military authorities were flabbergasted. This was arrogant and aggravating, they thought. The bandits had ridden for a fall. And the military will respond appropriately. They set up a board to enquire how the invasion of a military training facility by a minor criminal force turned out successful… and how to prevent another smooth operation in case of a future attack.

By September the camp of Turji had only thirteen men left. Most of them had been killed by the Al-Barnawa gang. Al-Barnawa and his men had employed different methods to eliminate them- they were ambushed; they were attacked in their homes; in the village of Karala and anywhere they were found. The only oasis for them had been their camp settlement itself. They were lucky that Al-Barnawa did not have the balls to penetrate their territory. He was afraid of the degree of resistance and counterattack he and his gang might encounter there even though they knew that Turji had thrown up the sponge and had stopped fighting back.

Some members of the Turji gang had become apprehensive that the sins of Abu Ali might soon catch up with them as it did with many of their colleagues; so they came to the parting of the ways with their Commander and left to establish their own camp someplace else. Under the leadership of Bello Danja, a former Al-Barnawa soldier they began their own evil activities by stealing cattle and handing them over to middle men who would sell them in the cattle market and bring back cash to them.

As the Turji gang were going downhill, and dwindling in size and power the Danja group were growing in leaps and bounds. Turji himself, the slight son of the gun that he was lost his sense of proportion at the turn of events, prostrated himself at his frustration, shot himself and died. Danja soon began carjacking and kidnapping for ransom. It took the authorities a couple of months before they knew of his existence. All along it was thought that the Al-Barnawa gang was responsible for all the kidnappings.

Danja and his gang were into all kinds of criminal activities. Other than those acts that brought them tainted money they found joy in killing law enforcement agents. They went to the home of a well-known Police Inspector who had come to Kaduna state to visit his family all the way from Rivers where he was serving. One would have thought that they would abduct him for ransom, but no- they murdered him in cold blood. This gang took no prisoners of anyone who had been trained by the government to handle a gun. They eliminated them wherever they came across them.

That same night Danja and his men went on solidarity attacks on a number of Zango Kataf communities. For years the Fulani settlements in the area had not been at peace with the Kataf people, and there had been a vicious circle of attacks, counterattacks and peace initiatives over the years, but there seemed to be no final closure to the acrimony and hatred that led to the running battle that existed between these ethnic minorities. To worsen matters Danja turned up his nose at the Kataf people and burnt down twelve communities within hours, leaving many inhabitants injured or dead. And as usual, absolutely no efforts were made by the police to bring anyone to book. C’est fini. Caso chiuso.

The gang also set a new record. They went after the mighty. The son of a senator, Na Allah, who himself was an army officer was murdered in his home in Kaduna. A short time afterward they trailed the emir of Bungudu, Hassan Attahiru and abducted him on his way to Abuja, and so the federal government that had so far refused to smell the coffin woke up. The threat was coming close.

Part of the intelligence report that the government authorities received on this new gang was that they were an affiliate of Boko Haram. And that they specialized in nothing, in particular. They rustled cattle and abducted for ransom. And it was their style not to feed abductees or keep them for long. All those in their net starved until they were either rescued, released or were bold enough to escape. It was yet unknown to the government that this new group had more sophisticated weapons that the others around. They had rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles. The state government decided to place a close watch on their activities.

Before the end of September the Air Force began to attack the bandit camps in the Kaduna area. Only Alpha jets were used in the operation; but it was believed that the Tucanos were more effective in fighting battles in this kind of terrain; yet they were not used. It was unclear why that was so- why they had just been left in the hanger unused, after waiting for two whole years to receive them from the manufacturers; not to mention that the government paid close to a billion dollars to purchase them (That a US official alleged the jets cost just about half that amount is a debate for another day). Putting them into use to stop crime was the only present wish of the Nigerian people.

The Al-Barnawa camp could be viewed clearly from the air… but the Air Force bombers had been instructed to spare the area because of the Baptist students still held there. They didn’t reveal the other reason for sparing the camp- that an undercover agent also was living there.

