This week has been a fiery trial for national leadership in confronting challenges threatening to tear down the foundation of our nation. Against the backdrop of fears that Nigeria is irreversibly sliding down the slope of eventual breakdown, following the horrifying trails of security monsters in various parts of the country, the terror alert in Abuja this week has sent clear signals that these bandits are determined to walk to the corridor of power.
Early in the week, a nauseating video clip on the travails of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers went viral, showing inhuman treatment of the forlorn passengers by their heartless abductors. In the video clip, the passengers were being flogged amidst the screaming of victims and distraught women and children that are still unwilling guests of men who deal in misery for ransom.
Sordid tales of what it takes to be a survivor of kidnapping is fearful enough to make everyone freeze in silence. Apart from the struggle to survive the inclement weather, the dehumanisation of the abducted remains appalling that should have warranted a swift response from the nation’s armed forces for deliverance.
It is less hopeful that victims of kidnappers are about to walk away from their captivity. It may take a long while for relatives of the kidnapped to embrace the arms of their abducted spouses and family members from the forest manned by these dealers demanding N100 million for the release of each victim.
As if to send a clear signal that they were about to execute their plan of taking over Nigeria, a courageous group of bandits this week laid an ambush in Bwari Area Council of the Federal capital Territory (FCT) and killed two officers, with six soldiers, of the Presidential Guards Brigade. Instead of the military taking the battle to the bandits, these dreaded men of fearsome reputation are poised to oppose the secularity of the Nigerian state.
It is only in a country like Nigeria that brigands and criminal elements can issue threats and execute the same with precision. They did it in Kuje, a few weeks ago. And this week, they were determined to storm the Nigerian Law School, Bwari. If the prowess and vicious disposition of these armed brigands are to be taken seriously, the country may just be sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
This week, there was a report that the country generated less money to service its debt as it became clear that the economy was just about to hit the rocks. Despite the rise in the price of crude oil in the international market, Nigeria has only been capable of producing a little above half of its production quota as approved by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Combined with insecurity that has driven farmers from their farms, the threat against food security remains a frightening prospect that could pose grave threat to citizens. Those who once thought that threats by terrorists were only meant to send fear down the spines of fearful citizens, the Kuje and Bwari incidents have now revealed that we can only ignore these threats at our perils.
In a move to checkmate the nation’s journey to the precipice, the Minority Caucus of the Senate on Wednesday threatened the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over rising insecurity that has turned Abuja into a security alert city. The senators’ threat to impeach the President is coming on the heels of terror alert on the nation’s capital city. In a bid to avoid being caught down unprepared, the FCT on Wednesday summarily ordered the immediate closure of public schools. Thereafter, private schools were later directed to close down their schools to avert any impeding attack on students and pupils.
Some private schools in the FCT resorted to administering no fewer than five subjects to their pupils and students in one day in order to expedite the completion of the third term exams. For a nation to tremble by the threat of a terror gang only reflects how powerful our country is. That Nigeria, with all the instruments of coercion at its disposal, has failed to defeat these dark forces against our national peace is inscrutable. That the Nigerian government has not sought help outside to combat these evil forces of dreaded armaments against our national survival reveals more than meet the eye.
It is now obvious that, considering the recurring attacks on armed forces personnel, including the shooting down of a fighter jet, holds a gloomy future for our nation. The amnesia displayed by the political elite and the harrowing deficits in national leadership in tackling crimes have provided oxygen to the government’s incapacity and blame game.
Sadly, one of the presidential spokesmen, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Thursday described those calling for the resignation of Buhari on account of rising insecurity as anarchists. Apart from berating critics and those calling for Buhari’s resignation as enemies within, the former newspaper editor accused the media of amplifying threats issued by terrorist, thus given oxygen to terror attacks.
Adesina’s profile as a traducer of media professionals has never been in doubt. He once rained invective on Mr. Dele Momodu over his anti-Buhari article in ‘ThisDay’. Curiously, it was Adesina as the newspaper columnist who gained reputation from critical columns he wrote for ‘The Sun’ newspapers.
Nigeria as of today stands on the threshold of irreversible collapse if nothing is quickly done to save the day. Those who continue to hide the truth by beating the drums loved by those in the corridors of power are only playing the ostrich. Insecurity is about to obliterate our corporate existence as a nation. Those who have sworn to terminate Africa’s giant are at the gates. Citizens are now becoming apprehensive about the capacity of the government to stop what patriots are afraid of. If terror gangs can maul down members of the security forces in the nation’s capital without attracting quick recompense of their evil deeds, what hope is there for impoverished citizens whose hope is dimming by the passing of every day?
At the heart of our nation’s dilemma is our inability to combat those opposed to our security. If the military top command says they have killed 30 terrorists, we believe them. But our worry is: Is that enough to eradicate insecurity ripping across the country? We have in the past been inundated with stories of similar demobilisation of terror members by security personnel, what has happened after that?
It is obvious that if the stories we have heard in the past on killings of terrorists were true, the Kuje prison attack would not have happened. If the hundreds, if not thousands of terrorists killed in the North-east as claimed by security personnel, was true, the insurgence in that region would have been a thing of the past. No government can secure the trust of its citizens without coming clean of what goes in the corridor of power.
Those calling that the issue of security matters should not be politicised are the ones engaged in politics. Nigerians are tired of meetings that are often convened by President Buhari in response to attacks. Each time there is an attack, President Buhari calls for a security meeting. What has been the outcome of such meetings? Nothing! We were told last week by another presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the presidency has done its best and the media should intervene to facilitate the eventual release of the abducted Abuja-Kaduna bound train passengers.
For those who are not frightened by what is happening in Nigeria; let them be told that the nation is in slow march into oblivion. A nation does not disintegrate in one day; it is a process that seems insignificant at the initial stages. We have passed through several processes to the present stage where these terrorists are now killing and threatening to abduct President Buhari and Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai.
Democracy has become too frail to confront our security challenges. With flames of ethnic and religious bigotry being used to gain political ascendancy; the discordant tunes in our divisive polity is a reflection of the dilemma that seeks to either weaken our nation or prepare it for eventual collapse.
