By Onikepo Braithwaite
The Lakurawas
Last week, the issue of yet another violent so-called Islamic Terrorist group, possibly Tuaregs (Berber Nomadic Herders) from neighbouring Niger and Mali, “Lakurawa”, that has infiltrated North West Nigeria, particularly Sokoto and Kebbi State, was a topic of conversation. Apparently, the Lakurawas have been in those areas since 2016/2017. I call it a ‘so-called Islamic group’, because there is really nothing Islamic about the activities of groups like Boko Haram and this group. They steal, they kill, maim and partake in activities that are strictly prohibited by the Holy Quran. See Quran 4:29 on stealing.
Similarly, the Quran prohibits killing a soul, unless for another soul (legal retribution for murder) or for corruption done in the land – Quran 5:32. Many of these so-called Islamic terrorist groups use the ‘corruption done in the land’ as the excuse for the mayhem they cause, claiming they are fighting the government because of their corrupt ways, when the fact of the matter is that they are cold blooded killers and thieves who do not fear God or practice Islam, but go about killing and maiming innocent citizens who are struggling to eke out a daily living, and have absolutely nothing to do with governance, let alone corruption. The murders these groups commit, and the hurt they cause, cannot be justified by any means whatsoever.
Even though Section 14(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(the Constitution) provides that “sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from who Government through the Constitution derives all its powers and authority”, and Sections 4, 5 & 6 thereof vest the powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary respectively, the Lakurawas are said to be happily exercising these same powers in several areas like Gudu and Tangaza in Sokoto State – imposing taxes and levies on the people, closing schools, trying to impose strict Sharia laws, forcing men to wear beards and sport certain hairstyles, not permitting secular music and punishing those who listen to same, engaging in dispute resolution among the people (justice administration) and carrying out other government functions. In short, these suspected non-Nigerian Tuaregs, are somehow challenging the sovereignty of Nigeria and Nigerians. See the case of AG Kaduna State & Ors v AGF & Ors (2023) LPELR-59936 (SC) per Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, JSC on the sovereignty of Nigeria and Nigerians. Also see Section 2(1) of the Constitution.
Reasons Why These Groups Can Get A Foothold In Nigeria
Some of the reasons why groups like Lakurawa are able to gain ground in Nigeria are as follows:-
1) Failure of Government
Apparently, in 2017 or thereabouts, the Lakurawas were initially invited by the village heads to Gudu and Tangaza, to come and protect their people against banditry attacks. When the State/Government fails in its primary duty to protect the lives and property of the people (see Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution), the people will resort to self-help, as self-preservation is the first law of nature. The Lakurawas didn’t force their way into these areas, they were welcomed with open arms. Once they got in and saw how easy it was to gain control, they got comfortable, changed on the people, started to spread their warped ideologies and subsequently, get violent and oppress them.
2) Lack of Education
I blame most of the Northern leaders who came after people like the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, KBE (Premier of Northern Region), for the way so-called Islamic extremism and terrorism appear to be thriving in the North. Several decades before Section 18 of the Constitution was enacted, that is, the educational objectives of the Nigerian State set out in the Constitution, leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR, SAN (Premier of Western Region) and Sardauna, had already realised the importance of education. Till today, not only is Chief Awolowo’s name synonymous with free education, Sardauna established Ahmadu Bello University, and was particularly passionate about the education of the girl child. He travelled around the Northern region, encouraging parents to send their daughters to school. Sardauna was determined to modernise the North, using education as one of the means to achieve his goal.
Unfortunately, no Northern leader appears to have carried on Sardauna’s legacy in this regard, and sadly, today, the North lags behind in terms of education. For example, in 2022, while Anambra State had the highest cut off mark of 139 for entrance into Unity Schools, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe had the lowest cut off marks, even making a distinction between males and females – for males the score was 9, 3 and 2 respectively, while their females, though they fared slightly better, were also very low, 13, 11 and 27.
Whether the military, or the politicians, or the people themselves, or a combination of all, the North has the lowest literacy rate in the country. The standard of education appeared to be better, under the military. With the advent of the politicians, not only have educational standards dropped at all levels, Nigeria possibly has the highest number of out of school children in the world under their watch, while the politicians have also used the people’s lack of education as a weapon against them, so much so that, many of them are not at all versed in the religion they profess to practice.
For instance, Quran 33:49 & 4:141 enjoins Muslims to overlook annoying talk, ignore the words of blasphemers and avoid their company. It doesn’t prescribe the death penalty for blasphemy. Sections 210 & 213 of the Penal Code Act 1960 (PCA) (applicable in the North of Nigeria) and Section 204 of the Criminal Code Act 1916 (CCA) (applicable in the South of Nigeria) both prescribe a punishment of a maximum of 2 years imprisonment (or a fine or both under the PCA) upon conviction for committing the offence of Insult to Religion (Blasphemy). The act of blasphemy doesn’t appear to be punishable in the Quran, while it is nothing more than a misdemeanour in the PCA & CCA. The fact that an offender in the North, where the Muslim population is largest, can even get off with a fine for blasphemy, is telling. Yet, many people believe what their extremist Imams have taught them about blasphemy, and stone people to death or burn them alive for allegedly blaspheming instead, because they haven’t really studied the Quran and Hadith (or the law); they may not even be literate.
The 2022 case of University of Sokoto student, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a Christian, who was allegedly stoned to death and her body burnt by fellow University students of the Islamic faith, on account of allegations of blasphemy levelled against her by them, still sends shock waves down the spines of right-thinking Nigerians, because it is expected that students of a tertiary institution should know better and let the law take its course, than to engage in jungle justice. It appears that no one was prosecuted for Deborah’s murder, as the Sokoto State Police Command/Government were obviously not interested in ensuring that the culprits were brought to book.
