Mounting frustration over ongoing banditry and a spike in kidnappings has led youths in Shagari Local Government Area of Sokoto State to contemplate arming themselves for self-defence.
In a statement released on Thursday, youth activist Bello Bala Shagari said that during a virtual meeting, young people from the area voiced serious concern about what they see as the government’s inability to safeguard lives and property.
They decried the continuous bandit attacks, which have lasted for several months, forcing families to flee, disrupting farming, and leaving many in constant fear.
Mr. Shagari, a grandson of former Nigerian President Shehu Shagari, said the youths had reached “a last-resort decision” to defend themselves and their communities in the face of relentless attacks and humiliation.
According to him, the rising wave of insecurity has forced young people to question the government’s capacity to fulfil its constitutional duty of safeguarding citizens.
“The government has done little to protect us. We cannot sit idle while our people suffer. Self-defence may be our only remaining option.
“Although the youths preferred peace, we could no longer watch while lives were being lost, and property destroyed on a daily basis.”
The group called on both the Sokoto State Government and the Federal Government to urgently deploy adequate security personnel to Shagari and surrounding local government areas. They stressed that proactive action, rather than promises, was needed to restore confidence and prevent a descent into lawlessness.
Security analysts have repeatedly warned that local communities resorting to armed self-defence could escalate violence and make peace harder to achieve. However, with attacks spreading across parts of Sokoto and other states in the North-West, calls for community-based security measures are gaining momentum.
Sokoto State, like neighbouring Zamfara, Katsina, and Kebbi, has endured years of armed banditry marked by mass abductions, killings, and raids on farming villages.
Data from SBM Intelligence and other conflict trackers show that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced in the North-West since 2021.
In Zamfara State, 279 schoolgirls were seized from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, in February 2021, while in Niger State, bandits abducted 27 students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, and later 156 pupils from Salihu Tanko Islamiya School, Tegina.
Sokoto itself witnessed several attacks in late 2021 and 2022, including the massacre of over 40 travellers in Sabon Birni LGA.
Despite military operations such as Operation Hadarin Daji and Operation Safe Haven, insecurity persists, with many communities accusing authorities of neglect. Civil society groups, including Amnesty International, have documented how rural residents in the North-West face extortion, forced levies, and killings by armed groups.
The Shagari youths’ warning echoes similar moves in Zamfara and Katsina, where vigilante groups, known locally as Yan Sakai, emerged but often triggered retaliatory violence.