Mr President
Happy 79th birthday and many happy returns.
Your excellency, it is rather unpleasantly curious that I am writing my second letter to you on a sad note: insecurity in our dear country Nigeria.
My first letter to you on May 8, 2013 was on a more pleasant note where I suggested that you should contest the 2015 Presidential election, which you did and won convincingly. I believed at the time, that you are the best person to rescue Nigeria as our dear nation tethers on the brink of the abyss due to insecurity. I recall vividly taking an unplanned ‘voyage’ to Kaduna to meet you and hand over a copy of the letter to you simply to make sure you received the letter. We observed the Zuhr prayer together, You thanked me and said you will read it. The excellent reception you gave me and my friend during our visit still rings in my head. Thank you Mr President.
Indeed, the insecurity situation in 2015 can be described as a drop-in-the-bucket when compared to the state of insecurity in Nigeria today.
8 years on after my first letter to you, I am compelled to write my second letter to you but this time, on the alarming state of insecurity in our dear country Nigeria. There is no gainsaying the fact that the security situation is alarming just as it behoves all patriots who have Nigeria at heart to engage in the task of finding a holistic and lasting solution to the problem.
I recall that during your electioneering campaign, you made a covenant with the good people of Nigeria on three priority areas of your administration: security, corruption and the economy.
Mr President, your government should think OUT-OF-THE-BOX to find lasting solutions to the current insecurity in our country particularly the scourge of kidnapping-for-ransom that is testing the wit of your government
I strongly believe that the current somewhat conventional methods may not stop banditry within the desired time. There is the need to apply unconventional means no matter who’s ox is gored. It is in this light that I would like to refer you to my article as guest columnist in the Blueprint Newspaper edition of 5th March 2021 where I called for the declaration of a STATE OF EMERGENCY in Zamfara and Katsina states. Based on the current realities in Sokoto state, it is necessary to update that list to three states -Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina.
Mr President, I strongly propose or better still, remind you of the need to declare a STATE OF EMERGENCY in the these 3 states and appoint MILITARY SOLE ADMINISTRATORS to take over from the civilian state Governors. This is the right thing to do especially when juxtaposed with the fact that the governors in these states have proven beyond any doubt that they are incapable of doing their bits to tackle insecurity in their states in addition to the efforts that the federal government is putting in.
2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS MAY NOT HOLD IN SOME STATES
As a matter of fact, the 2023 general elections will be seriously jeopardised if security is not restored especially in the rural areas in the North. There may not be elections in many areas in 2023 because the bandits are in total control of several local government areas and ungoverned spaces.
Communities especially at the grassroots are pushed to the wall by the constant attacks of the bandits: these people traumatised by the bandits (with nobody to protect them) may have no option but to take the law into their hands to defend themselves which will mean anarchy. This underscores the fact that anarchy could be hovering in our country next year 2022. We pray it doesn’t happen.
ADVANTAGES OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY
The declaration of a state of emergency in these 3 states and removal of the civilian leadership will ensure FULL militarisation of the states to comb the forests and restore security. Section 305 subsection 3(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) has given the President powers to declare a state of emergency in any part of the country where there is a breakdown of law and order with clear risk to National security. Indeed, these 3 states are in a state of war and there is a clear breakdown of law and order particularly in these three states – Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina – where bandits and kidnappers are on the loose, reigning havoc on communities and killing innocent citizens. The last straw that broke the camels back in the bandits reign of terror was the recent incident in Sokoto state where 42 travellers were roasted alive in a vehicle.
The federal and state governments need to do more to secure lives and property. Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 constitution (as altered) is clear, explicit and unambiguous that security of life and property shall be the primary purpose of government.
Some observers insinuate that a state of emergency will make no difference but I disagree. Sir, I believe there are inherent advantages in declaring a STATE of EMERGENCY in these three states. These advantages/reasons are as follows:
- A civilian Governor who negotiates with bandits is working at cross-purposes with the military and cannot support and inspire the military to decimate the bandits. By negotiating with bandits, the state governors are jeopardising the work of our soldiers to restore security. There is a clear conflict of interest when a state Governor negotiates with bandits on one hand and urges the military to use force to crush the bandits on the other hand.
- The civilian governors as chief security officers of their states have failed to provide security in these states, they cannot superintend on military operations against the bandits and terrorists. Some state governors even politicise security issues. This is one reason why the successes of military operations have largely not been maximised.
- A state of emergency will ensure full militarisation of the entire state to prevent the terrorist bandits from slipping from one part of the state to another.
- Only military administrators in the states can inspire and effectively lead these operations against the bandits.
- The bandits will have no hiding place in the entire state as the military will be in total control of the state.
- Military administrators will easily allocate funds for security operations as against civilian state governors who are at best half-hearted regarding allocation of resources to security.
APPOINT MILITARY ADMINISTRATORS IN THE THREE STATES – SOKOTO, ZAMFARA AND KATSINA STATES.
PROPOSED ADDITIONAL MEASURES TO TACKLE INSECURITY.
