Dangers Of Using Vigilante Groups In Fighting Crime

A good example is the Bakassi boys group, after killing Derico, they became thieves, bullies, threats and hired assassins.....

Good day Mrs Stella dimokokorkus.....

I read with keen interest the post about Derico Nwamama, how notorious he was and how the dreaded Bakassi boys hunted him down, in the comment section, Blog Visitors also pointed out how the Bakassi boys became a greater nuisance and threat to the society even more than Derico himself.

MacMillan Dictionary (online version) defines national security as the protection or the safety of a country's secrets and it's citizens emphasizing the overall security of a nation state.
I simply define National security as the protection of lives and properties of citizens by the government. National security is one aspect of human relations with global attention, it has proved to be more paramount as leaders across the globe have always made it a staple aspect of their state agenda as a matter of policy. 

Security has also been one aspect in which the competence of leaders are measured. No wonder the US government hunted down Osama bin Laden at all cost, the September 11attack on Pentagon tower and world trade center bruised the ego of the US government. 

Safety of lives of citizens comes first in the agenda of states across the globe, that is why the government always go to any length to see to it, most times not minding the consequence or aftermath of measures or techniques used in safeguarding citizens. 

Private militias /vigilante groups are used by the government when all hope is lost , the government use them because They are indigenous, they know the terrain so much and they are part of the community, no language barrier of any sort unlike security personnel, where a yoruba policeman who cannot speak igbo language is transferred to Anambra state and posted to a village in crisis where he can't even communicate with the people, same goes to an igbo soldier transferred to Katsina state and posted to an interior village. 

Another reason why the government engage the service of vigilante groups is that the vigilante knows most of this criminals, they live in the community together. 

But in most cases if not in all cases using private militias and vigilante groups has backfired because overtime they have enjoyed public, media and government support and they gradually infiltrate us, they go rogue and become more deadly than those supposed criminals they were used to hunt down. 

A good example is the Bakassi boys group, after killing Derico, they became thieves, bullies, threats and hired assassins, some Onitsha businessmen hired bakassi boys to kill their business partners, bakassi boys killed more innocent souls and caused a lot of collateral damage than Derico Nwamama. 

Another example outside the shores of Nigeria is the Mexico vigilante militia, they initially helped the Mexican government to instill law and order in the state but later some of them were arrested because they were accused of working for the notorious drug lord/trafficker Joaquin Guzman popularly known as El Chapo. 

We keep wondering why our supposed saviours became terrors overnight, reasons are not farfetched
One major reason is Membership, unlike state actors or security agencies (both military and Para military) where there is recorded and registered number of personnel employed, vigilante group admit members as they so wish, people join freely and most times no records of members, they are not statutorily under the control of the government, it's safe to call them non state actors. 

Another major reason is the "use and dump" attitude of the government, government beg for their service because of a particular menace and after the storm is over, the government leave them to rot away, forgetting that they have equipped them with arms and ammunition, and arms proliferation leads to increase in criminal activities, the question is what is the government expecting them to do with the arms, the arms mostly small arms are very durable, easy to hide because of their size. 

The question now is what can /should be done after using vigilante groups
Personally, I don't encourage the use of vigilante groups but most times it has been a case of "last resort". With my little knowledge about peace and security, Below are some recommendations. 

The government should first disarm them(before this can be effective, all arms given to them initially must have been numbered and registered)
The government should integrate/absorb them in different security agencies that suit their expertise and adequate training should be given to them.

Vigilante group members who are not interested in joining any security agencies should be rehabilitated physically and psychologically. Probably empowered in some skills and given necessary funds to start. 

Also in general, Security personnel should learn one more local language aside his own indigenous language.
I was moved to write this because presently, vigilante groups are used in the northern part of Nigeria to fight boko haram, what become of them after the government successfully get rid of the Boko haram terrors.
Thanks Mrs Stella for this platform.


Akinola, Oluwaseun Deborah
An aspiring security consultant /expert cum conflict analyst.