The bush is where animals are found in their natural habitat. It is not where human beings live. But in today’s Nigeria, a certain type of people have become bush dwellers. Not only that, they commit crimes from those places. Such people include kidnappers, non-state actors, Fulani herdsmen, so-called bandits and terrorists.
It has become a common feature therefore, to read stories about how people are kidnapped and taken into the bush from where their families are contacted to pay ransom. The bush has become synonymous in Nigeria with terror, fear and all that is bad.
Recently, the Anambra State Police Command announced the arrest of two wanted kidnap suspects linked to multiple abduction cases. They were said to have migrated from the northern part of the country and involved in violent crimes.
According to the police report, in the early hours of 27 July 2026, following credible intelligence and painstaking investigations, Anambra Police Operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu,
carried out a coordinated operation and arrested one Dauda Mohammed, aged 38, a suspected member of a notorious kidnapping syndicate in Kogi State.
During interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to participating in several kidnapping operations in Anambra State. He identified one Umar Ali, also known as “Barjini,” aged 50, as the leader of the gang responsible for coordinating logistics and supplying operational weapons to the criminal network. He also mentioned other members of the syndicate identified as Usman and Gongola, who, the report said, were currently at large.
‘The investigation is directly linked to the kidnapping of a victim which occurred on 26th June, 2026 at Divine Heritage Lodge, Ukwulu, Dunukofia Local Government Area (Anambra State). In that incident, armed hoodlums emerged from an uncompleted building behind the lodge, fired several gunshots, abducted the victim into a nearby bush, and later demanded a ransom of N30m. After negotiations, the sum of N15m only was paid before the victim regained his freedom after spending four days in captivity,’ the report stated.
It further said that preliminary investigations revealed that the gang allegedly relocated from armed bandit enclaves in the North-West and established criminal operations within parts of the South East.
Acting swiftly on information obtained during the interrogation, the operatives extended the operation to Ugwuoba Gariki, Enugu State, where they successfully arrested Umar Ali, also known as “Barjini,”.
Normally, the above would pass as a routine crime report. But beyond it is the troubling fact that the criminals in question came down from the northern part of the country, something we could not have thought possible some time ago.
We all know that in the north many have been sacked from their homes and farmlands because of the activities of hoodlums who operate from the bushes. Now, these people are beginning to creep into Igbo heartland and taking refuge in our bushes. Although our own people have been known to occupy the bushes, the addition of outsiders whose crimes border more on terrorism, is scary.
We are therefore calling on the Southeast governors to, as a matter of urgency outlaw the living in bushes by anyone. Human beings do not live in the bush. No genuine person lives in the bush. Only those with criminal intent do.
The governors should treat anyone found living in the bushes as a criminal. Community vigilantes should begin combing our bushes for undesirable elements and flush them out. It was bad enough with our own people operating from the bushes as criminals. It will be worse if we allow foreigners with terrorist bent to join too.
This matter should not be treated with levity. The arrest of those men from the north by the police should be seen for what it is: a precursor of what is to come.
