A panel of United States policymakers has uncovered how Boko Haram terrorists operating in the North-East have been working in synergy with armed bandits in the North-West to collect ransom from the Buhari administration and civilian victims.
According to the report posted on The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. has not recognised armed banditry as a direct threat to its interest, but their likely collaboration with Boko Haram insurgents might alter the calculations.
“The bandits are a distant priority for U.S. policy makers focused on Nigeria’s jihadist threat, though American officials say they have intercepted calls from suspected Islamist militants in the northeast who are advising bandits in the northwest on kidnapping operations and negotiations,” the Journal said in a report published on Saturday.
The report could bolster widespread calls for President Muhammadu Buhari to declare the bandits as terrorists, even though they have no declared political or religious aim.
”The problem is to understand the culture of the cattle rearers, the Nigerian cattle rearers do not carry anything more than a stick. Sometimes they carry machetes to just cut some herbs for the cattle, but those foreigners from other parts of Africa are carrying AK-47,” President Buhari had said in an interview earlier this year.
But the bandits have acquired weapons far more assorted than AK-47, and they have recently shot down a fighter jet deployed to conduct reconnaissance operations in the hostile region.
“Criminal factions appear to be better equipped with larger-capacity advanced weaponry than national security agencies,” the Journal reported, citing a security memo presented to Buhari in July.
The Journal disclosed the U.S. findings as the outlet was reporting that the Nigerian Air Force paid N20 million in ransom to buy back an anti-aircraft machine gun from bandits before they could use the machine to bring down the president’s plane.
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed on July 19 that bandits had shot down one of its fighter jets, but the pilot was able to eject without and there were no casualties. The incident came as President Buhari was visiting his hometown for this year’s Sallah.
In August, the bandits breached the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, killing soldiers and abducting other officers, including an army major. At least three military bases have also been raided in Sokoto and Zamfara within the past few weeks.
