"With the infiltration of co-bandits in the office of the Katsina Chief Judge as reported, it can only be imagined the inroad these criminals has made into the institutions ..."
The viral story about the Chief Judge of Katsina State, Justice Musa Abubakar Danladi, being misled into signing the bail documents of two alleged notorious kidnappers as told by an official of the state High Court, Kabir Shu’aibu and reported by Premium Times, is quite scandalous to say the least.
Few days ago I wrote an essay in which I described some of the challenges posing threats to the success of ongoing government efforts to bring an end to the problem of insecurity in the North with particular emphasis on Sokoto and Katsina. I mentioned the underlying problem of complacency and, in some cases, complicity of unpatriotic armed or civilian officials alongside officials of our traditional institutions.
With the infiltration of co-bandits in the office of the Katsina Chief Judge as reported, it can only be imagined the inroad these criminals has made into the institutions vested with the responsibility of restoring normalcy in a very bad situation as we presently have. It’s no longer deniable that insecurity is a deadly and attractive franchise for which Government have to adopt a new foolproof measures to stop or at least, maintain at a tolerable level.
One may like to know, for how long arrested bandits have been regaining their freedom to return to criminality in similar manner as above? The answer to this is very important as it will restore the confidence of majority citizens operating with a long held belief that arresting the deadly bandits has always been a mere charade as nobody is yet to be convicted (something I also highlighted in my previous essay) instead, they always regain their freedom faster than their deadly bullets.
It’s quite agreeable that in Katsina State banditry is a more disturbing menace than Covid-19 given the statistics of lives lost to both within the same timeframe. This is made even clearer by the individual economic impact of the two pandemics to the state which will put Covid-19 a distant 2nd to banditry. This is saying, if Government could lockdown major cities in the state indefinitely to contain the spread and impact of Covid-19, how much more logical is it to detain arrested bandits indefinitely pending their trial to contain the spread of banditry which pattern of spread is almost identical with that of Covid-19? No gainsaying that, no matter what it takes, a swift review of our extant laws to make lawful the indefinite detention of suspected bandits is a key to the success of ongoing operations to restore peace in the state.
Conversely, I was under the impression kidnapping is a non-bailable offence in Katsina State given that almost a year ago the state enacted a law making kidnapping, rustling and assorted banditry punishable by death hence, a non-bailable offence. It’s quite worrisome that some officials in the office of the Chief Judge could forge bail documents and successfully deceive the Chief Judge to release a non-bailable offender on bail when there is a year old law in place against that. Unless, of course, if the law enacted by KTSG making kidnapping punishable by death is yet to come into effect, the high disregard to the office of the Chief Judge with which this stunt was pulled deserve the full attention and very severe response of the state government in a manner that could serve as an example to moles working in conflict with government’s determination to address the problem.
To restore public confidence and enhance government’s chances to end banditry, KTSG in collaboration with KTSJ should set up a high powered committee to identify the lapses that gave room for the culprits in the office of the Chief Judge to smoothly execute this embarrassing stunt. This is very important because the case of every kidnapper or bandit arrested in future would be decided in the court of public opinion using this embarrassing event as a guide. Needless, the more public confidence on the institutions government is resting its hope to end the menace, the more the believability of its explanations of the cumbersomeness of the situation and its limitations.
In addition, it’s not out of place, it’s actually advisable, for the Chief Judge to probe previous cases of bails granted to bandits and rustlers for possible identification of other culprits who executed similar deals and whom may not be involved in this episode. Let me use this opportunity to also emphasize on the need for Government to show the political will to enforce the law enacted almost a year ago making kidnappings and rustling punishable by death. Without enforcement this law will just be another document with no effect whatsoever on the precarious situation we have at hand. KTSG has exhausted the carrot option with very little benefits to show. It’s time for the stick option and it should be a A VERY BIG STICK option given the determination of these bandits to keep the state under siege. Also, It’s advisable for the Government, the Nigerian Bar Association and other stakeholders to sit and evolve means of fast tracking the judicial processes of dispensing cases of banditry.
As well, KTSG, through the lenses of Katsina and Daura emirates should keep an eagle eye on the entire structure of the state’s traditional institutions. That 5 Emirs, 34 district heads and many village and ward heads were nabbed in deep romance with bandits in Zamfara should keep KTSG worried alert. The dynamics of banditry in Katsina and Zamfara are eerily similar and the two being contagious geographically should incentivize Katsina evolve effective means of preventing a replay of events in Zamfara. “Hausawa na cewa abinda yaci Doma bazai bar Awe ba.” Therefore, “Idan kaga gemun d’an uwanka ya kama da wuta, shafa ma naka ruwa.” We have a very serious problem at hand and only a strong determination to act accordingly could bring an end to.
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