By Rotimi Bello
The recent attack on and gruesome killing of rice farmers in Borno state, as well as the alleged open parade of AK 47 rifles by the bandits in the North-West (as voiced out by the Sultan of Sokoto) are enough cause for worry.
Not only that, the many cases of rural and urban blights in different parts of the country have called to question the integrity of our leaders and their commitment to the main duty of safeguarding lives and properties. In our very eye, Nigeria has become a butcher house where Nigerians are frequently slain. Yet, all we hear from our leaders are mere condemnation messages delivered via Twitter or through their spokespersons, and a promise to beef up security.
On daily basis, innocent citizens are dying not of ailment or accident which are rampant in our clime, but of premeditated murder ochestrated by bandits and insurgents in differents part of the country. The bandits and terrorists are on the prowl kiling our people with impunity and nothing seems to be done to end it.
The activities of bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram terrorists made headlines often in electronic and print media more than ever in our clime. Seeing obscene headlines of killing has become a normal occurence in our dailies. News readers often scan through or fiddle in some instances. Some pretend as if it never happened or it is just a figment of imagination especially when we are not directly related to the victims.
Who will save Nigerians from the beast in our midst? In all part of the country, from Ondo-Ekiti axis to Rivers, Borno and North-West, the story is the same. Nigerians are being murdered in cold-blood and the assailants usually vanish and escape punishment. What a country!
Boko Haram is a monster that is killing and maiming Nigerians on daily basis. Thousands have been summarily killed and more than a million displaced in the North East part of the country. Initially, our political leaders trivialised the insurgency attacks believing it would fizzle out naturally. It is on record that many Islamic scholars from the North who spoke and preached against these extremists were attacked and killed. These extremists are dangerous. Their Islamic concept and narrative are interpreted to suit their inclination. Their objective is not just in the violent act; it is in orchestrating terrorism. They are set out to inflame, divide and produce consequences of a calamitous nature with the potential of creating and causing a religious war.
All over the country, people are living in constant fear of impending danger and possible attacks especially knowing the large scale attacks carried out in the Borno by these dreaded groups. Their onslaughts are carried out with military precision to do calculated damage. Most of their operations and attacks are designed for maximum casualty.
Sometimes, these are executed by a suicide mission painstakingly organised to kill, maim and destroy lives and property. By all intent and purposes, the confrontational action of Boko Haram is a declaration of war on the Nigerian nation, and it should be treated as such by the leaders irrespective of our religious and ethnic biases. The lawmakers that are pushing leniency for Boko Haram members should realise that the insurgents have been negatively educated, thus, they are like a leopard that can never change its spots.
The bond of brotherhood that binds Nigeria together is shaking; it is being weakened at least, on daily basis by the lack of altruism and genuine patriotism on the part of our leaders. They don’t really care about us. They have abandoned the oath of sanctity they swore to protect lives and properties in all part of the country.
To be frank, Nigeria is being run like a banana republic. The patriotic citizens are afraid of speaking up because the praise singers, liars, bootlickers, conspirators and provocateurs that profit from the current system are ready to attack and unleash their arsenals against any patriot who dares to speak against the anointed President.
We are surely in a labyrinth, since the elders have been compromised. The armed forces and paramilitary have been made insecure by successive policies that have paralysed and rendered them comatose and demoralised. The Nigeria Army which prides itself as one of the most discipline Army in Sub-Sahara Africa have become disoriented, humiliated and enmeshed in conflicting reports and controversy about the insurgency. The Nigeria police cannot even defend their barracks against insurgents infiltration, talk less of defending the citizens whose taxes are used to pay their salaries.
Indirectly, most of the light arms and ammunition in the possession of extremists and bandits are not manufactured here in Nigeria. They are imported into Nigeria through borders and frontier towns’ manned by Nigerian Customs officers. All in all, the inability of the Nigerian security aparatus to secure and protect our lives and properties is a failure of successive leaders and leadership policies somersault.
At this juncture, the pertinent question to be asked is; what is the way forward? First and foremost, the government must be sincere in its effort to quell and fight these terrorists, kidnappers and bandits by all means. The Nigerian Police must be adequately empowered to tackle extremism, crime and criminals. Security agencies themselves must be empowered and secured. They need robust insurance that can guarantee adequate compensation of their family members should they become victims on active duty.
Our security architecture must be overhauled; there must be synergy in our intelligence-gathering efforts. All of them must work together as a team. They must be integrated and proactive in their approach. They must re-strategize, knowing that modernity has made the insurgents and criminals sophisticated in their operations. Most of them conduct their activities with military precision. Thus, the security must be ahead of them in terms of their strategic planning. The tired security chiefs who are bereft of ideas should be dropped for the new ones.
Finally, citizens are the most precious assets of any nation, and securing their lives and properties is the ultimate and most important responsibility of any responsible leadership. Our leaders have spent enough time in the shadow of our past; it is time to wake up from their slumber to secure Nigerians in all nooks and crannies of the country.
Rotimi S. Bello lives in Abuja and can be reached via [email protected]