Attacks in Nigeria: "The security forces are sorely short of men"

Members of the Nigerian law enforcement agencies.

(Illustrative photo) Reuters

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

In Nigeria, the resurgence of armed groups is worrying.

Friday, May 6, three villages in the northwest of the country were attacked by a criminal gang.

The latest report reports about fifty dead.

A phenomenon that the authorities are unable to stop.

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The villages of

almost simultaneously on Friday afternoon.

The first was the most affected.

The “bandits”, as they are called, notably stormed the hospital where they did not go into detail, executing patients undergoing treatment.

The attackers stole livestock and food, before being forced to flee leaving their loot behind when the Nigerian armed forces arrived on the scene.

This triple attack is only the latest misdeed of the armed gangs which have been raging for several years in the North-West and the Center of the country.

A month ago already, a hundred people died in a series of attacks perpetrated in the center of the country.

At the end of March, the "bandits" had even gone so far as to attack the airport of Kaduna, one of the big cities of the North-West.

Two days later, a group attacked the train from Kaduna to Abuja with heavy weapons, killing 60 people.

The authorities seem helpless in the face of the phenomenon.

Despite military operations and amnesties granted, bandits killed more than 2,600 civilians in 2021, an increase of 250% compared to 2020, according to the NGO Acled.

Interview with Nnamdi Obasi, Nigeria researcher for the International Crisis Group.

RFI

Nnamdi Obasi

The phenomenon was first concentrated in the North-West before spreading towards the Center-North.

It started with conflicts between breeders and farmers, with accusations of criminal activities against breeders of the Peul ethnic group.

Communities then began to form self-defense groups to protect themselves or retaliate against the Fulani.

But today we have an explosion of criminal activity, some groups no longer represent the communities.

These are groups that have fallen into crime and anyone can become their victim.

Is it now the lure of profit that motivates these groups

Yes, the phenomenon is now largely characterized by greedy groups, with predatory instincts.

Over time, they saw that they could get a lot of profit and so their numbers kept growing.

They attack, loot communities and kidnap large numbers of people to obtain, in exchange, large ransoms.

Do we know how these groups are organized

In the beginning, there were identified leaders.

Now, there are many groups whose leaders are unknown.

They are armed more and more heavily, especially with rocket launchers.

Last year, they even shot down a military plane.

Initially they were mostly based in the forests and this is still partly the case, but some have settled in villages.

They live among the local communities whose life they control.

They impose a tax and undertake in exchange to protect the inhabitants.

They attack those who would refuse this situation.

Do these groups take advantage of an absence of state power in certain regions

Yes.

In many areas, local authorities have either been sidelined or supplanted.

They can do nothing against these armed groups.

The security forces are sorely short of men and their means are insufficient to cover such a vast territory.

They are also under-equipped.

Finally, there is a lack of common strategy by the regional states, but also between the regions and the central power.

All of this leads to huge gaps in attempts to combat these groups.

Some local authorities have negotiated with certain groups.

Others have chosen to fight them and it sometimes allows these movements to move from one region to another, when they are under pressure, because they are very mobile. 

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