Poem: Bandits and the Bandit-users
Author: Enewaridideke Ekanpou
Reviewer: Henry Yeigagha
There are crimes that shake nations, and there are conspiracies that sustain them. The first arrives with noise; the second thrives in silence. The first is seen in the smoke rising from burning villages; the second hides behind polished doors, official titles, political calculations, and economic interests. The first is committed by men carrying guns; the second by men carrying motives.
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This disturbing reality forms the philosophical nucleus of Ekanpou Enewaridideke's poem, 'Bandits and the Bandit-users', published in the Vanguard newspaper of 22 June 2026. In a few carefully crafted lines, the poet tears through the veil of appearances and invites society to confront a troubling possibility: that insecurity may not merely be the handiwork of bandits, but also the product of those who find value in the existence of banditry itself. The poet captures this troubling possibility right from the first stanza when he declares unequivocally that: 'Banditry is a brainwave like Ai.
So bandit-users bond with bandits to ban the masses from the Republic of peace.
For bandit-users they must brainstorm with bandits to burn peace into pieces in the Republic of peace'.
The poem is not merely a literary composition; it is a national interrogation. It is a poetic summons to collective introspection. It asks questions that echo through the corridors of power and reverberate across the troubled landscapes of contemporary society.
Who benefits when fear becomes a permanent resident in a nation? Who profits when farmers abandon their farmlands? Who smiles in secret when highways become corridors of terror? Who gains political or economic advantage when citizens are held hostage by insecurity? These are uncomfortable questions.
Yet, history teaches that every prolonged crisis creates beneficiaries. Like vultures circling over a wounded animal, there are always individuals and groups who find opportunities in chaos. Some trade in weapons. Some trade in influence. Some trade in fear itself. Their fortunes rise as societies decline. Their relevance grows as instability deepens. This is the profound metaphor embedded in Ekanpou's concept of "bandit-users."
The bandit-user is not necessarily the man who pulls the trigger. He may never enter a forest camp. He may never participate directly in an attack. Yet he remains connected to the machinery of violence through invisible threads of interest and advantage.
The poet's argument resonates strongly within the realities of our contemporary world. Across nations and continents, insecurity rarely survives as an isolated criminal enterprise. Behind every organized network of violence often lies a network of facilitators, financiers, collaborators, informants, profiteers, and beneficiaries. Violence, after all, is expensive. Weapons cost money. Logistics require coordination. Criminal enterprises demand protection.
The visible criminal is often only the surface manifestation of a deeper and more complex structure. Like a tree whose roots remain buried beneath the soil, insecurity frequently draws nourishment from sources hidden from public view. This is why Ekanpou's poem is both literary and political. It challenges society to look beyond the obvious. It insists that the struggle against insecurity can not be won merely by confronting the visible perpetrators while ignoring the invisible architects.
Indeed, one of the greatest tragedies of modern society is that evil has become sophisticated. Gone are the days when villains announced themselves openly. Today's architects of disorder often wear respectable faces. They occupy influential positions. They speak the language of patriotism while benefiting from instability. They publicly condemn violence while privately exploiting its consequences. The criminal ecosystem of the twenty-first century thrives on this dangerous duality. The gunman in the forest and the strategist in the city may appear worlds apart, yet they can sometimes be connected by interests that neither geography nor morality can conceal.
This is the frightening implication of Ekanpou's poetic vision. His poem suggests that society must broaden its understanding of criminality. It must move beyond the simplistic image of a bandit as merely a man carrying a rifle. The real challenge lies in identifying the structures that sustain the rifle, the networks that finance it, and the interests that benefit from its continued use.
In many parts of the world today, conflicts have become industries. Wars create contractors. Crises create opportunists. Instability creates merchants of misery. Every explosion enriches someone. Every displacement benefits someone. Every prolonged conflict creates a class of individuals who become stakeholders in disorder. Such individuals fear peace because peace threatens their profits. They dread stability because stability diminishes their relevance. They resist solutions because solutions expose their complicity.
The tragedy is that ordinary citizens often pay the price for these hidden games. The farmer loses his harvest. The trader loses her livelihood. The student loses access to education. The community loses its sense of security. The nation loses valuable years of development. Meanwhile, the unseen beneficiaries continue to operate from the shadows. What makes 'Bandits and the Bandit-users' especially powerful is its insistence that society must not be deceived by appearances. This is the reason why Ekanpou says: 'The bandits are still here
The bandits are still here and bonded because the bandits are bound to the bandit-users
They are collusive in their bond to ban the masses from the Republic of peace.
The bandits and the bandit-users are like lions that hunt together'.
The poet reminds us that visible violence often conceals invisible interests. The bandit may be the actor on the stage, but there may be directors behind the curtain. The bullet may leave the gunman's weapon, but the motive may originate elsewhere. The attack may occur in a remote village, yet its beneficiaries may reside far from the scene of destruction. This accounts for Ekanpou's position in the poem, 'Bandits and the Bandit-users' when he maintains thus: 'The bandits are a talisman for the bandit-users to blindfold the masses
The masses blindfolded, the bandit-users rule without a ban from the bandits and the masses'
This reality demands courage from leadership and vigilance from citizens. It calls for institutions capable of following evidence wherever it leads. It demands investigations that go beyond arresting foot soldiers to exposing entire networks of complicity. It requires a society willing to confront uncomfortable truths rather than convenient narratives.
Peace is not achieved merely by defeating criminals. Peace is achieved when the systems that empower criminality are dismantled. Peace is achieved when profiteers of chaos are exposed. Peace is achieved when those who benefit from disorder are denied the opportunity to continue feeding on public suffering. This can only be done when the bond between the bandits and the beneficiaries is broken, as echoed in this stanza: 'The bond between the bandits and the bandit-users is like a sandbank in River Forcados
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The bond between the bandits and the bandit-users is a marriage bound to be broken only when they decide after collusion.'
Ultimately, Ekanpou Enewaridideke's poem stands as a powerful warning to contemporary society. It reminds us that every crisis has two faces: the visible face of destruction and the invisible face of exploitation. The first attacks openly. The second operates quietly. The first terrifies communities. The second manipulates entire nations. Until both are confronted with equal determination, the fires of insecurity may continue to burn.
For every bandit carrying a gun in the forest, there may be a bandit-user carrying an agenda elsewhere. And until society learns to identify both, peace may remain a distant dream wandering through a landscape haunted by the ghosts of hidden interests and unspoken truths. This is the anchor of Ekanpou in the poem when he says:
'The bandits and the bandit-users are two stuck love-birds caught mating.
Only with a gifted surgeon can these two stuck love-birds be separated.
The two stuck love-birds separated, the ozone of peace travels across all the entangled roads and creeks in Nigeria'.
*Engr. Yeigagha writes from Ayakoromo, Delta State.