An Alpha jet carpet-bombed the Danja camp one evening. On its way back after the raid the pilot flew low. A rocket propelled grenade was intensely launched against it and it succeeded in grounding the Alpha jet, hitting its tail. Seeing that his plane was shot the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo who had been trained both locally and international and had received medals in air warfare ejected from its cockpit and parachuted himself to the ground. The shooter saw him come down and he alerted his colleagues. They went in search of the pilot. Using his survival instinct the pilot was able to evade them and seek refuge in a nearby settlement awaiting sunset.

Under the cover of darkness and using his mobile phone for navigation he was able to elude many bandit strongholds and manoeuvre his way to an army unit.

The government was badly shaken by the attack. In the past two years the Air Force had lost almost all the Alpha jets in its fleet. And with the destruction of the aircrafts came the death of some of the brightest fighter pilots in the system. This troubled the President so much that he decided to slow down on the air offensive against the bandits.

He called for a high level security meeting at the Villa- the Chief of Defence Staff, all the Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police were in attendance. For over four hours the all-men council deliberated on the way forward- on how to continue with the onslaught in the North West, on the use of the new Tucano aircrafts, and the matter of the designation of bandits as terrorists.

Kaduna State had had eight hundred and eighty eight of its residents killed in six months. Within the same period, between April and October 2021 two hundred and fifty persons had been kidnapped. This was only the official figure; abducted students alone were more. Residents had been abducted from the highway, from their homes and schools, from their farms etc. The figure for those killed was no

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different. Unprovoked, savage killings were the order of the day. And thousands of lives of innocent men, women and children had been wasted in an undignified manner by these criminals.

In principle, the human predicament was a simple one. There was no hiding place, no devising of a form of escapism. Man passed through this life like a hyena, with a wild dog chasing and barking at his heels onto exhaustion. It would get him by the throat at the end, no doubt; nothing was more certain than that. The chase must always end the same way- death. It was the final cataclysm, the final solitary licking that came to all, but one could at least drop with dignity, since there was no way of winning the battle. But the worrisome issue was that dignity in death had become a scarce commodity in this clime.

To say Governor El-Rufai was disturbed was to paint the picture mildly. He did not enjoy the privilege of a sound sleep anymore. He woke up every morning praying that fate will smile at his wish for peace. He would certainly no longer subscribe to a que sera sera mentality- that was for Doris Day and her fans. He wanted to lobby the narrative to his favour. It’s been over one month since the President promised to begin the campaign against banditry in the North-West zone. He called the President on phone.

‘’The President would be with you in a minute,’’ said a brisk female voice after El-Rufai identified himself.

‘’Good day, sir,’’ he said as soon as Bukhari came on the line. ‘’How’s Hajia?’’ he asked.

The President cleared his throat. ‘’O… I’m sure you know she has been residing temporarily in Dubai,’’ the President replied.

El-Rufai thought that a ‘’fine, thank you’’ would have been sufficient, but the President was trying to start a conversational hare.

‘’…and Nasir… how are your family members doing? I’ve not heard from your wife in a while.’’

The question was followed by a brief pause. El-Rufai was worried that Bukhari broke his word about starting a military campaign against the bandits. ‘’Sir, the killings are not abating in Kaduna. I was wondering why you have not begun the onslaught you promised almost two months ago,’’ the governor stated boldly. ‘’There is no need for your military chiefs to mark time. We are all ready.’’

‘’Oh, there is a delay. I should have told you. We cannot deploy those fighter jets. We began the raid in Zamfara state and at its border with Kaduna, using some Alpha jets recently. I’m sure you are aware of the downing of one of them by the bandits,’’ he said.

‘’I am so sorry about that, but we cannot cancel the campaign on the account of that… the show must go on… And the Tucanos fly higher- they cannot be easily downed by rockets fired from the ground,’’ El-Rufai observed.

‘’I really don’t know about that… I’m not a pilot,’’ the President confessed. ‘’Concerning the Super Tucanos we cannot use them to fight ordinary bandits.’’

That came to El-Rufai as a shock. He was lost for words. It was like telling a starving man that the food he was expecting had been stolen. He waited for the President to expand on that statement… but after a while it seemed like he was not willing to do that. He thought that the man must have his head in the clouds.

‘’But, Sir, is there any reason for that?’’ he asked.

