Nigeria bandit leader says injustice fuels violence

A bandit leader in northern Nigeria told AFP that years of injustice against Fulani herders are helping drive the region's violence, while a Katsina state security official said that factor could not be separated from the roots of the crisis.

The bandit leader, identified as Babangida, spoke in a remote village in Katsina state after months of negotiation for an article published Thursday in The New York Review of Books and co-authored by writer Helen Epstein and AFP reporter Aminu Abubakar.

“Years of injustices are what pushed Fulani herders into banditry. We were never criminals before,” Babangida said. He said he turned to banditry about a decade ago after police and vigilantes seized his family's cattle and he recovered only a small number.

Northwest and central Nigeria have for years been affected by armed gangs known locally as bandits, who raid villages, steal cattle, kidnap people and impose payments on farmers and miners. The violence has roots in conflicts between herders and farmers over land and water, worsened by climate change and population growth.

Babangida said corruption and discriminatory treatment by village chiefs, police and courts fuel the conflict. Katsina state internal security commissioner Nasiru Muazu told AFP: “He's right,” adding that injustice was one of the drivers of criminality.

Muazu said Katsina has tried peace dialogue while also dealing with a security crisis. The Nigerian military routinely calls bandits terrorists and runs a campaign against them in the northwest.

The interview comes amid recent attacks in the region. Last week, bandits set fire to a home during a raid in Zamfara state, killing a family of 12. Earlier this month, gunmen killed eight police officers, and in September more than 80 people, mostly women, were kidnapped in Zamfara and Niger states.

Babangida said some bandits align with Nigerian jihadists for strategic reasons, but he said most are motivated by money and revenge. He also said he was concerned that younger bandits had become more violent, including by killing captives after ransoms were paid.