Amid renewed killings of security operatives and civilians by gunmen in the South-East, many are convinced that bounty placement, which most governors in the zone have taken to, has no capacity to solve the mounting security challenges. They maintain that ensuring good governance, addressing issues of alleged marginalisation, investing in security infrastructure, and adopting technologies in crime fighting, among others, will work the magic, LAWRENCE NJOKU reports.

On June 7, 2024, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, announced the increase to N30 million, a bounty placed on the head of gunmen, who killed five soldiers of the Nigerian Army at a security checkpoint at Obikabia Junction, in Aba, on May 30, 2024.
 
In announcing the increment, Oti said the government placed a bounty of N25 million, “and just yesterday, an Abia son, who also comes from Obingwa, and lives in the United States, sent us N5 million to upgrade the bounty to N30 million.”
 
With glee, he announce that the bounty had been upgraded to N30 million to encourage anyone with useful information that will lead to the apprehension of the criminals.
  
Penultimate week, the quietude of the state was shattered in broad daylight as rampaging gunmen invaded the security checkpoint, overwhelmed the soldiers, and murdered them in cold blood.
  
The gunmen also set two patrol vans belonging to the security operatives on fire before departing. Since then, discreet investigations have commenced to unravel those behind it.

Although the sad incident happened on a day that promoters of the defunct Republic of Biafra had declared a “sit-at-home,” and were also commemorating the death of their kit and kin killed in the Nigeria Civil War (that ended over 50 years ago), the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the group, however, denied involvement in the killing. It also sent its regrets to the families of the deceased soldiers.
 
Like the Abia State government, the group also called for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the dastardly act. It was not only in Abia State that security operatives were killed in one swoop, by men of the underworld. Last month, in Enugu State, no fewer than seven policemen were killed in one week.
 
Shortly after two policemen and some civilians were killed at a checkpoint along the Presidential Road, the Enugu State government also placed a N10 million bounty on the head of the perpetrators, urging the public to provide useful information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.    Days before that, two police officers, and three local vigilante group members were also killed. The dead had accompanied some investors that arrived in the state from Lagos to Nimbo Community, in Uzouwani Local Council, where an agricultural project is in progress.
  
On May 11, exactly two days after the investors’ escorts were killed, three other policemen manning a checkpoint at Premier Junction in EhaAlumona, along the Enugu-Makurdi Highway,in Nsukka Local Council were again killed by gunmen.
 
Thereafter, then gunmen moved further and killed a Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) official, while two Hilux vans belonging to the police and the FRSC were set on fire, by the gang before fleeing the area.
 
In Imo State, at the height of attacks by gunmen, in 2022, Governor Hope Uzodimma, announced a bounty of N1 million and N5 million respectively, as a reward for any person, or group of persons with useful information that could lead to the arrest of any bandit, or for the identification of a bandits’ camp in the state.
 
But the announcement of the governor changed nothing as the killing spree continued in the state, as two police officers were also killed in Okigwe Local Council, by gunmen who threw a dynamite at the police patrol van before engaging them in a gun duel that left many with injuries.
 
The latest in the series of killings in the Uzodimma-led state happened on June 11, 2024, and it was the killing of two police officers, and one civilian at Akabo, Ikeduru Local Council.
  
In most cases, affected governors have visited the agencies and families of the departed security officials, where they assured them of their government’s support to them, and for justice to be served.
 
As these happen, families of civilians killed in the crossfire, or alongside the security operatives appear to be discountenanced. Those of the civilians are left in the dark.
 
For instance, on the same night that two police officers were killed along the Presidential Hotel Road, in Enugu, Jane Chukwuka, a cook in an eatery located at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, in Enugu State was also killed.
 
While the mother of six was caught in the crossfire on her way home from work, other civilians around the vicinity of the incident also suffered other losses.
  
On Friday, June 7, this year, a local council chairmanship aspirant, Mr EjikeUgwueze, was killed by gunmen as he drove along the Neke-Odenigbo Community Road in Enugu East Council.
 
