Nigeria, Insecurities And A Country In Captivity

By Lateef Adewole

Photo Source: The Guardian

There is a Yoruba saying that: "a ti kekere lati n p'eka iroko, t'oba dagba tan, a gb'ebo lowo eni" (the branches of iroko tree should be trimmed early while growing, when overgrown and becomes tall and matured, it will demand for sacrifice).

This seems to capture the situation that Nigeria and Nigerians have found themselves, as far as insecurities are concerned, especially with regards to bandits, who have now been declared terrorists. Right now, they seem to have become hydra-headed in the manners they metamorphosed and spring up everywhere, even when there are claims of their decimation.

Their case is also worse than that of Boko Haram and ISWAP who were long clearly designated as terrorists. The bandits, who evolved from the killer Fulani herdsmen and cattle rustlers of the past, were for many years, not considered enough as threats and "enemies of the state" like their Boko Haram counterparts, whether deliberately or otherwise.

That period of lackluster approach by the current admnistration in handling them earlier than later, gave them all the latitude to entrench themselves, spread and become well-organised and well-rooted across the country, particularly in the northern part of Nigeria. They were also able to develop more lethal capacities, acquiring both soft and hard intelligence capabilities, become well-trained and acquired sophisticated weaponry.

In my opinion, I have a feeling that all these years, while these terrorists (bandits) seemed to be "pampered" by the government that was plummeting Boko Haram and ISWAP at the same time, those within the Boko Haram terrorist groups must have thought of another strategy of changing their tactics and modus of operations. Many of them must have transformed to bandits, so as to "enjoy" the same "immunity" that bandits were enjoying for so long.

If that is not the case, how come the sudden sophistication with which bandits later began to operate, far and beyond the capacities we previously knew of them? Also, the grade of arms and ammunition they used and the magnitude of devastation they became capable of wrecking. That was not the level at which the Fulani herdsmen and cattle rustlers of a decade ago operated.

"Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it". Anyone who paid close attention to the evolution of these insecurities in the past two decades will understand why and how we got here. An unfortunate sorry state.

Nigeria has been in political captivity over the years. And I am not even talking of pre-independence colonial era. I am referring to since the time of independence in 1960. What do I mean by political captivity? It is a situation where just a few members of the society called politicians captured the country, not for the good of it, but for their selfish interests. In such situation, the citizens become helpless when it comes to choosing their political leaders who will lead and served them. Rather, these groups highjack and manipulate the process to suit themselves to attained their selfish desired ends. The people are most times, if not all the time, denied their freedom to freely choose through such political and electoral manipulations.

Different machinations are deployed; running the country aground and pauperising the citizens, weaponisation of poverty, votes buying, ballot stuffing, multiple voting, falsification of election results, etc. It is a process of many parts. What types of political leadership should we expect from such process? Often, ones that do not represent the interest of the people. Hence, the usual bad governance, non-performance, non-accountable and irresponsible leadership. If leadership truly reflects the real yawnings and aspirations of the people, we won't be in the state we are today.

I can remember vividly some years ago, in the early period of this government, how I was like a "pariah" because of the opinions I expressed in my articles. At that early period, I started raising concerns as to how the so-called Fulani herdsmen have started to become bolder and more menacing in their disruptive, vicious and criminal activities, and how the government of the day was treating such developments with kid gloves. I was called all kinds of name.

At that time, "e still dey hot for their body". The "buharihism" was still frenetic. Those his supporters and party members were very aggressive in their attacks on anyone who dared complain about just anything Buhari did, whether rightly or not. They neither want to hear nor interested, no matter how genuinely such concerns were. One of such was the rising insecurity then.

Many of such people are my personal friends and family members, colleagues, school mates on old students platforms, some acquaintances, many were just regular readers of my weekly articles. Most of them are alive and will still read this. Over the years, many have come to true realisation of all I have been saying. Many were bold enough to have also been speaking up. Some are too ashamed to voice out their frustrations, so, they simply kept mute. While there are still others who find recanting their earlier positions too embarrassing. They would rather continue dogmatically in the face of contrary evidences.

While political captivity is still ongoing, Nigeria and Nigerians have since few years now, being experiencing another kind of captivity caused by insecurities. What do you call a situation where citizens are under perpetual fear? No one in Nigeria today feels safe anywhere. Not even the same political leaders, with their retinue of security details. It is only the president that attempts have not been made of his life for obvious reasons.

Governors, lawmakers, members of the judiciary, traditional institutions, religious leaders, and so on, have all, at one time or the other, came under attacks. In some cases, lives have been lost, and many kidnapped. These are people with fortified security arrangements. What fate was expected to befall the rest of us; vulnerable public masses? These daring attacks were carried out by no others but these bandit terrorists. 

Sincerely, I have become tired of following the killings, kidnappings and other heinous activities of these terrorists (bandits). They are overwhelming as I lost count. After having written many times about insecurities, I decided to leave it. "Kaka k'ewe agbon ro, lile lo n le si" (rather than things to get better, they got worse). To be fair to this government, it has marginally increased the capacity of the military and other security agents to deal with Boko Haram. Many high level military equipment have been acquired and deployed to counter the insurgents, who have suffered a lot and led thousands to surrender. There has been improvement in the security situation in the northeast, where Boko Haram is domiciled.