Definitely, this kind of environment, where the people have already been brainwashed to think it is ‘saintly’ or will earn them martyrdom, to murder people (in the name of a religion that doesn’t tell them to do so), and where politicians use religion to manipulate the people and keep them in a permanent state of regression and primitiveness, with extremists (and others sponsored by unscrupulous politicians) then indoctrinating them to believe that the western education which can free them from their blindness and lack of knowledge, is forbidden, while the politicians themselves breach those same Sharia laws with gusto and aplomb, is an attractive, fertile ground for these terrorists/criminals who want to pursue their sinister agendas. The truth is that when you give such people an inch, they take much more than a yard; where you provide a conducive, enabling environment for them, they find comfort there and want to stay forever.
3) State/Government Disregard for the Rule of Law
To make matters worse, though Section 10 of the Constitution is clear that neither the Federal Government nor any State shall adopt any religion as a State Religion, from the year 2000, 12 Northern States instituted Sharia law into their States, particularly the criminal aspect of the law, even though the Constitution doesn’t confer criminal jurisdiction on the Sharia (or Customary) Courts. The Sharia Courts are established for Islamic Personal Law like marriage, inheritance and family matters. See Sections 262 & 277 of the Constitution on the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the FCT and that of the States, respectively.
Also see the case of Magaji v Matari (2000) LPELR-1813 (SC) per Abubakar Bashir Wali, JSC & per Uthman Mohammed, JSC where the Supreme Court held inter alia that the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal had been clearly set out by Section 242 of the 1979 Constitution (now Section 262 of the 1999 Constitution), and that by virtue of Section 242 (1) & (2) of the 1979 Constitution (now 262(1) & (2) of the 1999 Constitution), the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal was confined to Islamic law of personal status. Also see the case of Fauziya Ali & Ors v Mandu Bashir Maiduguri SC. 406/2017 delivered on 7/6/2024 per Abubakar Sadiq Umar, JSC.
Again, States in which the Governments are happy to bypass constitutionality and enthrone illegality for their own personal political gain masked as love for religion, are a prolific ground for misguided extremists, or those who simply want to destabilise the country to thrive. See Section 38 of the Constitution; practice of religion is voluntary.
4) Porous Borders
Successive governments appear not to have taken the security of the people, as seriously as they should have. I watched an interview of the Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo last week, and he appears to want to reverse this negative trend that has landed Nigeria in this situation of insecurity, and take the issue of border security more seriously than has been done in the last few decades, as this is one way that foreign criminals gain access to Nigeria – through the endless, porous borders.
Though Nigeria doesn’t share a border with Mali, her border with Niger spans about 1,497 km and there are several border crossings between the two countries in Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina State. Niger however, shares a border with Mali. The fact that our borders are porous, is a strong reason why foreign criminals are able to waltz into Nigeria at will, and because of some of the reasons I outlined above, it is easy for them to establish themselves here. Some Nigerian tribes share ethnicity with these foreign criminals, and this again, makes it easier for them to slip through the cracks and infiltrate Nigerian communities. Just like the Yoruba people from Cotonou and Badagry are strongly connected, particularly because of the geographical proximity, so much so that it may sometimes be difficult to tell the difference, we also have Nigerian Tuaregs in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano and Katsina, while we have Fulanis and Yorubas all over Africa. It appears that Sokoto and Kebbi have the largest Tuareg population in Nigeria.
Also, as a result of poor border infrastructure and the seemingly lack of will on the part of the Buhari administration to take decisive action against these foreign criminals, their activities escalated during the eight years of that administration, and the security situation declined to an all time low. Apparently, when an alarm was raised about the Lakurawas about five years ago, the authorities were alleged to have declared them harmless, though they were armed! Does that make sense?
Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo appears to be taking the issue of border security more seriously than has been done in the last few decades, and is leveraging on technology to achieve this goal. It is obvious that controlling a 1,400km border is challenging, but a combination of physical barriers like building walls, checkpoints, control tower systems (like America has on its Mexican border), surveillance equipment like cameras, drones, satellite imaging and other forms of modern technology, proper border security personnel equipped with weapons, are required. In manning the Saudi Yemeni border for instance, apart from infrastructure and technology, the Saudi Government has about four levels of security to secure the borders. In the case of the Indian Bangladeshi border, both sides are up and doing in terms of border protection. It’s time for Nigeria to raise a proper Border Cintrol Force.
5) Corruption
Bribery and corruption – be it amongst the grossly inadequate Nigerian border control officials, or the law enforcement agencies that allow suspicious people to enter Nigeria, or fail to take appropriate action against them because they have taken bribes, or they themselves are involved in criminal activities like smuggling with these criminals, they allow these terrorists to gain ground.
5) Inadequate Cooperation from the People
The importance of good old-fashioned information obtained from the people, cannot be underestimated. However, the lack of trust in the authorities and fear of retaliation by terrorists on informants and their loved ones, since there are moles within the law enforcement agencies, are some of the reasons why people may be reluctant to report known terrorists/criminals who live among them to the authorities.
Conclusion
The Lakurawas must be swiftly and permanently driven out of Nigeria, before that organisation evolves into a full-grown monster that becomes too difficult to tame or annihilate. Addressing the six issues that I have outlined above as a matter of urgency, that is, to attack the Lakurawas raison d’etre, is a step in the right direction. State Governments, particularly of the States affected by religious terrorism, cannot continue to play politics with religion – it has backfired on them. The poverty in the land, has also made terrorism and criminality more attractive to our own people, who join hands with these foreign criminals to destabilise Nigeria and make the people’s lives hell.
