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Security challenges in northern Nigeria are deepening every passing day. It is such that bandits now kill innocent travellers at will and, sometimes, even burn them with sadistic relish. The other day, a group of bandits attacked a 42-seater bus in Sokoto, killing at least 23 passengers travelling to Kaduna and burnt them to ashes. Four children of a 30-year-old widow were among the victims. Earlier in October this year, bandits had killed no fewer than 40 people in a market in the same Sokoto.
As usual, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed sadness over these gruesome attacks. “I am very distressed at the manner of death visited on these hapless citizens who were undertaking a legitimate journey to another part of the country,” he said. He assured that security agencies would do their best to bring this evil to an end.
Elsewhere in the North, especially in Kaduna, Katsina and Taraba, the spate of abductions, killings, kidnapping for ransom, maiming and other kinds of terror has worsened. Nowhere is safe anymore. Earlier in the month, bandits stormed a mosque at Ba’are village in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State, killing 16 worshippers and seriously injuring many others. A similar attack had occurred about a month ago at Maza Kuka village of the local government leading to the death of 18 worshippers who were observing their Subhi prayers.
In some places, like Zamfara, bandits are known to have blocked highways for days, abducted passengers and set many vehicles on fire. Herders also add to the problem as they routinely attack farmers and destroy their farmlands in some parts of the North. Whenever there are security challenges of this nature, the economy is the worst hit. If this state of affairs is allowed to fester, it will affect many other things in the region and in the country.
That is why the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) did not mince words in expressing disgust over the killings. CAN called on the Federal Government and governors in the 19 northern states to take strong measures to permanently stop the evil. The JNI, in a statement, noted that the waylaying of unarmed, innocent and defenseless passengers and their subsequent burning beyond recognition by heartless bandits were utterly disgusting, heartrending and unprecedented.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, had decried this turn of events. In November last year. He had lamented: “People think that the North is safe but that is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them.” To show how serious the situation is, Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, called on President Buhari to declare a full scale emergency in terrorists’ enclaves in the state. At a recent meeting with Buhari, Tambuwal reportedly said the declaration of emergency would enable the armed forces to carry out their operations without hindrance in all such enclaves in Sokoto and other states where terrorists had strongholds. The President also had separate audiences with Governors Aminu Masari of Katsina, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Darius Ishaku of Taraba States over security challenges bedeviling the region. After the meeting, Masari reiterated the need for collaboration among northern states so as to be able to tackle the challenge. Although the North is worst affected, other parts of the country are also feeling the pinch. It is a national problem that must be holistically tackled. But rather than come up with strategies to combat the menace, government continues to live in denial. Unfortunately, no one gets any problem solved by living in denial. As far as the Presidency is concerned, for instance, the situation in Nigeria is not unique and that violence and terror have risen steadily across Africa over the last decade. It has maintained that Boko Haram has been technically defeated and that though our forces were stretched increasingly thin from the growing number of threats from terrorists, soldiers were working round the clock to keep Nigerians safe.
Besides, the Presidency said it was expanding employment and opportunities across the country; and that it was lobbying Western allies aggressively for partnership, investment and support in such areas as proscribing Boko Haram, bandits and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as terrorist groups. We commend the Presidency for what it has done so far. But it is obvious that its efforts have not yielded much dividend. A president is elected to solve problems, not to make empty promises. At inception of office in 2015, the President made three major promises: To fix the economy, fight corruption and tackle insecurity.
From the look of things, we have not fared better in any of these three areas. Bandits and terrorists appear to have an edge over our security agencies. Some of them even have anti-aircraft missiles. The President must stop behaving like an ostrich pretending that all is well. He should direct our security agencies to be proactive rather than reactive in tackling the security challenges facing us. They should procure sophisticated equipment which is driven by modern technology and should also seek intelligence collaboration with foreign powers and neighbouring countries.