However, like I said earlier, all these gains were eroded with growing and worse type of insecurities caused by bandits. While the Boko Haram and ISWAP were confined to Borno state and North East majorly, bandits are everywhere. While Boko Haram and ISWAP confront the military, and attacked the communities in the process, bandits targeted the people mainly. They invade communities, killed as many as could be sighted, including women and children, destroyed farmlands and food storages, burn down houses and shelters. They also take over roads. 

They started kidnapping students enmass and more frequently, unlike a single popular incident of mass kidnapping of Chibok girls, which caught the attention of the world. That singular incident was a major factor that sent Jonathan and PDP out of office. Worse types of the same have happened multiple times under this administration and heaven did not fall. In fact, President Buhari got a reelection. Same as in many states where the official authorities have been lost to non-state actors. That's the implication of the political captivity I mentioned earlier. If not so, over 80% of people who got reelected in 2019 should have been booted out, including President Buhari, but that was not the case. And here we are.

One of the points usually used to counter me by people who disagreed with my opinions was to bandy infrastructures. I was always told that this administration has done far better in infrastructure developments than all past administrations. Well, I have always acknowledged the massive efforts of the present government in building infrastructures. Roads construction, repairs and maintenance, building rails to link the country, the second Niger bridge, upgrade of the airports and many others. These are commendable efforts, for which President Buhari and his executive arm responsible for them, should be commended. They have tried. Let us not discuss the issue of "at what cost"?

While all these are praised, my position remains that, it is only the living who can enjoy all these infrastructures. They are useless to dead people. While Alhaji Lai Muhammed was still floating in the bubble of his press release where he claimed Nigeria is now safer than before, terrorists (bandits) struck. There was massive attack on a Kaduna-bound train, on Abuja-Kaduna rail lines between Katari and Rijana, Kaduna state.

The official manifest showed that about 398 passengers were on board, unofficial figure was said to be 970. As I write this, about 9 people have been confirmed dead. 29 others were wounded and receiving medical attention. Hundreds of others are yet to be accounted for. They might have been kidnapped. Such audacity by the bandits, who blew the rail track, immobilised the train and rained bullets on the coaches, for about three hours unhindered.

This came after the same bandit-terrorists invaded and attacked the airport in the same Kaduna last week. That was unprecedented. Before, it was the staff quarters of FAAN they attacked and kidnapped many staff and their family members within the airport in March 2021. Within 24 hours of that train attack, the bandit-terrorists launched another attack on Rijana train station, in the same Kaduna. While all these happened, it was reported that another set took over Abuja-Kaduna expressway. What exactly were these terrorists trying to achieve?

I asked because, the three means of transportation between the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the political and military capital of the northern Nigeria, Kaduna, came under attacks. While Abuja is the melting pot of all Nigerians as the Federal Capital, Kaduna remains the major link to the rest of the Northern Nigeria. Have the terrorists not captured the country or some parts like that? We read how they have taken over many areas in Niger, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Plateau, Benue and some other states.

As decimated as Boko Haram and ISWAP might be, they still operate potently in some parts of Borno state. The activities of IPOB and unknown gunmen in the South-East have not been neutralised. Kidnappers, ritualists, cultists and armed robbers are on the loose in the South-West and South-South. I have just covered the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Where else is safe? I often feel so anguished and write like this many times because of my personal knowledge of many of these regions over the years and I knew how life was so good and beautiful, travelling across the country.

Kaduna was my base for some years. I travelled across the northern states all through my years there, with great sense of safety and security. Before Boko Haram and bandits became household names, I make bold to say that Northern Nigeria was the safest part of the country. Rarely did travellers encounter armed robbers at any time of the day or night. People go about their lives simply and peacefully, apart from the religious skirmishes once in a while. Also, due to massive military presence in Kaduna state, with many military institutions located within that state, many used to have some sense of security. That has been demystified by bandits now. So sad.

Let us hope it is not too late. President Buhari has approved the deployment of Integrated Security Surveillance and Monitoring (ISSM) Solution to secure the rail lines, not only Abuja-Kaduna, but also Lagos-Ibadan and other corridors. This is to assure the travellers of their safety. Bridging security at airports is completely unacceptable. These started when Fulani herdsmen began to graze along airports, with occasional invasion of the runway by cows like in Owerri (2016), Akure (2018), Anambra (2021). And nothing happened.

That was how so many motorcyclists invaded the runway of the Sokoto Airport in 2018. Yet, we did not hear of any sanction. No head rolled. That's how bad behaviours have been condoned over the years that brought us here. As long as such kid-glove treatment of misdemeanours continue for reasons best known to the leadership in the country, Nigeria will remain in captivity of bandits, worse still, under a General!

The current onslaught against all terrorists must be sustained. Those arrested should be prosecuted and punished. This is the only way to console their victims. Many of their claims to repentance were ruse. Many pictures of supposed repentant bandits and Boko Haram terrorists in "aso-ebi", wining and dining, before eventually releasing them back to the society, while the victims of their atrocities are still reeling in pains, mourning their deads and rueing their losses, could be demoralising to the fighting troops, their victims and populace at large.

This is because, some of the supposed repentant terrorists were reported to have returned to their criminal ways after such respite. No criminal should go unpunished, to serve as deterrent to others. Security agents should be well motivated. Welfare, training, adequate arms and ammunition, should be provided for them. Local communities should volunteer information and provide local intelligence about bandits and other criminals to the security agents, who also should be up and doing in the discharge of their responsibilities. Nigeria needs to be freed!

May God continue to protect us and guide us aright. God Bless Nigeria.

Lateef Adewole                                           Email: [email protected]   Twitter: @lateef_adewole                         Facebook: Lateef Adewole.