Around the country, a wave of kidnapping and violent criminal attacks signal a return to the past, to further confirm that the recent lull was only a false sense of security.
In Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria, more than 85 people were recently kidnapped in Tsafe Local Government Area of the State. In Benue State in North Central, Samuel Ortom, the State Governor, recently confirmed that 18 of the 23 local government areas in his state are under siege by a criminal militia.
In Nasarawa State, a businessman was kidnapped and killed, while Professor Onje Gye-Wado a former deputy governor in the state was also kidnapped. There have also been attacks in Kaduna State to further confirm the fear that Nigeria’s regime of violent criminal attacks on innocent civilians has returned with vengeance as if to make up for lost time.
As Nigerians counted down to contentious general elections, the federal government reviewed its Naira policy, which culminated in a Naira redesign that put Nigerians under pressure and the ringleaders of Nigeria’s lucrative kidnap-for-ransom business in a quagmire. Suddenly, the Naira, formerly so abundant in its circulation, became scarce.
This immediately led to a steep decline in the number of kidnappings in the country – or at least the ones that made it to Nigeria’s grim media newsreels.
The Supreme Court has since reviewed the Naira redesign policy, the Central Bank has complied with the review making more cash available in the economy and unwittingly facilitating the return of criminal gangs.
Nigeria’s outdated constitution which has been in operation since 1999 provides that the security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of government. The last eight years of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has shown they are anything but with
Nigerians, especially in the volatile northwest, northeast and north central regions, living an unbearable nightmare. In states like Niger, Benue,Kogi, Kaduna, and Plateau, Nigerians have grown accustomed to deadly attacks.
It Is doubtful that in the build-up to the heated elections of February 25 and March 18,Nigerians sufficiently asked election contestants to outline their plans for security. Instead, the pre-election frenzy centered around understandable questions about whether the polls would be free and fair.
The reduction In the number of security breaches around Nigeria was a result of improved security actions by state actors and the scarcity of Naira notes.
The reduction in the number of attacks on innocent Nigerians owing to several deliberate steps taken by the Nigerian authorities showed that with the right disposition and determination, Nigeria can fix its security architecture, and rout those determined to lay the country to waste.
It Is unacceptable that Nigerians cannot sleep with both eyes closed in the country they call their own owing to the activities of criminals who have no lawful claim to any part of Nigeria.
To rid Nigeria of insecurity, consistency of definitive and decisive action is key. If steps by Nigerian authorities before the elections had the effect of causing a decline in insecurity so that Nigerians could go to the polls peacefully, the rise in attacks since the elections ended show that Nigeria is rolling over a little too easily. For this, there must be accountability.
For the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, eight years have seemed like an eternity owing to vicious attacks by criminal groups on civilians. To complicate these attacks has been the seeming helplessness of Nigeria’s security forces, who appear to be no match for better trained and better armed criminals.
President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu may be excited over the achievement of a life-long dream to govern Nigeria. But that excitement must be tempered by the gravity of Nigeria’s security situation.
It Is also time Nigerians acted. Nigeria has to tell the criminals who trot across the country making life unbearable for ordinary people that enough is enough. This would be a first step in demanding accountability from those who have made the country ungovernable in the past eight years and are no doubt girding themselves to take the country on another journey to nowhere in the next four years.
Nigerians deserve peace even if poverty is all bad leadership has brewed in the country for as long as anyone can remember. Nigerians of all social strata deserve to sleep with both eyes closed anywhere in Nigeria. If and when security fails, Nigerians deserve to know why it happened, and crucially to hold to account those who have by their dereliction of duty enabled it.
It Is almost tragic that the post-election season has come with not just deep divisions over election results but a resumption in deadly attacks. It is also one of Nigeria’s more recent tragedy of leadership that as Buhari prepares to leave Aso Rock for the last time, the insecurity that has been a defining feature of his administration grows in potency to breed a disastrous legacy.
There is the dreadful chance that Nigerians have not even started counting the cost of some of the catastrophic choices they made at the last elections. If that is the case, then some bloody tough times await.
Kene Obiezu
keneobiezu@gmail.com
