By Okechukwu Nwanguma
Today, Facebook brought up some memories from my past posts. One of the memories was a post I made exactly 4 years ago in response to a challenge thrown by then Governor El-Rufai, asking anyone to name the “central leader” of the bandits terrorising the country, in an attempt to differentiate them from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Let me revisit that challenge.
In July 2021, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai threw a challenge to Nigerians. Speaking during a BBC Pidgin interview, he asked anyone to name the “central leader” of the bandits terrorising the country, in an attempt to differentiate them from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he characterised as a separatist group led by Nnamdi Kanu.
El-Rufai’s argument was clear: IPOB has a visible leader calling for Nigeria’s disintegration, while bandits are mere economic criminals without centralised leadership. He said:
“Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation… Who is the head of the bandits? Who is the equivalent of Nnamdi Kanu in banditry?”
Let me take up El-Rufai’s challenge.
But first, let us remind El-Rufai that he, more than many others, should be in a position to tell Nigerians who these bandit leaders are. He has publicly admitted to engaging with them—paying ransom, negotiating, and attempting to persuade them to lay down arms. Are we to believe that he negotiated with ghosts?
El-Rufai is not alone. Other Northern state governors, as well as prominent religious leaders, have openly entered the forests, met with so-called bandit leaders, taken photographs with them, and paid them ransom. The identities of these criminals were clearly known enough to facilitate such interactions.
Leaders of Miyetti Allah, a group with an identifiable structure, have repeatedly claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on farming communities across the country, justifying the killings as “retaliatory.” Yet, no arrests. No government condemnation. No listing of the group as a terrorist organisation. Why? Perhaps because Miyetti Allah enjoys the protection of high-ranking political patrons—including, reportedly, former President Muhammadu Buhari, who served as a grand patron.
What is even more galling is the federal government’s hypocritical approach to terrorism. While IPOB was swiftly proscribed and its leader hunted down across borders, Boko Haram fighters and bandits have been offered amnesty, “rehabilitation,” graduation ceremonies, and in some cases, absorption into the armed forces. What message does this send?
Bandits and terrorists cannot be faceless. You do not visit, negotiate with, pose for photos, or pay ransom to invisible people. Those who have met them—like El-Rufai and his ilk—know exactly who they are. They should stop feigning ignorance.
El-Rufai’s attempt to distinguish between IPOB and bandits, claiming the latter are not organised and thus not arrestable, is intellectually dishonest and politically expedient. It is a dangerous form of gaslighting. It reinforces a two-tiered standard of justice—one for the South, another for the North.
Let it be said clearly: the original IPOB, however misguided in rhetoric and methods, has never unleashed the scale of terror, abduction, arson, mass murder, and economic sabotage that the bandits and jihadist insurgents have inflicted on Nigeria. And yet, the state has been more lenient with the latter.
The truth is that many of these bandit groups are known. Their leaders are not hiding in caves. They are hiding in plain sight—shielded by complicity, politics, and a cynical narrative that excuses their crimes as “business.”
El-Rufai and his cohorts should stop pretending not to know.
