Follow Us on Google
Nigeria today feels like a country living inside a riddle wrapped in confusion and garnished with deliberate silence. Every dawn breaks with fresh graves, and every dusk settles on unanswered questions. The eerie silence is deafening, and the stench of insecurity hangs in the air like a noxious cloud. And so, one is tempted to ask: Who exactly are the terrorists tormenting us? Ghosts? Spirits? Or highly-organised, well-funded armies of men who somehow remain invisible to a government that sees everything except what matters?
Almost all the entire civilised world has seen the atrocities going on in Nigeria, and yet the government lives in denial. Even before the United States Congress and the 47th US President put Nigeria on the radar by designating our once beautiful country “ A Country of Particular Concern’’ A Canadian Federal Court has designated Nigeria’s two major political parties, the All-Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as terrorist organisations. This decision was made in a case involving Douglas Egharevba, a former member of both parties who applied for asylum in Canada.
The court’s ruling was based on evidence of electoral violence, subversion of democracy, and human rights abuses committed by members of both parties. Specifically, the court cited the PDP’s conduct during the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls, which included ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and the killing of opposition supporters. Rather than being sober and tame, the two political parties are dancing naked in public. One man is at the centre of the crisis, overheating the polity, and may potentially bring this roof down if care is not taking. See what happened at WADATA plaza on November 18 and tell me if that was the democracy we fought for and for which Kudirat and MKO Abiola paid the supreme price.
Granted that insecurity in Nigeria was inherited from the previous administration. Agreed that for over a decade, these terror groups have operated with clockwork precision—conducting raids, bombings, mass kidnappings, extortions, and territorial occupations with the efficiency of multinational corporations. It is inexplicable that nobody knows them. Nobody knows their source of money. Nobody knows their armoury suppliers. Nobody knows their commanders. Nobody knows their ideology. What a now disgraced country! A land where terrorists fall from the sky with guns, bullets, food, petrol, intelligence networks, satellite phones, and the audacity of people who know they will never be caught. As I pen this article, the body of Brig Gen Musa Umar, the army commander killed by ISWAP has not been interned. The circumstances surrounding his capture and killing remain suspicious and points to internal sabotage. In Kebbi about 25 young school children were abducted like the Chibok girls. The Vice Principal of the school was brutally murdered by the invaders. The soldiers deployed to search and rescue the victims were themselves ambushed and outgunned. Several of these officers suffered different degrees of injuries and are receiving treatment. Reports from social media indicate that the death toll from that singular incident has risen, as several students are reported to have died having succumbed to the injuries they sustained.
The real satire is this: To organise, feed, train, equip, shelter, motivate, and sustain a large army of terrorists for over ten years is not a joke. Even legitimate governments struggle to provide basic logistics for peacekeeping forces. But our terrorists? They run their operations like a well-funded state within a state. So again, we ask: Where is the money coming from? Where are the weapons coming from? Who clears their supplies at the border? Who pays the informants? Who guarantees their escape routes? Who negotiates ransoms? These are not philosophical puzzles. These are practical questions.
Questions the APC government has tip-toed around like a man avoiding the truth that his roof is leaking while swimming inside his living room. Instead, they tell us to be patient. Patient for what? For more mass burials? For more farmland invasions? For more schools to be attacked? For more highways to become open killing fields? A government that cannot answer basic security questions is like a fire service that arrives with kerosene—helpful only to the flames.
It is, therefore no wonder that Nigerians, tired of recycled excuses and televised condolences, are turning to the opposition. Yes, it is time for the opposition candidates to stop dancing around the periphery and bring their ideas to the table. The country is haemorrhaging. This is no season for vague promises or poetic slogans. We demand clarity. We demand strategy. We demand visible blueprints.
Let them assemble retired generals, counter-terrorism experts, intelligence officers, veterans who fought real wars, and not the social media commandos we have been forced to endure. Let them map out a realistic national defence strategy—one rooted in knowledge, not political theatre. Nigeria is at war, even if the government pretends otherwise. The people are dying, even if the statistics are doctored. And the terrorists are advancing, even if the headline writers are exhausted or have been paid off to remain silent. The truth is out there and our leaders are treated as suspects, if not pariahs.
The government’s response to the crisis has been a masterclass in absurdity. From the “Technical Withdrawal” farce to the “No-Platform” charade, it seems like the government is more interested in covering its tracks than tackling the terrorists. The recent claims of “Crushing” the terrorists have been met with derision by Nigerians, who are yet to see tangible evidence of victory.
Meanwhile, the opposition is not without its own share of criticism. Their silence on the issue has been deafening, and their lack of concrete plans to tackle the crisis has raised eyebrows. It is time for them to step up and offer Nigerians a glimmer of hope. Yes, internationalising our crisis may be a strategy but the best strategy is not calling on Donald Trump to come and save our democracy. We are better off fixing our own problems than for a third party to come fix it for us.
As the country teeters on the brink of collapse, one thing is clear: something has to give. The status quo is unsustainable, and the Nigerian people are demanding change. The government must be held accountable for its failures, and the opposition must be given a chance to offer an alternative.
In the meantime, Nigerians are left to wonder: What next? Will the government finally take responsibility for its failures and step aside? Will the opposition rise to the occasion and offer a viable alternative? Or will we continue to stumble in the dark, praying for a miracle that may never come? It is foolhardy praying to God to fix a problem we elected some men and women to fix.
One thing is certain, however: Nigeria cannot afford any more of this. The people demand answers, and they demand them now. The government must act decisively. The opposition must offer a credible alternative, and it must do so with urgency. The Nigerian people will no longer be silenced, and they will no longer be ignored. The people of Nigeria are not idiots and they are not fools. I doubt if we are all stupid.
So, we ask one last question: If the government cannot give us answers, should we not demand them from those seeking to replace it? Because at this rate, silence is no longer ignorance—it is complicity. And Nigeria cannot afford any more of that.
Almost everything is wrong with us. The clock is ticking, and the Nigerian people are watching.
