Today’s discourse is strictly dedicated to the high level insecurity plaguing our country. Our countrymen and women, particularly those who style themselves politicians and those in public offices, have a penchant to always argue over issues that are very clear. You tell them that Nigerians are dying of hunger and starvation, and the reply you get is that detractors of government are talking. No one says let me take time to check and possibly draw from available statistics, that is if we keep records at all. The same malaise is affecting a serious issue such as general insecurity in the country. The victims are crying and appealing for help. Every day in this country people are not only attacked, they are killed in the most despicable manner and yet till tomorrow all of us are still arguing whether there is insecurity in the land or not.
In the last two weeks alone, the atmosphere in the country has been like the society Thomas Hobbes talked about, where life was not only short, living was brutish and nasty. Our hidden love for everything nasty was brought to the open by some not-too-pleasant events that happened in the country very recently. From Adamawa State, in the rural setting of Michika, Rev. Lawan Indimi, who was abducted from his home in early January, was killed in the most brutal way by supposed Nigerians suspected to be Boko-Haram; this was after they refused to accept the ransom they demanded. Late Indimi was not an ordinary pastor; he was in fact the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika LGA. Almost at about the same time at Maiduguri, Borno State axis, another victim, Daciya Dalep, a Christian, an indigene of Plateau State but a student of University of Maiduguri, who was abducted also in January on his way back to school was brutally murdered. While Indimi was put in a shallow grave and beheaded, Dalep was told to stand forward and was shot from behind by an eight year old boy.
Within the same period, a Catholic seminary in Kaduna was invaded and four seminarians were taken away against their wish; three were released in bad state and one of them an Igbo chap Nnadi was killed and his corpse dumped in an area in Kaduna metropolis. His corpse had signs of severe maltreatment in the hands of hoodlums. Besides all these, several other incidences have happened across the country including the latest massive assaults on various communities in Plateau State in which several lives were lost. All these are happening and yet the leaders are arguing whether the talk of insecurity is real or not. The Presidency says something is wrong but it is not abnormal. The good thing is that for the first time in recent history, the National Assembly defied partisan politics to face the challenge of nationhood; both legislative chambers in a resolution agreed that the security situation is bad and called for serious efforts to be made to reverse the trend.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who has been in the shadow all this while, became an instant national hero with his call on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign on the account that the buck stops at his table. Some of his colleagues have disagreed with him and the presidential spokesman described it as a foolish call, but the truth is that what Abaribe said resonated very well with the people across ethnic and political boundaries and that does not only validate his statement, it also shows between him and presidential officials who is foolish. King Nero of Rome was not a bad leader but he came out badly in history because at the inauspicious time that Rome was burning, the King said nothing was happening and was enjoying, savouring power, drinks and women. History punished him just because he was out of touch with reality. He was in Rome but created another world for himself and that became his albatross. A similar situation is what is on our hands: the leaders are playing politics and doing all sorts of things failing to realize that for whatever reason our nation is gradually stepping on the path to becoming another Somalia. People are being killed daily and in such number that human life has become cheaper than that of the chicken. We have obligation to rise and say no more killings.
One is hesitant to proffer solutions and that is because everything one has to say has already been said severally on this page. The problem is that most of our leaders don’t read. I recall my bishop saying those who make news hardly have time to read, and I told myself this is bad teaching. Great leaders are readers. You read to discover, to add to what you know, indeed no man is an island. Some say our media broadcast nonsense, it could be true, but the biggest truth is, you have to properly understand nonsense to appreciate sense. The nonsense we ignore is what spoils the broth. Imagine where our leaders know little things like traffic buildups, and contemplate what a beautiful experience it could be driving through our streets and highways. Federal Government and the National Security Council say they would henceforth make insecurity a national challenge. This was long overdue. Before and even until now, the two major political parties saw insecurity as pathway to undue advantage. Some of us remember that officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) once asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop Northern boys. The question could be what is happening today.
There is need for an all political parties security summit. This suggestion stems from the fact the root of insecurity is buried in the political activities of our leaders. The politicians, business tycoons and traditional rulers, build the armies for personal ambition which over time out grow their command. Politicians create armies and present them to their people as fighting a good cause. It doesn’t matter the name, Niger Delta militants, Odua Peoples’ Congress or Boko-Haram. How many Northern leaders have raged against the murderous activities of Boko-Haram? Let politicians agree they will give us peace and we will have peace. Let’s find out the groups and discuss with them. We must undertake massive education of the youths; this should be more intensive in Northern Nigeria. We need enlightenment campaigns; it is incomprehensible that fellow citizens would fancy killing fellow citizens in the most bestial manner in the 21st century. This is indicative that something fundamental is wrong and it is in the perspective of tutorship. This has to be corrected immediately.
We have to build our economy and make it a productive one but before that comes through, the citizens require credit facilities. Government cannot employ everybody but the irony is that millions who know what to do on their own cannot find easy loans. This is where government should come in. This is not talking about Tradermoni which is about N5,000 to N10,000 naira; it should be about bulk money that can set up a big business. Let the service chiefs go. We need to change educational curriculum, especially primary and secondary schools. It is shameful we have not been able to say whether there is foreign interest in what is happening or not. Finally, deterrent measures must be strong; people should be arrested and seen to be on trial, this for now doesn’t seem to be the case.