From independence in 1960 to May 29, 2015, Nigeria never passed through so an unfortunate situation as of today except the ill-fated civil war that could have been avoided.
Bad governance, greed and corruption are jointly pushing Nigeria to the status of a failed state similar to Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Libya etc. It all started like a drama play. It was treated with levity. We are today where we are. The corrupt and the thieves in government have amassed so much wealth that they cannot enjoy despite the heavy security protecting them and paid from public tilt. We are a country divided along regions and ethno-religious sentiments and yet, we continue to pretend that all is well or as we are always told, ‘we are on top of the situation’ while the situation defies solution.
In recent time, three of the kidnapped students of Greenfield University, Kaduna were murdered by their abductors for failure of their parents to jointly pay the stipulated ransom of N800million as demanded.
The three unfortunate students were among the undisclosed number of students abducted from the private university by suspected bandits at their campus.
The student’s bodies were discovered at Kwanan Bature village close to their campus, just four days after they were abducted and ferried to the criminal’s hideout.
Moments after the students were ferried to the den of terror, the gunmen, who appear to enjoy their big, bloody business, established contact with the student’s parents and demanded for ransom as usual.
Negotiations were still ongoing between the devils and the students’ parents when the bodies of the murdered three were discovered, sending shocking waves of outbursts and rage across the country.
This is one of the scarily unnerving levels to which the challenge of insecurity has blossomed to. Before our eyes, a once relatively peaceful country has suddenly come under the burst of gunfire, spewing out death, sorrow, tears and blood all over. It is a ghoulish experience. The demon of death let loose from its cage now prowls at will. The entire landscape is now tinged in a pall of gloom and terror. The fear of the unknown rules the waves, as our otherwise gallant security forces have been unable to tame the prowling demon.
One shudders at the ease with which blood is now spilled without a modicum of remorse. Ordinarily, the sight and smell of human blood, considered sacred, should stir a rivulet of morbid dread in any sane person. But some people, sadly enough, have a queer fascination for spilling it.
It is hard to imagine the bestial instincts that rule some people, who could just snuff lives out of—-and in some cases even decapitate —-fellow human beings, including hapless, innocent children, as in the case of the slain Greenfield students. You will think it is water, not blood that runs in their veins.
The bandits’ onslaught is particularly more ferocious in the Northwestern states of Kaduna, Zamfara and Sokoto, where they now bury the murdered almost on hourly basis. So relentless and endemic are the attacks that about 131 lives were wasted in those three states within a week! Eighty of those absurd killings were recorded in Zamfara State alone in a single day!
The other of the three states, Sokoto where the bandits’ mindless rage has been felt strongly, attracted the attention of his Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto.
According to Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, some 85 persons were mown down by the implacable bandits in a single day in villages within the state.
The bodies of the Greenfield University students were discovered barely a few days after President Buhari had served the rampaging goons an ‘enough is enough’ red card. He warned them to “stop pushing their luck too far by believing that the government lacks the capacity to crush them”. But if one may ask, with the government having the capacity to crush them, why were they allowed to remain in operation all these years? Do they actually need any warning from the President? We should act rather than playing politics with the situation.
In a strongly worded statement issued by one of the president’s media aides, the General’s fire in the Commander-In-Chief appeared to have been stoked, as he (Buhari) matter-of-factly vowed that “such wanton disregard for life will be brought to an end sooner than later”. We hope as we wait watching and praying. Tough presidential talk indeed!
To convince us to believe, let Mr. President walk the talk by showing those serial killers, who have literally been assaulting our sovereignty, why we are called the “Giant of Africa”. That epithet from our military might as well, especially the exploits of our infantry. This has had to be demonstrated in many peace keeping operations in which our troops had participated within the continent of Africa and even beyond.
This is precisely why a lot of people have been wondering aloud and in private discussing what is the matter with our otherwise strong military? The answer may not be far-fetched. Let Mr. President show a more than cursory interest in the consistent allegation that our otherwise gallant and patriotic troops lack the essential and modern weapons to adequately fight our well-armed enemies whose war machine is being oiled by well-heeled sources.
He should dig deep down into and frontally tackle the allegation of diversion of much of the humongous funds voted and released for the purchase of arms and welfare of troops. Our troops at the theatre of war are allegedly subjected to various degrees of inhuman treatments by their superior officers, that affects credible performance.
In the meantime, just as the rampaging gunmen, including insurgents, have also been despoiling other parts of the North, murderous herders are also holding the South and parts of the North by the jugular. However, military campaign against the marauders has largely been concentrated in the impoverished North where the insecurity is more pronounced.
Down South, where killer-herders have helmed in the regions, most especially in the Southwest, kidnapping, raping and other criminal acts at will, the people are largely left to their fate as if there is no existing government for them. Only the governors have, within their limited resources and powers over the security agencies, even with their constitutional status as their state’s chief security officers, have put up a semblance of security arrangement to protect the people. Most of them have constituted alternative security apparatus, made up mostly of local hunters and other vigilantes, supervised by the already over-burdened police commands, to tackle the sophisticatedly armed band of killers. Military operational presence that could, to a certain extent, deter the vicious marauders is near absent, allowing the quite bilious killer-kidnappers a free rein.
Let the military, which is the only institution that has the capacity to adequately tackle the killers, also spread its tentacles to cover other threatened areas. Let the central government, going forward loose the shackles that may have chained down the military, preventing it from displaying its might.
Nigerians must be rescued from the siege of terror and our already battered pride and sovereignty as a respected nation restored. Our leaders must show concern to the lingering security challenges than mere talks at the slightest opportunity. They should march words with action. We are tired of the deceit on display. We are not safe anywhere. We are hunted like bush rats by our killers. In the absence of a workable solution, should we join the killer-gangs and the insurgents for our safety?
Finally, we are told that Mr. President has requested for support from the United States to fight the ugly situation. I doubt much if America has anything to offer for the return of normalcy in Nigeria. Has America returned normalcy in Afghanistan? Did the US defeat the Taliban? Let us be more serious in dealing with those internal challenges threatening our peace and unity than relying on the cook and bull story of America’s superior fighting might. I believe more in the capacity of Iran, Israel, Russia and Turkey than the US.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
