By Mike Kebonkwu
The state of insecurity in the country is real and has come at a huge cost with businesses folding up or relocating to neighbouring countries, farmers leaving their farmlands to urban centres to become mendicants, and people paying heavy ransoms. We now value palliatives as means of livelihood. The Muhammadu Buhari-led government and his predecessor were unmitigated disaster on the scorecard of security and the economy. Everyone is gripped in fear as security and law enforcement agents are themselves hunted and killed by criminals.
On March 27, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made history when he broke from the mould by going to the graveside of the slain soldiers gruesomely murdered by some criminals in Okuama community in Delta State to pay his last respect. The presence of the president was beyond politics and more than just a mere ceremonial. It was a bold and eloquent statement that indeed, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic. It was a sombre occasion and testamentary to the state of insecurity in the country. It was not the burial of any other citizens but Nigerian Army soldiers and gatekeepers of our nation killed and mutilated in a Nigerian community. Days after that gruesome killing of the soldiers, six police officers were also reportedly killed in similar manner in same Delta State.
The life of every Nigerian matters; and the oath of service as president is to protect every citizen and the territorial integrity of the country without ceding an inch of our land to criminals. There should be equal treatment to everyone and no selective justice and anyone with grievances should ventilate it in a lawful civilized manner.
Our land is soaked in blood and no one is living in safety but we are able to carry on because we do not just have any other choice. Those who can afford it have since voted with their legs and living in safety in other climes albeit as second class citizens. Innocent children are kidnapped from their schools and taken into captivity where they are traumatized; and some of them never make it back alive. Mr President should seize every such opportunity to send clear and unambiguous message to the world and to everyone that cares, that those criminals behind insecurity in the country will be pursued to the gate of hell.
Mr President, if you fix security, you would have fixed Nigeria. The insecurity in the country is both political and criminal, and the two are intertwined. The insurgents, bandits and cultists wielding automatic weapons and terrorizing the country today were political thugs of yesterday hired and bred by the politicians and used for rigging elections. Some of them are mercenaries from neighbouring countries brought into the country for sole purpose of election and now let loose as marauding herders and bandits abducting and kidnapping for ransom.
After the Okuama killings, the military has been accused of double standard in the face of what appeared like revenge or reprisal killings. Again, this criticism may not be entirely objective but it has merit. The army got itself caught up in the web of media campaign and propaganda by publishing pictures of the slain soldiers and circulating it in the media which had not been the practice. Many more officers and soldiers indeed have been killed in the past without any media hype. The military owes it a duty to wean itself from the Nigeria’s bad politics.
However, the point must be made that law enforcement and security agents should not be lightly attacked and killed and be expected to be ignored. In the same way, communities that offer sanctuaries to criminals to attack the symbol of the state should be ready for the consequences. We are losing the country to criminal cartels that have political connection and influence, with access to the media.
Moving forward, Mr President should demand from the Security Chiefs the proper security mapping of the country and task them on the blueprint to deal with it decisively. Reports have it that the insurgents in the northeast are still able to attack troops even in their locations. Bandits and herdsmen have gone berserk and are on the rampage in Kaduna State and the entire Middle Belt. The fear of the “unknown gunmen” is the beginning of wisdom in the southeast. We do not know the difference between the IPOB militants and the Eastern Security Network, a bunch of people that have almost formed parallel government. Niger Delta has become a boiling point lately and there is resurgence on the attack on security personnel. From Edo State to the entire West, abduction, kidnapping and ritual killings have become the order of the day.
By the way, we understand that the school children from Kuriga at last have been released but there has been hush about the figure or number released. We do not know whether the release was on a sweetheart deal without payment of ransom because the government itself is quite ambivalent. The reality of today is that the criminals are digging in and more emboldened; security has not improved. When we begin to travel without fear on the road and our farmers go and return from farm without incident, we will know that security is returning back to normalcy.
What should government do to deal with insecurity? First equip and motivate the police and the armed forces. Those who favour negotiation and pacification of the criminals may have their point but that is not the business of the military whose training and duties are well defined. When military commanders begin to argue for pacification, de-radicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration of criminals, they have lost the essence of their military bearing and veering into the realm of politics and religion; leave that for the Imams and Pastors.
Insecurity cannot be tackled by media campaign and propaganda on the number of criminals, bandits and insurgents killed. The insurgents, bandits, kidnappers are operating from bushes and forests belonging to known communities and their ranks are swelling.
They use motorbikes and sometimes even trucks; they restock and replenish their provisions; they use mobile phones and are connected to internet and social media. To claim that they are not accessible questions the integrity of our security forces and the police. We cannot afford to cede political power to criminals; the state should not discuss with them on their own terms. The security agents should softened them up sufficiently and they will submit at negotiation table and take the humble pie. It must be understood that whenever there is trade off with criminals, the state is weak.
Mr President, you have made history by achieving your life time ambition of becoming the president of the country amongst other solid achievements. Your victory did not come on a platter; you snatched victory from the jaws of lions. You do not need a second term; you already have your name in the Hall of Fame of Nigeria’s leaders even if you leave office today. If you have to write your name in gold, then fix security. You have what it takes to do that; it requires gut and steel heart which you possess with envy.
The scale of insecurity is spiralling out of control. Many people are screaming that the military approach is not the solution to fighting insecurity. But one dares says also that offering cake and chocolate to criminals is not the remedy to insecurity. As the pacifists will always argue that killing criminals has not been shown to reduce crime but at the same time they cannot also show that not punishing criminals has improved or reduced statistics of crime and criminality. Punishment serves as societal revulsion of acts that endangers the life of the society not necessarily that that it would be deterrent but a just desert, and punishment for the act done.
Mr President, do not entertain any more excuses, there is no much time left. Get brave, patriotic and courageous military commanders and intelligence chiefs who will take on the behemoth behind the insecurity without looking at religion and tribe and give them marching orders, and let them have your back. The security agents and police including the Department of State Services know where these criminals are; they are not spirits. People take ransom and provisions to them in their hideouts. They operate on motorbike; they do not have refineries in the bush.
If the national assembly could appropriate over one hundred and sixty million naira SUVs for each and every member, it should not be too much to invest in equipment and tracking devices to locate the position of these criminals and make Nigeria safe. We should get our priorities right. The government should not yield ground to criminals and their sponsors. Take on the criminals and their sponsors and the heavens will not fall; individuals and groups should not be greater than the state. Mr President, you can do it!
• Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney. He writes via mikekebonkwu@yahoo.com
