In the peak of onslaughts by bandits and criminal elements ripping through Nigeria and causing frightening uncertainties, the ‘2021 Blueprint Annual Lectures and Impact Series Awards’ provided a platform for the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, to share his thought on how best to tackle terrorism and allied criminal activities in the country.
If there is anything that should dominate the national discourse now, it is how to tackle these dreaded brigands who have turned human beings into commercial commodities. Close to 14 years since the commencement of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, the hope of weakening the monstrous firepower of these militants and other warlords has been dimmed, with members of the nation’s security forces incapable of stopping the menace posed by these insurgents and their near cousins, bandits and other criminal elements.
While it may be necessary to state that Boko Haram was initially established to ensure the establishment of an Islamic state within the secular state called Nigeria, hunger and poverty would later provide a platform for distressed citizens to embrace arms and other forms of crimes for survival. Coupled with the increasing recurrence of banditry that has forced relatives of distressed abducted victims to cough out billions of naira in ransom, the nation seems to have found itself between the devil and deep blue sea. No matter what decision is taken, men and women must pay the supreme price.
The recent annual lecture organised by the ‘Blueprint’ newspapers afforded opportunity for General Dambazau and others to share their thoughts on how to combat the flood of insecurity threatening to destabilise Nigeria. As the Guest Lecturer of the event, Dambazzau explained that what is urgently needed now is the complete overhaul of the nation’s security system in order to defeat non-state actors engaged in unleashing terror on citizens.
Apart from lamenting that less than 200,000 military personnel (Army, Navy and Air Force) are inadequate to secure over 200 million Nigerians, he said that over 400,000 personnel, the Nigeria Police officers and men were being underutilised and misused, adding that the drafting of military personnel to undertake police duties in the country was not in the interest of the nation’s security.
“Today, it is the military that performs most routine policing duties, and in fact this is another cogent reason why security sector reforms are necessary. The police are only one of the three legs of the criminal justice system, and the other two legs, the courts, and prisons, are also weak institutions, a situation that leads to poor delivery of justice, being one of the major reasons for the insecurity in Nigeria, especially in situations where victims suffer neglect.
“A significant part of security sector reforms is security governance, centered on strengthening the effectiveness of security institutions. One of the areas we need to focus our attention on is emergency response planning and coordination. National response to emergencies must be robust and people-centric, taking advantage of the unique competencies and resources of each entity at all levels,” Dambazzau said.
Tackling insecurity, the Kano-born retired general called for synergyies amongst security agencies and declared that there was need for drastic reforms that could lead to the elimination of terror attacks and restore the confidence of the public on security personnel to tackle the rampaging banditry ripping across the country.
Recalling how former President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to reform the military, but could not go beyond retiring politically-exposed military officers, the engagement of the US-based private military company, the Military Professional Resource Inc. (MPRI), and subsequent actions could not realise the planned reforms. Even when the Obasanjo administration attempted to embark on retirement of all police personnel who were to be immediately replaced by a new educated crop of cops, a national newspaper had exposed the plan, thus fueling national angst against the government.
There is no doubt that despite several attempts by previous and present governments, including spending of billions of naira for equipment and personnel, the nation’s security has been unable to rein in these ever present threats of blood-thirsty monsters that are committed to the destruction of the nation.
Last Tuesday, main negotiator and media consultant to Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, Mallam Tukur Mamu, was arrested in Egypt and flown back to the country in the waiting hands of the Department of State Services (DSS) over his roles in the release of Abuja-Kaduna abducted victims and payment of ransoms running hundreds of millions, while no fewer than 27 are said to be languishing in the den of their captors.
While there have been discordant tunes over the propriety of Mamu’s role as a negotiator for the release of the train victims, his recent arrest by the Interpol in Egypt is indicative of the fact that the future may turn out heady for the newspaper publisher who recently called on the Federal Government and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to move fast and avert another Leah Sharibu scenario, following threat by the terror group to marry off Azurfa Lois John if money was not provided for her quick release.
Without a doubt, poverty and crimes have contributed to the spiking up of criminal activities in the country. When some security personnel are even involved in collecting ransom; the road to extinguishing this nebulous practice of ransom payments may take a long while to come.
As hopes continue to be sustained over the defeat of insecurity in many parts of the country, relying on military strategies is not enough. What is needed now is rallying critical stakeholders to take the war to the terror groups. What these enemies of the Nigerian state want is to clothe citizens with fear and dread. Once they succeed in that, nothing more will be left than gradual descent into annihilation.
It is heart-warming that there have been onslaughts on some of the terror members, especially in Kaduna. What the nation needs more than ever before is for men and women whose voices matter in the society to rise up and demand that the government should rise to its obligation of protecting lives and property of citizens.
We can’t allow the present situation to linger for long where the Federal Government has become helpless and not doing enough to stamp out these terrorists whose firepower is said to be above that of our nation’s armed forces.
Good Night, Queen Elizabeth II
The death of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday came both as unexpected and expected. When her husband Prince Phillip died last year, Queen Elizabeth II was expected to have followed with any waste of time. But not with the Queen whose reign had spanned over three decades and 10 years as Head of State of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations that were under the Brits.
The Angel of Death must have waited to allow the Head of the Commonwealth Nation to witness the swearing in of the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss. With the dust over the appointment of the new UK Prime Minister settling, the Queen’s job seemed to have been completed and she took her solo flight to meet her old Phillip who had gone before her.
Her death marks the end of an era for not only Britain but the colonies that were ruled by colonial Britain. For Queen Elizabeth II, it was a life well lived, but for the colonised nations and the British citizens, it is far not yet Uhuru as the UK is faced with harsh economic realities threatening to tear down the prosperity of the citizenry.
May her death bring about renewed hope for the prosperity of Britain and her former colonies. Good night, Queen Elizabeth II and welcome, King Charles!
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