Ugwueze, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was allegedly blocked by his attackers, who pumped multiple bullets into him, after which they made their escape. 
 
A video clip, apparently recorded shortly after the incident, showed Ugwueze’s remains lying in his Lexus SUV with several bullet holes in it. The police stated that it had commenced an investigation into the matter.
 
However, following the soldiers’ murder in Aba, there has been a sharp increase in the number of security operatives (both uniformed and plain-clothed ones) sniffing around for information on the culprits.
 
Security checkpoints on the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway have significantly increased. The Guardian counted 11 checkpoints mounted by soldiers, and about 18 others by policemen on “Stop and Search Operations” on the about 150-kilometre Aba to Enugu axis of the road, recently.

At each checkpoint, commuters are made to disembark from their vehicles, walk across, and wait for the vehicles to get searched (irrespective of the weather condition) before continuing their journeys.

All these developments are putting many innocent residents and commuters on edge, especially with the sometimes irrational conduct of these security operatives.
 
Worried by the renewed killings of security officials and civilians by gunmen, many think it is time governments in the region initiate new, concrete approaches to fighting the scourge, insisting that the placement of bounties has proved to be utterly ineffective in Enugu, Imo, and Abia states.
 
Speaking on the renewed killings and bounty placements by governors as a way of curbing crimes, a lawyer, John Nwobodo said placing a bounty on criminals is a mere act of grandstanding and playing to the gallery.

“It is tantamount to chasing shadows. Who are you expecting to act as a snitch or tipster to volunteer information on criminals? How possible is it that you would have bystanders standing comfortably in a scene of violent exchange of gunfire between the military and non-state actors? How possible is it for bystanders in the rarest circumstance that you have one to identify hooded bandits?” 
 
On what the governors should do to curb rising insecurity in their domains, instead of waiting on the Federal Government, Nwobodo, who is also a university teacher said: “I would say that investing in security infrastructure and adopting technologies in crime fighting will go a long way. Do we have technologies that can analyse materials gathered from crime scenes and establish a link to the perpetrators? Can’t the governors invest in such technologies?

“Again, there ought to be synergy, cooperation, and joint security architecture for the South East to facilitate intelligence gathering, information sharing, and resource optimisation both human and material. More importantly, the government should work assiduously to address issues of marginalisation and neglect of the South-East in a way that would divert their sympathy away from non-state actors. The governors should take the welfare of citizens more seriously and rally them to cooperate with their governments,” Nwobodo said.
 
For human rights advocate, Chukwuemeka Okechukwu, the governors should put on their thinking caps and re-appraise their programmes for the security of lives and property of the people, stressing that until the real reasons for the killings are unraveled, no amount of bounty would solve them.
  
“What are the programmes put in place by our governors to secure their people? Has any of them in the region done anything new for the security of lives and property other than the reactive measure of placement of bounty? We need to know why these gunmen are attacking security officials and killing them in the process.
 
“To do this, we need a homegrown approach to the management of security in this region. We need effective initiatives that should complement the operations of the regular security operatives, who have severally been overwhelmed by these gunmen moving here and there. Those killing people are one way or the other connected to the rest of the communities. Placement of bounties is good but I do not think such has provided the solution to the issue at hand,” he added.
 
Okechukwu stated that unless the killings are solved, it would continue to discourage those coming into the zone to do one or two things that could benefit the masses.
  
While Clement Onwo, a public affairs analyst, agrees that placement of bounty is a way of encouraging people to volunteer information in a clime “where people have confidence in their leaders and security officials,” he stressed that it rarely works in Nigeria because “the same people that you are giving the information to may use it against you tomorrow. That is part of the fears that the people are nursing in this regard.”
  
He added that the government can benefit from this kind of gesture (bounty placement) when it can rekindle confidence within the people.
 
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer for Zone 9, Umuahia, which covers Abia, Imo, and Enugu states, Mr Mac Bruno, was evasive on how the placement of bounties has helped the command tackle insecurity, especially the rampant killing of its men in the region. He kept saying: “It is something I will need time to talk about” but never did for days.