This article was originally published as: THE ROLE OF INFORMANTS IN THE ACCENTUATION OF ARMED BANDITRY IN NORTH-WESTERN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF ZAMFARA STATE
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Abstract
The north-western region of Nigeria has been hit by an unprecedented wave of insecurity such as kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling and armed banditry which has led to maiming, killings, displacements of people and disruption of socio-economic activities due to the havoc wreaked by armed bandits in the region. These events have created a climate of uncertainty that has become a cause for concern for the government and the citizenry.Government at the local, state and federal levels have been making efforts to tackle the menace of armed banditry in the north-western region since it assumed a national dimension. However, some criminally-minded individuals in the region are crippling the efforts by providing information and other logistics to the armed bandits. This development is a threat to national security and the effort to combat armed banditry in the north-western region and Zamfara State in particular. Eventhough a lot has been written on armed banditry in north-western Nigeria,most of the literature do not analyse and explore the role of the bandits informants in the accentuation of armed banditry in north-western Nigeria, with specific reference to Zamfara State. This formed a serious academic gap in the studies of armed banditry in north-western Nigeria and Nigeria at large.This paper therefore, assess the role of informants in the accentuation of armed banditry in north-western Nigeria with specific reference to Zamfara State.The study revealshow the activities of informants is posing a serious challenge in the ongoing fight against armed banditry in the north-western region and Zamfara State in particular, and called for the support of all stakeholders to win the war. The activities of the informants are largely responsible for the lingering security challenges in Zamfara State. Thus, the paperrecommends that severe punsihments should be meted out to informants and the punishment should be publicized by media to serve as deterrent to others. There should be concerted effort by all stakeholders to enlighten the citizens on the consequences ofproviding information to criminals to earned living and its consequences in the society.
Authors
- TUKUR ABDULKADIR (KADUNA STATE UNIVERSITY, KADUNA)
- ABDULNASIR UMAR (KADUNA STATE UNIVERSITY, KADUNA)
Keywords
Armed Banditry, Bandits, Informants, Zamfara State
References
References not available for this article.