Mr President, apart from the need for a declaration of a state of emergency in these three states and appointing military administrators to govern the three states to restore security, I also wish to recommend the following measures as part of the efforts by your government to provide security to the good people of Nigeria:
- Recruitment of additional 500,000 policemen and 250,000 soldiers to fight banditry and terrorism: This is necessary because Nigeria currently doesn’t have sufficient number of policemen and soldiers to overwhelm these bandits.
In this regard, each of the 36 states and Abuja should have at least 10,000 policemen and 5,000 soldiers to overwhelm the forests and decimate these bandits (the states most affected can have as many as 20,000 security operatives to outnumber the bandits).
The current situation where less than 20 soldiers are posted to provide security in Shinkafi axis that has more than 10,000 bandits of different battalion cannot win the fight.
After recruiting the required number of security operatives, they should be properly motivated with welfare packages and be given the right equipment to win the war.
1. LOCAL VIGILANTE (COMMUNITY POLICING): A well-trained and fully equipped local vigilante is sine qua non to ending the current unbearable levels of insecurity in Nigeria. The federal government should assist the states and local governments (who know the local terrain) to recruit local vigilantes and place them on monthly salary to motivate them. The local vigilante should work with the military and police under COMMUNITY POLICING. The local vigilante should be in the form of civilian JTF in Borno state that has proved effective in assisting the security operatives in the fight against Boko haram.
2. JUSTICE REFORMS: Currently, laws on kidnapping/banditry are domesticated at state levels. There is the urgent need to reform these laws, remove them from states and place them under federal jurisdiction. Rampant cases of kidnapping across state’s boundaries have raised the need to place prosecution of cases of kidnapping under federal not state laws. For example, a victim may be kidnapped in Ondo state and moved to Zamfara in which case one asks the question ‘is it Ondo or Zamfara state’s laws that should be applied? The right thing to do is to place prosecution of cases of kidnapping under federal laws.
So many of these criminal kidnappers who were arrested by the security agents end up being released because appropriate legal reforms are missing.
Nigeria needs appropriate laws to tackle kidnapping. The conventional laws cannot fix the problem. Capital punishment such as public hanging should be the stipulated penalty for anyone convicted of kidnapping. Special military courts should adjudicate on cases involving kidnapping since the conventional judges may not dispense justice for fear of reprisals.
The office of the Attorney General of the federation (AGF) and the National Assembly need to work together to enact the appropriate laws against kidnapping, terrorism, secession and other emerging trends in criminality.
3. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT): The federal government should deploy information and communications technology to stop the use of mobile phones by kidnappers to negotiate ransom payment and other criminal activities.
After the gun and ammunition, the next lethal weapon for the kidnapper is the mobile phone. The federal ministry of communications should deploy resources to stop the use of mobile phones by bandits to negotiate ransom payment and carry out criminal activities.
Bandits should be tracked and demobilised through their telephone lines using ICT.
ALL unregistered SIM-CARDS should be BLOCKED immediately.
The federal ministry of communications and other MDAs in the communications sector should deploy their huge budgets in the use of DRONES, SATELLITES and other digital appliances to track the kidnappers hiding in the forests and pass such information to the military for prompt action. All forests and flash points used by Kidnappers and other terrorists should be monitored through satellites 24/7.
The solution to insecurity is more about using information and communications technology ICT than military force because with technology, the kidnappers will be tracked and denied the space to operate and collect ransom even before the military comes in. Once the kidnapper can be denied the use of mobile phones using technology, 95% of the problem of kidnapping is solved.
The current astronomical level of insecurity has the potentials to bring about not only anarchy but civil war if the right measures are not put in place.
Unarguably, Nigeria is the only country on earth where a kidnapper forces a victim into the forest, makes calls to negotiate ransom payment (sometimes for several months) and is not tracked and digitally demobilised using ICT. The situation is more worrisome as the kidnapper has not taken his victim to space or to another country. This is vexatious indeed.
Mr President, there is no doubt about the fact that you have a good heart and we are all praying for you to successful finish off your tenure and leave a lasting legacy. Insecurity has almost dampened any achievements your government has recorded since coming to office in 2015. People will not see anything good about a government as long as they cannot sleep with their two eyes closed.
Sir, without doubt, the current insecurity should not be passed on to the next government especially as you were elected on the promise that you will fix insecurity which was not as serious in the last administration as it is today.
The next 17 months before the end of your tenure will determine how you will be remembered as President. It is clearly important that all hands should be on deck in terms of putting square pegs in square holes in your cabinet to ensure that the required momentum is built to implement these hard decisions to restore security in Nigeria.
It is never too late to rejig your cabinet and make it more efficient and effective in tackling the current precarious security situation in the country.
Mr President, assign genuine experts in ICT to head the sector promote the use of technology to fight insecurity in our dear country.
A well-secured nation is the best legacy you can bequeath to Nigeria because without security, no government policy will succeed.
I wish you the best of luck Mr President.
