Tuesday’s night attack on Kuje Correctional Centre in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by terrorists poignantly is a deep reflection of how exposed we are as a nation to an end game being scripted and played by those who do not wish us well. How these deadly men of destructive weapons were able to launch an offensive for nearly three hours on the prison, without any resistance from security forces, beats the imagination of many.
On the same day, faraway in Katsina State, the advance convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari came under attack by scores of bandits armed to the teeth. It took the courageous act of security personnel in the convoy to repel the attackers, not after the gunmen inflicted injuries on some members of the convoy. Considering the endless attacks unleashed on various parts of Nigeria by criminals, it seems that all the blood-sucking demons in hell have been emptied on our nation for a final battle for the soul of Africa’s giant. From the incessant attacks witnessed in many communities in the last three weeks, we are nearer to Armageddon than we ever thought.
The implication of the attack on Kuje Prisons is clear and reveals that the ability of the terrorists to penetrate the security network in Abuja only shows how helpless we can be in times of security emergency. Expectedly, both the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram have claimed responsibility for the assault on Kuje that led to the escape of no fewer than 70 members of Boko Haram. Over 600, other sources insist 1,000 inmates escaped, with no fewer than 400 of the fleeing prisoners re-arrested by security forces.
We need no seer to state categorically that the aim of the assault on Kuje was to free commanders of the insurgents. For our security forces to be undermined by an outlaw group known as ISWAP, another name for Boko Haram, demonstrates the resilience of the group that is not willing to kiss the dust over its demand. That the attackers, numbering 100, escaped the eagle eyes of security personnel keeping sentry in various parts of the FCT, reveals there is more to it than meets the eye.
Those that know are quick to point out that recent attacks on the country are well-plotted machinations of the enemies of the state to throw the country into a deep hole of uncertainties that will eventually lead to its collapse. How can one explain a situation where security personnel are now victims of these onslaughts in a nation that has become a massive killing field? If the collapse of the Nigerian state must be avoided, the time has come for the government to sound the alarm bell and declare a state of emergency in the security sector.
That these horrifying security challenges are being perpetrated under the watch of President Buhari leaves a gaping hole in rationalising the state of insecurity in the nation. Considering the three-agenda of the present administration, not a few citizens had hoped that if the Buhari-led administration was incapable of achieving any of the three electoral promises, analysts had expressed hope that the government was bound to secure Nigerians citizens. President Buhari’s inability to rein in the activities of terrorists and other criminals in the last seven years portends grave dangers for the corporate existence and unity of our country.
Democracy and violence are not bedmates. When violence takes hold of a country, democracy suffers a great deal. That is why the spiraling level of violence and attacks on Nigerians communities hold troubling prospects for deepening our democracy that is presently engulfed in uncertainties. In an atmosphere of crisis, citizens are rendered effective to perform their civic rights of electing leaders through the ballot.
Victory for terror gangs is a loss for democracy. While a nation’s leader should not be seen succumbing to the fears unleashed by terror groups, it is not an attribute of a statesman to allow his country to be controlled by criminals whose stock in trade is to enthrone a reign of terror and stifle the growth of a nation.
As it is, Nigeria presently suffers from the harborage of violence and indescribable murders that have denied citizens sleep and peace. The reason for which this present administration was elected in 2015 was to arrest these dealers in bloodshed and crimes and free the country from the stranglehold of these brigands and outlaws decimating Nigerian communities and sending fear down the spines of millions of our citizens. We cannot claim to be free from the bloody actions of these terror monsters that have reduced our nation into a walking shadow of our glorious past.
There are unconfirmed reports that the nation’s secret police had shared information with some security agencies over the impending attack, but nothing was done. If that is true, then we must retool by ensuring synergisation of efforts within security agencies to end this scourge of insecurity. To many, the incapacity of security forces to deal with these troubling insurgents and other criminal groups is hinged on the absence of inter-agency collaboration among personnel of security agencies.
In times like this, we cannot overemphasise on securing citizens and property in a country that is being overwhelmed in the combat against criminals. With insecurity, government is rendered impotent to safeguard lives and property of the citizenry. With security, the journey to improved living conditions and development becomes entrenched. Nearly two decades of insecurity have placed citizens in the despairing hole of disillusion and hopelessness. If our government must arrest the speedy decline into anarchy, those who seek to enthrone a culture of fear and destruction in our nation must be forced to end their ill-fated ambition.
With less than a year to next year’s General Elections, the greatest threat against 2023 is the present rise in the level of bloodshed and ceaseless assaults unleashed on defenceless citizens by perpetrators of bloodshed. If the current state of insecurity is not arrested, scaling through the 2023 polls may be too difficult a task to be achieved. Already, there are insinuations in some quarters that those opposed to peaceful elections next year are the ones plotting to ensure rising violence in order to create hundreds of Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in order to pave the way for electoral manipulation.
What Nigeria requires now is a statesman that will combat the present insecurity and despair that have sharply divided citizens. It is obvious that, considering the number of times members of the security forces have fallen victims to these assaults, Nigeria’s security architecture should be democratised to allow states, local government areas and communities to be involved in securing their members.
Next year’s polls can only be guaranteed if the government is able to tackle the scourge of insecurity. What happened in Kuje on Tuesday reflects the weird and precarious state of our security situation. Having set free 70 of their members from the prison, the future may witness spiraling levels of attacks by ISWAP and Boko Haram in advancing their ambition of creating an Islamic State. For the Federal Government to keep silent and not do anything in the face of these troubling scenarios is akin to succumbing to those plotting the collapse of Nigeria.
It is not enough for President Buhari to express his disappointment with those involved the management of our security; as Commander-in-Chief of the nation’s Armed Forces, he should not make haste to review the security architecture by injecting fresh hands for total onslaught against these enemies of the state that are few kilometres to his official residence, Aso Presidential Villa.
Security should remain a top priority of the government. President Buhari must be prepared to go the extra mile to end this present scourge of insecurity that is made worse by rising hardship and sufferings in the country. What Nigerians are asking the President for now is not infrastructure. What they are demanding is that the government should safeguard their lives and secure their communities from the deadly weapons of gunmen that have turned their lives short and brutish.
Now is the time for President Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the security sector. Kuje is a troubling metaphor that must be met in decisiveness, urgency and forthrightness. These enemies of the state should not be allowed to triumph.
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