JOS, NIGERIA — Serious questions regarding institutional bias and selective enforcement have been raised following the swift arrest of a Berom youth, Paul Kolsen, by state security forces in Plateau State.
Kolsen was apprehended on Sunday at the Trade Centre community of Kuru—the host community of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS)—following a targeted security tip-off.
According to official sources, the suspect was tracked down and detained while receiving medical treatment for a gunshot wound he reportedly sustained during a dual gun battle with the security guards at the institute.
The Fast Trap For Non-Fulani Actors
While security agencies have praised the rapid tracking and arrest of Kolsen as a victory for regional stability, the development has re-ignited a long-standing national debate concerning the perceived double standards embedded within Nigeria’s federal security architecture.
Community advocates and civil society watchdogs argue that the lightning-fast efficiency displayed by the military and police when tracking down non-Fulani actors stands in stark, frustrating contrast to their response when dealing with armed herdsmen and bandit syndicates.
Critics point out that despite persistent, highly documented massacres and large-scale displacement operations carried out by heavily armed Fulani militias across the North-West, North-East, North-Central, and South-West zones, actual arrests or proactive tactical clearance operations against these camps remain extremely rare.
A Legacy Of Discrepancy
Socio-cultural analysts track the root of this operational discrepancy back to the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
During that era, a visible pattern emerged where indigenous self-defense volunteers and local vigilante groups defending their ancestral farmlands were routinely disarmed, hunted down, and paraded by federal troops. Meanwhile, transnational armed herders operating out of gazetted forest reserves were rarely subjected to similar aggressive law enforcement crackdowns.
This deep systemic imbalance has left rural communities across the Middle Belt feeling completely abandoned by the state, forcing local leaders to openly question whether the federal defense apparatus is structurally unwilling or fundamentally compromised when it comes to neutralizing specific armed actors.
Tensions High In Kuru
Following Kolsen’s arrest at the Trade Centre community, military patrols have been intensified around the NIPSS axis to deter any potential reprisal attacks or local demonstrations.
While the suspect remains under heavy guard at a secure medical facility pending his transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for formal interrogation, indigenous youth groups maintain that peace cannot be achieved through selective justice.
They argue that until the federal government deploys the same level of urgency, surveillance, and tracking technology to dismantle the known militia hideouts launched against farming settlements, the security agencies will continue to face a massive crisis of public trust and legitimacy across the federation.
