Nigeria is in trouble. That is putting it mildly. It has always been, anyway. The root of its problems is intrinsic to its elite politics and leadership idiosyncrasies, coupled with a rather pathetic unwillingness to face the reality and tell itself the truth. A people that cannot purge themselves of destructive parochial spirit cannot expect, by any chance, to have a clear view on any issue, however dire. That remains a fundamental problem with far-reaching implications.
The raging drive by terrorists to bring the country and its leadership to their knees, is but one more expression of how low Nigeria has sunk. Yet, it is not the first of such attempts. Worse, still, the danger is not always met with serious disposition by some those who ought to be more dedicated.
In late October 2022, the safety of Abuja became a major international concern, in the face of gripping security threat by terrorists. The forecast then was that Abuja may fall to terrorists. On November 7 2022, this column wrote thus; “In more ways than one, Abuja personifies Nigeria. The city has been bearing the weight of abuses, rape and contradiction of the larger Nigerian system…. The air over Abuja in the last week has been delicate. Even the blind can feel and see the high temperature of the city. Nobody seems to know from where exactly, the first shot will come. But then, dwellers in the city have been warned to expect an assault and eventually, the fall of Abuja. The ides of March have obviously, not passed. Into the hands of which enemies will Abuja fall? The answer remains largely unknown. The United States of America (USA), sounded the alarm, when its embassy in the city issued a disconcerting notice that Abuja was about to fall. The alarm was loud and clear, but fell short of full disclosure, although it spoke of terrorists at the door. The Super power obviously had incontrovertible intelligence at its disposal. Not being interested in exposing its citizens to unnecessary danger, it promptly took the drastic and uncommon step of evacuating them…”
That was in 2022. This is 2024. Abuja and Nigeria remain where they were two years back. Or even worse. Then, in 2022,Muhammadu Buhari was president. Under his reign, sadly, it was not always easy to say with conviction, who amongst many prime government officials, was on which side, between the state and the menacing terrorists. For good measures, the government and its enforcers insisted that the terrorists must be called bandits and not terrorists. Both kill and main, all the same.
Along the line in those heady days, in late 2022, the bandits after knocking hard at the door in Abuja, retreated. The temperature of the city came down subsequently and residents heaved a sigh of relief. Over time, the foreign missions that wound up their services returned to duty. And life continued. Buhari eventually left office, with the country in tatters, handing over his baton to Bola Tinubu. Now, here once more, is Abuja, back to where it was in late 2022. The terrorists are back, knocking at the door of the city once more. In fact, they are kicking ajar the doors this time around, literally asking, what can anyone do?
What does one do with Nigeria? What exactly did the country and its multiple layers of security agencies do after the 2022 situation? Were there no lessons learnt and no plans on the ground, going forward? In 2022, the terrorists made a home in Bwari and operated from the sprawling hills that dotted the outskirt town. In 2024, the terrorists returned to Bwari, launching out from there. They kidnapped and killed a number of innocent citizens, before advancing towards the city, sometimes in broad day light. In other words, the terrorists simply returned and continued where they stopped less than two years ago.
The rogue killers have actually expanded their areas of approach. Over the last two weeks in Nigeria’s capital city, reports of terrorist attacks have rattled residents of the FCT and its adjoining towns. Terrorists have killed among others, a poor young girl, Nabeeha, who they kidnapped on January 2 2024, alongside her sisters and uncle. Next, they stormed the Airport Road at the Lugbe axis, almost inside the city centre, abducting a man driving home with his wife. The wife made hay and escaped. After Lugbe the bandits moved over to the vicinity of a military estate at the Kurudu area, a Federal Capital Territory town bothering Nasarawa state.
Give it to the terrorists, they sure know how to make statement and taunt the government and security agencies in Nigeria. By attacking the vicinity of a military estate, just as they did the Nigeria’s Defence Academy in Kaduna in 2022, the message is clearly delivered. The question being asked by the terrorists is, in the fitting Nigerian pidgin English. ‘wetin remain? Where else is safe?
It is worth noting however, that on Saturday January 20 2024, the Special Intervention Squad of the Police rescued Nabeeha’s sisters, somewhere around Kajuru forest in Kaduna state.
While the scare and tragedy of multiple terrorist assaults were cascading on Abuja, with uncertainty written all over the seat of the country’s government, an act of extreme irresponsibility, reflecting the trouble with Nigeria, was being staged by some shady characters, whose understanding of what it takes to manage national leadership remains stuck in ethnic pranks.
Thus it was that last week, at the height of the tension over terrorist attacks in Abuja, an idiotic drama was being staged, designed obviously to distract attention and distort the reality of the danger at hand. A picture of a hapless fellow, looking bemused was released to the media, announcing that a major kidnapper in Abuja has been arrested, named Chinaza Phillip. The role of the Police in the sham remains unclear. Having played up the name Chinaza, many shallow comments and posts with ethnic bent were subsequently generated on online platforms. The obvious idea behind the sick plot was to play on the Igbo name Chinaza, with a view, maybe, to show by that that the threat to security in Abuja, terrorists and all, can be seen to be master-minded by the said Chinaza and his ‘people’. It is as cheap and empty as that.
It did not take long, though, before the source of the phantom Chinaza drama was traced to where it possibly emanated. In July 2022, a decentralized, unprecedented social protest against police brutality and oppression the country was launched by Nigerian youths. Lagos state was the epicentre of the protest. Somehow however, individuals who easily resort to ethnic politics as the only way to resolve every conflict to their advantage, turned the #NSARS protest into an ethnic matter.
Pronto, PM News, an evening tabloid that thrived on sensationalism, according to the whims of its editors, created and reported that one of the architects of the #NSARS protest, “who burnt buses during Endsars protest was Chinasa Michael…” PM News reported few days later that “Chinasa has been sent to Kirikiri prison for burning Oyingbo Lagos BRT bus terminus”. Chinasa is probably still in Kirikiri Prison. Nobody cared thereafter.
As it turns out, interestingly, on October 9 2019, the same PM News had published another story that “A 20 year old lady, Chinaza Phillip whose mother Mrs. Chinasa Phillip used bank account in Lagos to defraud ladies she has promised to procure travelling documents to travel abroad, has told the Police that her mother was a dubious woman.PM Express reports that the embittered 20 year old Chinaza revealed that her mother had been involved in many criminal acts”. That was Chinaza Phillip part 2.
Such is the adventure of Chinaza Phillip, created, obviously by editors of PM News in Lagos, as a multi-purpose vehicle for profiling and blackmailing a people. From Lagos, Chinaza Phillips has come to Abuja, where it is sold to the Police and the national media, including network television channels, all of who relayed the news of the major breakthrough in the fight against kidnapping and terrorist attacks in Abuja. The Police in the FCT owes the public good explanation for its role in the unending Chinaza Phillips series, the original script and copyright of which belong to PM News and its creative editors in, or from Lagos.
Is it difficult now to see how vacuous the leadership loop can be in Nigeria and how difficult it will be for problems of the country to be seriously addressed?