Ladesope Ladelokun
Sir: In protest against the barbarity of banditry and Boko Haram insurgency that has locked them in the prison of fear and permanently and left beads of tears on their visage, angry protesters in President Buhari’s home state burnt a billboard bearing his picture and his All Progressives Congress(APC) party logo.
The action of the angry protesters could not only be seen as symbolic of the frustration and disappointment of a distraught people but signposts what could happen on a large scale if the mindless killings and wanton destruction of property fail to cease.
Prior to 2015, it was almost impossible to think of defacing, let alone burn a Buhari billboard in Katsina and other northwest states owing to the popularity he enjoyed among the talakawa whose undiluted love and faith in the retired General helped him to conquer Nigeria’s highest office after three unsuccessful attempts. But, like they say, change is the only constant in life.
Whatever has made the people who once held the president in awe burn his billboard should nudge him to action to warm his way back their hearts after squandering the goodwill he enjoyed from a great number of Nigerians.
Governor of Katsina, Bello Masari, has never hidden the fact that the security situation in his state has been so overwhelming that his people no longer have confidence in their leaders.
During a visit by the Chief of Defence, Training and Operation, Major General Leo Irabor. Masari said: “Attacks by armed bandits have become a daily affair. In about two weeks, we have lost more than 50 people.”
In just a day on June 9, armed bandits reportedly killed 50 people Katsina, while 81 people were wasted by the lethal weapons of the descendants of the biblical Jezebel in Borno.
Earlier, scores of hapless Nigerians were sent to early graves in Southern Kaduna due to almost a weeklong attack by armed herdsmen. Not also forgetting the cold murder of 47 people in late April in Katsina.
From Kaduna to Katsina, Borno to Yobe, Zamfara to Sokoto, the evidence of a country under siege is writ large. Wailing and gnashing of teeth have become the order of the day with the burgeoning statistics of our compatriots who have sadly become victims of incompetence and failure of the state.
Curiously, despite the stream of blood in the land and unremitting attacks unleashed by enemies of the state on Nigerians on a daily basis, President Buhari had in his Democracy Day speech declared that his administration had “considerably degraded security threats such as banditry and Boko Haram insurgency”
The danger here is the fact that total victory against the blood thirsty fiends across the country may be delayed with a false sense of victory.
What exactly are Buhari’s aides telling him about the senseless killings across Nigeria? What security report does he have? Does he read Nigerian newspapers?
According to Mustapha Gubio, Commissioner of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement in Borno State, five out of 27 Local Governments are still totally inaccessible and inhabitable owing to the presence of ISWAP members, preventing developmental projects in the affected areas.
Only in May, a United Nations report revealed that violence had forced about 23,000 refugees across the border to the north of Niger.
Was it up to a year that $1bn dollars was approved by the President to prosecute the war against insurgency? With pesky tales of diversion of funds and equipment in the military, it is safe to say accountability and transparency are the missing link.
At least, the dismissal of ex-GoC of the Nigerian Army 8 Division in Sokoto, Hakeem Otiki, for stealing funds said to be in the region of N400m is another pointer to the rot in the defence sector.
With less than three years left as Commander-in-Chief, Buhari can still write his name in gold by addressing issues bordering on social and economic inequalities and investing in institutional capacity to effectively tackle the enablers of crime against the Nigerian people.
He must choose between loyalty to the Nigerian people and the service chiefs whose services have not yielded desired results in the fight against banditry and insurgency in the beleaguered northern Nigeria and other parts of the country. He has the yam and the knife.
- Ladesope Ladelokun, ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com
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