Every passing day, it’s looking disturbingly and emphatically clear that Nigeria is approaching a tipping point. Fear is rattling everyone’s nerve paths. It has conscripted many. It’s all about the frightening upsurge in insecurity all over the country. It throws up few questions: Is the present government overwhelmed by the level of insecurity in the land? Or has it abdicated its responsibility to protect lives and property as provided in Section 14, subsection 2(b) of 1999 Constitution (as amended)?
As former President Olusegun Obasanjo lamented last year in one of his letters to President Buhari, Nigeria under his leadership was tipping towards a dangerous cliff, some say, a failed state. Obasanjo had warned that the country risked being consumed by violence and ethnic divisions never seen for years if urgent steps are not taken. Hope seems to be fading in Nigeria with regard to insecurity. No one is saved any more, lamented the Shehu of Borno, Umar Elkanemi last week.
What more shall we tell Mr. President? He’s not unaware of his constitutional responsibilities. Does he need further reminding of the bloodbath going on in many parts of the country? The truth is that there have been plenty of broken hearts to go round in Nigeria today due to government’s seeming inability to solve the present danger posed by insurgents and bandits across the country. Southern Kaduna has become a cemetery of sorts. What’s Gov. Nasir El-Rufai doing? Has his star faded? Or has he left the people of Southern Kaduna to resort to self-defence, an option suggested by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state, even as more police personnel have been deployed there. And you ask: what happened to the billions that state governors appropriate for themselves every year as security vote? Recall that early this year, bandits in Kaduna shot a police helicopter carrying surveillance on the hideout of Ansaru terrorist group in the state. The pilot of the chopper was severely injured in the attack. Last week, the convoy of Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno State was attacked by Boko Haram terrorists at Baga community. Many people were reported injured.
The last time, this was what President Buhari said after the attacks: “During our campaigns, we knew about Boko Haram. But what’s happening now is surprising. It’s not ethnicity or religion. Rather, it’s one evil plan against the country”. Yes, it could well be one evil plan against the country. But, a president is there to prevent evil plans from happening. That’s why he’s the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Time and time again, the president has not been short of assurances to protect the country and the people. Last Friday, he admitted that the presented insecurity in the country has become disturbing, but merely told the military to do more. That sounds like throw-in- the- towel tactics. But talk is becoming too cheap. It’s time to walk the talk. In other words, concrete action is needed, and urgently. As Nobel laureate Prof Soyinka said, this failure to stop the madness of bandits has eroded Buhari’s achievements. No thanks to the frightening upsurge in banditry and bloodletting across the land. The statistics are heartrending.
According to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, in 2019, about 1,071 people were killed, 685 kidnapped in the country between January and April 2019. This may just be a conservative estimate. The figures may have doubled between then and now. In Zamfara state alone, one of the hotbeds of banditry and kidnapping, over 8,000 women had been made widows by the bandits, while at least 16,000 children were reported to have been orphaned in the past decade. Also, last year, people of Daura, the President’s hometown wept and prayed fervently for the release of their district head, Alhaji Musa Umar, who was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen right in his residence. Across the country, a pain cry is going up like a lightening rod in the air. Nigeria is dying and hurting. To say that is not been unkind or unpatriotic. But those entrusted with security of lives and property are playing the ostrich while the citizens are mindlessly killed. It must be said that while the blame game goes on, the enemy of the people is not only ignorance but falling to admit failure and design a concrete approach to tackling our security challenges.
On June 18, 2020, President Buhari was reported to have reprimanded the Service Chiefs over their failure to curb worsening insecurity in the nation. In an unprecedented display disappointment at the situation, the president was quoted to have told them that their “best” was “not good enough”. But he was short of giving them the red card, perhaps believing that they had read his lips and should shape up or be sacked, a tough decision many Nigerians have been asking him to take. Asked whether a replacement of the service chiefs was in the offing, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd) said, “that’s an issue only the President can address”. Thinking slow rather than fast when urgent action is required, remains one of the President’s numerous flaws.
This much is clear: Nigeria is gradually, and sadly, approaching the dreaded status of a failed state. Let’s attempt a dictionary definition of a failed state. It includes a “state where the political or economic system has become so weak that the government seems no longer in control”. A “failed state” is also a country whose government is considered to have failed to perform the two fundamental functions of protecting the lives and property of its citizens as enshrined in that country’s Constitution.
Today, Nigeria is ranked third in the World’s terrorist index, behind Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI). This is the third consecutive time Nigeria would be so ranked in the terrorism index. The report measured the impact of terrorism across the world and placed Nigeria third among countries that have suffered most from terrorism. The report also claims that Nigeria is the most terrorized nation in Africa with huge economic and financial loss, with deaths and other terror-related incidents increasing by over 37 percent since 2018. No country attracts foreign investment to an environment that’s considered unsafe. The increase is said to be due to substantial escalation of violence by Fulani extremists.
The attack on the convoy of Gov. Zulum last week shows there’s no let up by the terrorists. I believe that the military is capable of defeating the terrorists, only if the Service Chiefs are committed and ready to provide the right leadership to the forces in the battlefield. Maybe, as Gov. Zulum alleged after surviving the terrorists’ attack, the military could be sabotaging the counter-insurgency war. Something is definitely wrong with the military in terms of doctrine, training, morale and strategic orientation.
So far, the service chiefs have disappointed the country and the president who has given them a much longer time to prove their mettle. The question remains: how much longer can the president afford to keep them? Perhaps only him can answer. But the tempers of the time suggest it’s about time to try new hands, new strategy. Across the country, the message that resonates with Nigerians is: End the killings now!