The northwestern and the center of the country are the scene of violence perpetrated by “bandits” that fly from livestock, loot and kidnap against the payment of ransoms.
Le Monde
A Northwestern Nigeria market was the target of a bloody attack, the third in less than a month, Sunday, October 17 in the evening: 43 people were killed by armed men belonging to a criminal group in Goronyo, in the state of Sokoto. “It was a market day and there were many traders,” said Muhammad Bello, Sokoto’s government spokesman, joined the AFP. The police spokesman, Sanusi Abubakar, said that “the security forces are on hand to conduct the investigation”, without more details.
The Northwest and the center of Nigeria have for several years the scene of violence perpetrated by armed groups, called locally “bandits”, which attack the villages, fly livestock, loot and kidnap against the payment of ransoms. Ten days ago, at least 19 people were killed in the attack on a market in another Sokoto village, in the district of Sabon Birni. It was reprisals after eleven people had been killed earlier in a neighboring village market by a self-defense group that fights criminal groups.
For years, a bitter competition for the natural resources opposed transhumant and sedentary farmers in these regions of Nigeria, the second accusing the first to sacraging their lands with their livestock. Aggravated by climate change and the demographic explosion in this country of 200 million, sporadic violence resulted in a severe security crisis, between heavily armed bandits and endless retaliation between communities.
Terrestrial and Aerial Offensive
For several weeks, Nigerian army troops conduct a terrestrial and air offensive against bandit camps located in the neighboring state of Zamfara. Some bandits that have managed to escape this military operation have established camps in the surrounding states, such as Sokoto, where they multiply the attacks.
To prevent criminal groups from coordinating each other, the telephone networks have been cut by the authorities on part of the northwest, which sometimes prevents villagers from preventing security forces in the event of an attack. Information about attacks also time to reach the media. The Sokoto authorities claimed in their communiqué having asked for “more resources” and “the deployment of more security forces” to deal with this threat.
These criminal groups act a priori without ideological motivation, although links with northeast jihadist groups have been attested for several years and seem to intensify for several weeks. The Nigerian army stated at the end of September that alleged combatants from the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) and criminals had attacked one of their bases in the state of Sokoto.
Since the end of 2020, criminal gangs have also begun to target schools, removing more than 1,400 students. Due to these attacks, one million young Nigerians will miss the school this year, according to UNICEF.