Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari is an experienced public administrator. Apart from rising through the ranks in the old Kaduna State public service, he has been involved in running the Nigerian state at the highest level, having served as Speaker of the House of Representatives. And, since 2015, he has been the governor of Katsina State, President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state. Yet, he has had no respite. Nothing from his experience or knowledge of state craft has availed to ensure security of lives and property of the people who elected him.
It is no surprise that, recently, he appeared frustrated as he declared that the government of the land has failed the people. He did not seek to exonerate himself or other governors, despite his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) being in charge of the federal and 22 state governments.
Speaking while receiving Katsina State indigenes resident in the Federal Capital Territory, he blurted out that the security agencies saddled with the responsibility of warding off insurgency, terrorism, banditry and sundry violent crimes in the land have failed to live up to billing. Having tried a number of methods of curtailing the murderous acts of the criminals, Governor Masari appears to now be at his wit’s end.
He had engaged the merchants of death in dialogue, attempted to pacify them by offering them money and other incentives to drop their weapons. That only worked for a while. After tasting cheap money being raked in from ransom payment, the agents of darkness could not leave the trade. They resumed and continued to make living difficult for both the leaders and led in Katsina State.
Governor Masari is not the only leader crying out in distress. His neighbours in Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger in the North West and North Central are faced with the same predicament. Their people are slaughtered or held hostage for months on end, with governments and their agencies unable to do anything, thus emboldening the marauders to take further steps that bring agony to innocent people.
In May 2019, the governments of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi and Niger states shut all markets and banned the use of motorcycles within their jurisdictions. The security forces were given strict instructions to apprehend anyone found to contravene the instruction. It was a knee-jerk reaction to a fundamental problem. It could not have lasted long. Thus, it had to be lifted when the people whose livelihood had been affected cried out, depicting the governments as lacking compassion. Yet, the problem has persisted. Orders by the Commander-in-Chief, promises by the National Security Council and purchase of sophisticated equipment by the military have yielded no fruit.
It is time tactics were changed. Every policy must be well thought out as the terrorists have become more daring and deadly. Just before the last Salah, an advance presidential convoy, including security men, was waylaid and given a bloody nose. The President’s men scampered into the bush to escape the assault. Thereafter, the battle was taken to the Federal Capital Territory with the Kuje jailbreak. And, just last Monday, men of the Presidential Brigade were ambushed and overpowered. Two officers and six soldiers were killed in that encounter.
It is unfortunate that terrorists had the temerity to threaten abduction of the President and Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai. This cannot be dismissed as an empty threat. The security system needs a shakeup. Lamentations by senior officials of the state like Governor Masari are unhelpful. If officials throw their hands in the air and whine, what is expected of the people holding the short end of the stick? If Nigeria needs foreign help, the government should not hesitate to ask. There must now be a change of direction to instill confidence in the people and save them from imminent starvation and economic strangulation.