‘’Yes, there is, Nasir.’’ The President went on to explain to the governor that at the time they were making the request for the Super Tucanos the Americans gave them conditions for selling them the jets- one of which was that the jets must not be deployed in fighting human rights activists, or any group of fighters who were not secessionists or terrorists. So since the bandits were not terrorists, or at least had not been so designated the military couldn’t use the jets against them.

‘’We should then designate them as such… without any further delay,’’ the governor suggested. Now he had further evidence that President lacked the political will to fight these ’misguided brothers’ of his… otherwise he would have since made moves to not only designate them as terrorists but also to

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quickly gazette the designation into law, so that at the arrival of the aircrafts they would be deployed for use immediately. The eagerness and the speed with which Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the French Air Force pilots to begin bombing Muammar Ghaddafi’s strongholds and pushing his army back from over-running the city of Benghazi, just minutes after NATO gave the go-ahead to attack Libyan forces was a clear example of an honest and a sincere political will, and it was an object lesson to all.

‘’Well, we shall see about that,’’ was all Bukhari said… on that.

‘’Other than the jets we also have obtained long distance military grade drones for surveillance; and some other military hardware for use against these criminals. So it’s only a matter of time… we shall decimate them.’’ Hmm. Americans say talk is cheap. There was a short silent period.

‘’Is there anything else?’’ he asked El-Rufai.

‘’Yes, sir! I was wondering if the campaign can resume soon… in Kaduna… with any available jets?’’

‘’Hopefully… soon,’’ the President promised… and hung up, not giving a straight answer.

The resumption of schools in September coincided with the commencement of the military campaign against the bandits in three North-Western states, one of which was Kaduna, and the start of the partial closure of telecoms services in all the affected states. One of the governors gave the reason for the suspension, explaining that in Zamfara it was discovered that when military ground forces made moves to go into the forest to confront the bandits they were always ambushed on the way and murdered. Reports had it that some of the soldiers sent to attack the gangsters were sympathetic to their cause- that they not only made friends among them but also gave them information on the movements of the government forces. And they communicated these messages to the criminals via phone. Thus, shutting down phone services would be like pouring cold water on their plan, making it impossible for them to reach the gangsters, and thereby preventing another ambush.

Before this time a newly-posted frontline commander, an army general in Katsina state had suspected that a thing like that was happening among the rank and file of the army. Not wanting to lose his troops or get killed cheaply himself he decided to outsmart them. He informed his troops one Tuesday morning that they would be leaving to go after the bandits at 9 a.m. When that time came his men were ready as they should be… but the general said he wasn’t. He told them they would no longer be leaving at nine, but an hour later- at ten. Ten came and still they didn’t move; rather he gathered all his men and asked every one of them to bring out their mobile phones and drop them on the floor. They all did and the phones were gathered together. The general and his trusted lieutenants found out, to their dismay that seven soldiers of the troop had several recent missed calls on their phones. The handset of one of the traitors had been ringing continually. The general asked him to pick his call… in his presence, but to say nothing. He did, and from the tone of his voice it was clear that the caller was worried…

‘’…when are you guys coming… when are you coming… we’ve been waiting! Or are you no longer coming?’’ the caller asked.

Obviously those seven soldiers were living a lie- in the open they were fighting to enforce the law of the country; but in secret they were fighting to break the law and encourage secessionist Islamic groups.

All seven of them were disarmed and locked up in the guardroom to await their prosecution and sentencing in a military court.

This experience informed the governors to apply to the National Communications Commission for a suspension of telecoms services in all local government areas that had forests; even the outskirts of the capital city was not spared- considering that telecoms masts in those areas could enable services over many kilometres, even down into the forest hideouts. Though most residents in the city continued to enjoy telecoms services, none of them could reach anyone staying in or near the forests. The suspension in Kaduna state was sustained for eight weeks.

Although all schools resumed El-Rufai closed down all boarding facilities indefinitely. Boarders all became day students. Those whose parents or guardians were not living nearby had to find someone to stay with. This was yet another discomfiture that was created by the state of insecurity… but it was all for the good of the children.

WATCH DOCUMENTARY ON STATE SPONSORSHIP OF TERRORISM AND POLITICS

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