Going by what has become a daily occurrence, it would appear Nigeria is now held hostage by a gang of terrorists. The high rate of insecurity across the land, as the ‘Woke’ generation will say, has no Part II.
We may choose to call perpetrators Boko haram, Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, cultists or bandits, but they all qualify to be called terrorists, even if by a lay man’s definition.
Truth is Nigerians are being terrorized daily by these agents of darkness. They freely kill, maim, burn down communities, chase away surviving victims from their ancestral homes with nothing and sometimes nowhere to go. And usually, no one is apprehended.
As it is happening in Zamfara, so also is it happening in Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kogi, Plateau and many other states of the north, as well as some states in the south.
Nigeria has never before, witnessed this level of insecurity, such that in peace time, it would seem more people are being killed than even in war times. Or how do we explain that about four million Nigerians are now displaced in their own country?
Heart-breaking pictures of wailings, gnashing of teeth and Nigerians generally running away from their homes following attacks by these gangs I have chosen to call terrorists are what confront one daily. As a matter of fact, watching television, especially the local channels these days, has become so depressing, and an ordeal many people would love to avoid.
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Naturally, when there are so many problems all over the place, next thing is to be overwhelmed and when such happens, attention is shifted to things that are merely cosmetics that have no bearing on the well being of the future.
And so, as these terrorists were almost wiping out Zamfara, so to speak, and even Kaduna penultimate week; and of course, Yobe and Borno with general kidnappings and other forms of insecurity, the Number One, Number Two and Number Three citizens of Nigeria were all outside the country.
Elsewhere, where security of life and property is considered major, leaders would not hesitate to rush back home from wherever they find themselves whenever their people face serious attacks by anyone.
But what the heck, wanton killings by marauding herdsmen, bandits, Boko Haram or whatever name they go by is no longer news in present day Nigeria. So, kini big deal?
Thus, while Zamfara and others were happening, President Muhammadu Buhari was in Jordan and the United Arab Emirate (UAE). His Vice, Yemi Osinbajo, was in Rwanda, while Senate President, Bukola Saraki was in Qatar calling on the government to end its visa restriction on Nigerians. And to some ardent supporters, that was not a problem at all, Nigeria go dey okay!
Ironically, though, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was in Kigali for the 25th Commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide. Now, let’s not forget that genocide of similar magnitude also happened in Nigeria about 50 years ago and no one is commemorating anything here.
Instead, a people so badly affected by that massacre and heinous crime against humanity would be harassed, brutalized and even thrown into jail whenever they organize any form of activity in remembrance of loved ones lost to that genocide.
That aside, President Muhammadu Buhari, on his part, penultimate Saturday, was in Dead Sea, Jordan, for the World Economic Forum on Middle East and North Africa. From there, he went to Dubai where he declared that Nigeria has taken the lead in cyber policing in West Africa, working with regional and global partners.
The president was speaking at the 2019 Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), and met with six different groups of investors at the sidelines of the annual meeting, where he told them of the prosperity that awaits any that chooses to invest in Nigeria.
Back home at the time, Zamfara was being set ablaze, literarily, by terrorists and 12 people were killed in two Rivers’ communities following cult clashes. In Ondo state, no fewer than seven persons, including a police inspector, were killed as daredevil armed robbers stormed a new generation bank in ldoani, Ose Local Government Area of the state.
In Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra state, herdsmen were attacking communities just as Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, whose state is also under regular attacks, described the level of kidnappings and banditry in his state as alarming. The bug caught up with Lagos state where acting Director, Lagos State Fire Service was kidnapped along with six others, although Lagos, perhaps, reacted better as those kidnap were quickly freed by their captors, couple of days later.
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In Zamfara alone, a total 3,526 persons are reported to have been killed by armed bandits in the last five years, and this is quoting the state governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari.
Nearly 500 villages have also been devastated and 8,219 persons injured with some still in critical condition as a result of banditry. Also, over 13,000 hecters of farmlands have either been destroyed or made useless as farmers can no longer farm them.
And we are told that government had been aware of eight prominent bandits’ camps at different bush locations in the state. Yet, they’ve been unable to neutralize or decimate the criminals.
More ridiculous is plan by a state that practices Sharia to resort to sorcery and charms in an attempt to protect its people.
This obviously was making a huge joke of a very serious matter and the Senator representing Zamfara Central in the Senate, Kabir Marafa, and his colleague from Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, didn’t mince words in saying so.
To them, the development merely exposed the inability of the federal and state governments to tackle insecurity despite billions of naira being spent on the military and security agencies in the country.
They also reserved some portion of the blame for northern political elites, arguing that their hypocrisy have contributed tremendously to the insecurity situation in Zamfara, Kaduna and other states because they have all along been playing the roles of sycophants by refusing to tell the government the truth and instead resort to playing up the ethnic and religious cards.
And in suspending mining activities in Zamfara state, which acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, said has a link with banditry in the state, a new form of controversy was thrown into the national discourse.
Not many Nigerians, before now, knew that such existed and therefore wonder how much the activity, mainly operated by foreigners, is adding to the national coffers in an economy the World Bank said has been slipping since 1995.
If indeed the lives of Nigerians matter, these acts of terror all over the place would stop, reason why President Buhari has been challenged to rejig his security architecture, instead of always looking for excuses for errors in his government. He can also quit or call for help if he is finding the job too difficult to do, insists the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“We are tired of burying our children, wives and brothers. Our women should stop being made widows at young age,” the PDP party chairman, Uche Secondus, said.
President of Middle Belt Forum, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, similarly called for an overhaul of the nation’s security architecture, saying, “The current security structure is not effective. Our policemen and soldiers are just standing, waiting for the bandits to attack before they respond; we cannot solve the problem that way.”
In other words, you cannot be doing operation dance this and operation dance that all over the place for a group of people that are not dancing. These terrorist kill, they don’t dance, so any operation that is not stopping them from killing Nigerians like chicken is mere waste of time and resources.
It is just so sad that things happened in Nigeria with no target results. Everything now is about political correctness. As a result, so much is invested on policies that have no bearing on the future of the country.
For instance, how can you be talking of increase in salaries of workers and the next thing is to increase Value Added Tax (VAT), which renders the increase useless in a country, where cost of running government is just out of this world?
Our federal legislators are said to be the highest paid in the world. A governor has personal aides running into thousands. The money wasted on reckless lifestyles of our politicians from top to bottom, where proper accountability exists, could go a long way in engaging the bulging restless youth population that have turned themselves into willing tools for various acts of terror.
Until government at all levels takes the issue of education and unemployment, among others, serious, there may be no end to the gale of attacks on innocent citizens of the country by these terrorists.
