In the twilight of the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the early days of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tenure, there was a development, disturbing, in our view, which saw insecurity surge on a frightening scale. Not much has changed, even as we write.
From the North central, North east, North west, South south and South east, almost all the six geopolitical zones are having their undeserved share of the harrowing experience of the menace of criminal elements manifesting as bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and such other fanciful titles like unknown gun men.
From the North east, the media is awash with reports that Borno villages, especially farmers, are back at the mercy of Boko Haram, the deadly terror group Nigerians were told had been degraded. The killing spree, the media reports indicate, is back in more blood-chilling ferocity. Benue and Plateau states in the North Central have always been theatres of murderous rage unleashed by gun-totting bandits doubling as herdsmen. In those places, innocent lives are snuffed out in the dead of night by elements that claim to be law onto themselves. Nasarawa state Governor, Abdullahi Sule, in a recent save-our-souls lamentation, alerted the nation that the criminals in Plateau are also invading his state. He is the chief security officer in the state. His people demand effective action not a tail in between the legs attitude.
As if this were not bad enough, truck-load of guns and ammunition on its way to the South east from somewhere in Ogun state was reported to have been intercepted by soldiers on internal security operations’ duty. Recently, the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, hinted at a kinetic and non-kinetic approach to tackling the security situation in the country. President Tinubu had earlier, in a meeting with service chiefs, directed them to be decisive in their approach to the state of insecurity in the land.
In an earlier editorial, we had urged the military to deny these terrorists peace. This was in reaction to the comments by the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, directing his troops to respond with clinical effectiveness to the situation at hand as the era of dialogue with the criminals was over. Yet, the situation is showing no signs of abating as these merchants of death brazenly carry on their operations in a manner that suggests that they are powers onto themselves.
As a newspaper, we are genuinely alarmed at the bourgeoning state of seeming anarchy in the land. We are justifiably concerned that not enough is being done beyond rhetoric and the unhelpful platitudinous remarks by security operatives that leave the impression of motion without movement in the management of the trepidation that has become the lot of Nigerians.
We are even more worried that the political class is less perturbed by this pervasive state of unease. This feeling becomes palpably reinforced as these elected state operators seem more concerned about their own welfare, buying for themselves bullet-proof vehicles at humongous sums. This has given rise to allegations that these criminals may be taking out their frustrations on hapless Nigerians after being used and dumped by these same politicians in the just concluded elections.
There is also the conjecture that the state of insecurity in the country is in furtherance to the view that security is now a multi-billion-dollar industry from which many want a piece of the action. In other words, that the situation could be stage-managed to justify the huge budget security spending is attracting.
Or for that matter, could it also be that the criminals are taking undue advantage of the fluidity in the nation’s security architecture as one retiring team hands over to a new one that is striving to find a foothold and map out its mode of operation? What is so glaring in the polity is a feeling of despondency, if not helplessness, on the part of those who allocate huge security votes to themselves. The citizens expect actions not the alarmist pretensions that are so nauseating.
In the opinion of this newspaper, whatever is the reason for this security challenge in the country, Nigerians are expecting a decisive action that will guarantee their safety. There are governments in place at the federal, state and local government levels. One of their primary constitutional duties is to protect lives and property. Utterances that suggest that they are giving up on their anticipated efforts to carry out their due constitutional function is utterly unacceptable.
We say this in view of the apprehension across the West African sub-region about a possible influx of mercenaries from the troubled regions of Sudan, Mali and elsewhere with the Wagner group lurking in the horizon.
It is a given that in a democracy, the security operatives, the chain of command, take instructions from the elected officials especially the President and the Governors. But this does not, by any means, infer that as professionals they cannot act on their own initiatives. Nigerians want to go about their daily affairs without having to constantly look over their shoulders. That is not too much to ask for.
