The headline in THISDAY’s news report last Tuesday was intimidating. It read: ‘You Have Till Dec to Crush All Terrorists, Bandits, Buhari Orders Armed Forces’. The President’s order was urgent, immediate, and unequivocal. Terrorists in Nigeria must be destroyed by the end of December 2022. Unfortunately, previous governments issued a similar command. And nothing was achieved. No one knows how seriously leaders of terror groups would take this latest directive.
How could terrorists, bandits and other criminals be overpowered in Nigeria between September and December 2022? It is not an easy task. The fight against terrorists and bandits has been going on for more than seven years. Suddenly, a deadline has been set to scuttle terror groups. How feasible is that challenge?
Why have the armed forces been given merely four months to overwhelm terrorists they have been seeking to rip to shreds in the past seven years or more? By giving the security chiefs such a short time frame to demolish terrorists in Nigeria, the President has demonstrated lack of sophistication in understanding the fundamental rules of how to engage terrorists forcefully. The government wants security chiefs to perform a miracle, to come up with a quick solution to a problem that had persisted for years. That instruction appears to be based on fantasy rather than the reality on the ground.
The reality is that soldiers must be fully equipped to confront terrorists who are armed with state-of-the-art weapons of mass destruction. Not only do our gallant soldiers require regular training on strategies of undertaking modern warfare and urban guerrilla tactics, they also require access to modern arms.
Clearly, the decision to set a timeline for the armed forces to subdue terror groups, absurd as it might be, shows the government is rattled by the worsening state of insecurity in the country. Unfortunately, terrorists, bandits and kidnappers have already spread across the country, from the north to the south, from the east to the west. The deteriorating state of security has spawned deep anger in the public over the way the government has handled its national security obligations.
When there is a problem, the first thing you do is to try to understand that problem. It is not too difficult to understand the underlying causes of insecurity in a nation with loose borders that guarantee free flow of illegal arms and indiscriminate entry of criminals from other countries.
When a country fails to secure its borders, when it fails to prevent arbitrary circulation of heavy arms and other high calibre weapons in its territory, the country can always expect a spike in criminal activities, abductions, deaths, destruction and instability.
Nigeria cannot wish away the current resurgence in banditry, terrorism, abductions and easy flow of guns in the society. All these reflect various gaps in national security that need to be sealed. At the centre of those gaps is strategic sharing of intelligence with Nigeria’s neighbours and other friendly countries. The government also needs to investigate the role of some officials in encouraging or empowering criminal groups.
Did the Federal Government ever deliberate on how difficult it would be to “crush” terrorists and bandits in Nigeria within four months, or how implementation of that instruction would expose the inadequacies of the government’s war on terror? Did any senior government official expect the underlying objectives that informed that decision to be achieved so quickly? How could terrorists who have fanned out across the country with high quality weapons be rounded up, restrained and obstructed from carrying out further attacks in such a short time?
I have never seen where a government used or contemplated using a combination of publicity, direct intimidation and threats to fight terrorists. The United States, for example, never makes public its strategic plans against terrorists residing in overseas countries until the targets have been eliminated, captured or the planned attacks disrupted. The US uses stealth to attack their enemies overseas. That is the best way to go. Telling terrorists, bandits and kidnap kingpins the date you expect them to be overpowered is like telling them to be prepared for a bloody combat.
Nothing is achieved by pre-attack publicity. Strange as it might seem, the government has decided that December is the target date to suppress terrorists and bandits in Nigeria. The danger in setting this kind of deadline is that, if security forces fail to achieve the aims by that target date, the government would have raw eggs splattered on its face. We must keep in mind the armed forces have been given a constraining time limit of four months to do the impossible.
Fighting terrorists can be challenging, complicated, dangerous, psychologically and mentally draining. The instruction given to the armed forces to overpower terrorists and bandits by December 2022 provides insights into the high level of nervousness that has gripped senior government officials. It demonstrates the government’s mechanical approach to governance and the lack of perceptiveness in national security planning. The unending fight against Boko Haram terrorists, the hit-and-run style of bandits in the northern parts of the country and the cold-heartedness and ease with which kidnappers operate in many dense forests have exposed the government’s lack of foresight about how to tackle terrorism in Nigeria.
The situation is grave. And we have lived in that environment for nearly two decades. Today, human life in Nigeria has no value anymore. When people step out of their homes in the morning, they have no idea whether they would return alive or dead. In various communities and metropolitan centres, the quality of life has diminished owing to the callous acts of herdsmen and fear of bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers.
There is nothing like security anymore. People go to sleep at night but tumble and turn in their sleep because of worries about what might lie ahead. In many neighbourhoods, men and women have turned to vigilantism because our national security apparatus has collapsed. Citizens no longer trust the police to protect them, their family and their property.
At this time when the country is confronted by serious challenges of national security, Nigeria needs a national leader who is focused and committed to securing the lives and property of citizens. That leader must have the capacity to pull the citizens and country together to fight the common enemy – terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers who appear determined to annihilate the country. That leader needs to end the indiscriminate and senseless destruction of lives across all regions. A radical approach by government is required to reassure everyone that the President does not condone criminals.
Unfortunately, across Nigeria, people are held arbitrarily against their will by terror groups because of their gender, their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, their wealth, their association with a political party, their physiognomy, or just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Look at this paradox. While Nigeria used to provide security to other failed states in Africa, the former “giant of Africa” is now no longer capable of protecting its own citizens. That is a sad commentary on the situation in a country previously recognised for its contributions to world peace.
While different people hold different views about the government’s level of commitment to national security, the most dominant view is that the government is insensitive to public concerns about breakdown of law and order. This perception is widespread, regardless of people’s political ideology, religious beliefs, ethnicity and place of residence.
The security situation has deteriorated because government officials and National Assembly members reside in their imaginary world somewhat disconnected from the practical world in which ordinary citizens struggle against economic hardships and the difficulties of everyday living.