Nigeria may not be officially at war but life in the country is as brutish and as short as in countries at war. From Borno to Ikot Ekpene, from Agenebode to Ijesha and from Abakaliki to Damaturu, the atmosphere is as tense as in a war situation. Movement on the roads is risky and going to farms is likely to attract death from killer herdsmen.
Even to stay at home is dangerous as insurgents are likely to attack at night. Indeed, the death toll from attacks by insurgents rises daily and criminals of all shades are riding roughshod over the nation. No one is spared, not even members of the armed forces; for, just recently, a Major General was killed by Boko Haram terrorists. To cap it all, it has now become brisk business to abduct schoolchildren from schools.
Amid all this, is the inability of the Federal Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure the security of Nigerians, while, worse still, not one of those behind the heinous acts has been arrested. It is as if they have been licensed to kill, loot and plunder, while lame excuses and apologies trail each attack.
The latest abduction incidents concerned those in Kwara and Niger States. In Kwara State, a pastor was killed and 38 worshippers abducted; while in Niger State, about 300 schoolchildren were abducted from their school. 51 of them would later escape, as was reported, and reunited with their families.
Speaking to the nation about the state of affairs, President Tinubu stated, ‘Dear Fellow country men and women, you will recall that I cancelled my trip to the G20 summit in South Africa to enable me (to) coordinate the security efforts at home.
‘Thanks to the efforts of our security forces over the last few days, all the 38 worshippers abducted in Eruku, Kwara State, have been rescued.
‘I am equally happy that 51 out of the missing students of the Catholic School in Niger State, have been recovered.
‘I am closely monitoring the security situation nationwide and receiving continuous updates from the frontline.
‘Let me be clear: I will not relent. Every Nigerian, in every state, has the right to safety – and under my watch, we will secure this nation and protect our people.’ That was the President speaking.
While we rejoice with the families of those whose children returned to safety, we hasten to remind the President that it is not enough to announce the return of some of those schoolchildren; after all, many more are still being held captive by the terrorists.
This means that every new day of their captivity spells danger. We recall how many of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted years ago ended up carrying babies for the terrorists, while a few were somehow brainwashed into changing their religious faiths. We certainly do not want a repeat of this.
As we listened to President Tinubu giving updates on the situation, we were appalled that no mention was made of the any arrests. It seemed he was just content with announcing the return of some of the students which was not even as any result of the intervention of security agencies. The students were only said to have escaped and reunited with their parents and families.
Even the story of their escape sounds suspicious. How could over 50 students have evaded the attention of the ever vigilant terrorists at their camp and still find their ways home so easily? This may be a story for another day. But what rankles is the usual failure (or is it now refusal) of the nation’s security agencies to apprehend these terrorists.
It has always been either silence from the Federal Government or lame excuses as we have now. We therefore ask what is stopping the Tinubu Government from arresting the culprits. This is a practice that dates back to the days of the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari, under whose watch of eight years not one of the killer herdsmen was arrested, not to talk of prosecuted or convicted.
We have had enough of this tomfoolery and the country’s citizens demand action, not deceptive words of concern. We believe the government knows those behind these attacks but obviously lacks the political will to go after them.
What, indeed, do they know that we don’t? Does that point to the suspected collusion between highly placed government officials and the criminals? Is President Tinubu more concerned with securing his second term by not angering certain individuals over the safety of the citizens whose security he swore an oath to protect?
He should quickly disabuse our minds of this by announcing the arrest of those behind all this and having them arraigned and sentenced. That is the only way to reassure Nigerians that he truly cares for them.
Lastly, following the threat by the President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump, to invade Nigeria to attack the terrorists, the Nigerian Government should accept this intervention with a view to dealing a crushing blow to the terrorists.
But it even seems as if the Federal Government baulks at this, even when it has been unable to address the security situation. This reinforces the suspicion that government’s hands are involved in this mess.
While some years ago the Nigerian Government was unable to rescue the Chibok girls from their captivity in Sambisa Forest, the American Government stormed the place and rescued one of its citizens being held there and neutralized those holding him hostage there, bar one. If the American Government could therefore come all the way from America to rescue just a citizen from Sambisa, why couldn’t the Nigerian Government do it?
We have another chance to flush out the insurgents with the help of the United States. But that is if they will trust us as they nearly did before striking to rescue the American citizen. Then the American Government had suggested collaborating with the Nigerian Government to flush out the hoodlums by using gas.
But when the Americans carried out surveillance before the strike, they were shocked to see the insurgents all wearing gas masks. Who warned them about the planned gassing? Your guess is as good as mine. It was at that point the Americans decided to go it alone and rescued only their citizen. But it was an incident that exposed the complicity of certain elements within the Nigerian government and the insurgents.
Thus, for President Tinubu to reassure Nigerians and the outside world that his government is sincere in the fight against the insurgents, he must immediately start showing us those arrested and we want to see them tried as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, was tried, even though we make no excuses for the supposed crimes committed by Kanu and IPOB.
Enough of the deception.
