Boko Haram insurgents are lavishly celebrating their 10th anniversary. Since they first came calling in 2009, there has been no stopping them. They have grown both in strength and might.

The terror group was actually founded in Maiduguri, Borno State, in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf. Its other prominent leaders after Yusuf were the “invincible” Abubakar Shekau and Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

Its first known major outings were devastating. They took the country by storm, shook it to its very foundation. All the security agencies were caught pants down, napping!

The attacks were launched simultaneously in Bauchi, Bauchi State and Maiduguri. That was on July 26, 2009. Looking back now, the Islamist group has expanded its coast beyond imagination. It is second only to ISIS. It has improved tremendously in scope and operation.

And it was like a grand finale on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. They carried their war right to the doorsteps of President Muhammadu Buhari. He was away in London, UK, on a 10-day private visit.

The timing and target were quite on point. They couldn’t have been otherwise. The time was about 7.10 in the evening. Nobody expected the unwanted visitors, not even their prey.

But the bandits knew what they wanted. They equally knew their target well. They stormed Daura, Katsina State, in a commando manner. And things were never the same again.

Their style was similar and familiar; the same old story. Yet, they beat our security network to it in the President’s hometown. They were bold and daring. They cared less even if the President’s ox is gored or bruised. 

Armed to the teeth, they entered with in an unregistered blue Peugeot 405 car. It was not difficult for them to hit their target. Shooting into the air, they made their way straight to the residence of Magajin Garin Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar.

They never missed their target before, and they did not this time around. They were dead on time. Their prey was “sitting on a bench outside his residence.”

He had just observed his Maghrib (sunset) prayer. He couldn’t have prepared for them.

That saved them the problem of identification. Promptly, they bundled him into their waiting vehicle and drove recklessly out of sight. That was the last public appearance of the district head. It was a sordid and tragic drama.

The bandits did not make a bad choice after all. Magajin Garin Daura is a younger brother of the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar. He is the heir apparent to the throne, a crown prince.

Even more than that, Buhari’s aide de camp (ADC), Col Mohammed Abubakar, is married to the daughter of the abducted district head, Fatima. The insurgents sent a powerful message across the land. And it sunk deeply. We dared not toy with it.

Trust them. The police did not miss out of this uncommon drama. They came out with their fixed tactless tactics, a fire brigade approach.

Katsina State police spokesman, Gambo Isah, was sent to make a case for them. He came the following day beating his chest and pouring out:

“Police patrol teams at Kusada Division of Katsina State intercepted the hoodlums and engaged them in a gun duel and as a result of which one Inspector Muntari Maikudi sustained gunshot injury. IGP Tactical Squad, SARS teams, PMF and counter-terrorism units have already been dispatched to rescue the victim.”

Then their habitual singsong: “Be rest assured that the command and, indeed, other security agencies are on their toes to bring to an end the activities of these bandits.”

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Very unlike them, they did a wise follow-up. The state Commissioner of Police, Sani Bubu, relocated to Daura. It was a wake-up call from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu. The IGP is not losing weight for nothing.

And for now, he will continue to lose weight. On Tuesday, duty called again for the IGP at the Senate. He was scrutinised and grilled for three hours. He was put to task on terrorism, banditry and kidnapping. The senators were very particular about the frightening and frightful insecurity situation in the North.

He did not send Buba all alone to face this Herculean task. He is to work with a crack team made up of the military, Department of State Security (DSS) and other agencies. The mission is to rescue the district head by all means.

The House of Representatives had come into the scene earlier. Its resolution directed the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the constituency. Not only that, government should deploy troops for a full military action in Katsina.

Why single Katsina out for special attention? Hundreds of thousands have been killed in the last 10 years of Boko Haram’s reign of terror. And hundreds are still being murdered almost on a daily basis.

The Daura attack was not different from the murderous and mass killings in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kogi, et al, et al…

Even at that, the bandits were not deterred or moved an inch. They kept on doing their business as if nothing happened in Daura. They stepped up their operations. They moved to other parts of the country, killing, maiming, raping, abducting and kidnapping almost unhindered and unchallenged.

Samplers: Bandits killed 31 in Dansadau, Maru Local Government, Zamfara State, according to the BBC Hausa Service, on Sunday. Boko Haram and herdsmen slaughtered 18 people in Borno and Taraba on Tuesday. The list is pathetically long.

It appears the insurgents are being encouraged by their successful incursion into the President’s hometown. And this calls for concern and alarm. This was not lost on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai.

He publicly lamented: “The series of security challenges, including terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping, communal strife and armed robbery, put Nigeria at risk.” Agreed!

In the past 10 years, Boko haram has made telling negative impacts. The President himself confirmed this much: “The condition of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country is pathetic. We have at least a million children who neither know their parents nor where they come from.”

Damage to infrastructure, particularly in the North East, is horrendous. President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, gave a sickening report:

Bridges have been blown up, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques and other buildings have been destroyed. “All these will be rehabilitated, and every form of international help is welcome.”

We do sincerely appreciate these consorted efforts to end insecurity in the country. We only need to be more sincere and transparent in our actions and inactions.

The fight against insecurity must not go on endlessly. It means many things are on the wrong side in the present arrangement and structure.

More seriously, our security architecture needs to be holistically overhauled. That is where the problem principally lies. All others will naturally give way.

Let’s give it an honest trial. And we would be glad we did.