Insecurity: Fortifying response with citizens’ obligations

Knocks on the Federal Government last week took force of heavy records, particularly as more northern stakeholders are becoming more hard on the Government in expression of their grievances over perceived failure of the later to assure safety and security of lives and properties, believed to be a primary responsibility of any meaningful government. The increasing wipe on the Federal Government by more northern based socio-cultural and right groups over what they have described as the ‘woeful failure’ of the Government to address the heightening state of insecurity mayhem of bandits and terrorists’ operations have been  premised on the losses and damages of the turbulence which have left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced in the region.

The recent killings of no less than 23 travellers who were burnt to death by bandits last Monday (6th December, 2021)  at Anguwan Bawa in Sabon Birni Council of Sokoto State, had sparked stronger reactions as various groups continue to express grievances over the heightening spate of insecurity mayhem across the Country. In his comments last Thursday (09 December, 2021), the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar while speaking in Abuja at the 4th Quarter 2021 Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC)  had said situations were not right in the Country by the worsening profile of security threats. Sa’ad who said there were daily attacks in the North which were largely unreported, submitted it was hightime concerted efforts were deployed to address the prevailing threats. He had said, “Some few days ago, we are witnesses to the media report on how people were killed in a bus in Sokoto, even though the figure is not correct, but even one life is important. There is no single day that passes without people being killed in the North especially in the North West now, but we don’t hear it. Let’s not deceive ourselves, everything is not alright. I have said this so many times, and to know that you have a problem, you have part of the solution. The earlier we rise up to the occasion, come together, the better for us.”

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) had same last Thursday while condemning the escalation of attacks and killings by terrorists in Northern communities, said the mayhem was a confirmation of the failure of the Federal and State Governments in the region to secure the lives and properties of Nigerians. According to the Group, attacks and killings across Northern Nigerian communities, cities, towns and highways has literally exposed the entire region to the mercy of Boko Haram, ISWAP insurgents in the North East, “and ruthless banditry and kidnapping rings to the North West and North Central.” The Group which spoke in a briefing in Abuja through its Spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman,  lamented the government’s slow response to killings suggested that it was not disturbed by the loss of the lives of its citizens. The Group had alleged that the claims of the presidency of flaunting victory in the face of glaring failure, which “appears in total isolation or in deep denial,” have reached an unacceptable and an intolerable point where the urgent citizen action remains the only option. The Northern Coalition observed that the recent roasting to death of 23 travellers at Anguwan Bawa in Sabon Birni Council of Sokoto State by bandits, the attacks of ISWAP in the Northeast, and the unabated phenomenon of banditry along Abuja-Kaduna highway as well as school abductions have exposed the helplessness of the government. According to the Group, the escalation of the security challenges bedevilling the North do not only pose existential threats to the region, but to the whole nation and the fragile democracy of the Country.

The Group had said: “The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) is agitated by the recent unchecked escalation of attacks and killings across Northern Nigerian communities, cities, towns and highways that has literally exposed the entire region to the mercy of Boko Haram, ISWAP insurgents to the North East, and ruthless banditry and kidnapping rings to the North West and North Central. At the risk of overstating the case, we can unhesitatingly assert that already, Nigeria’s vast land borders with its northern neighbours have been completely overrun by assortments of armed criminal gangs turning them into dangerous conduits for drugs, arms, smugglers, illegal immigrants and foreign fighters from countries in the troubled Sahel region.

“CNG notes that the following recent escalations of attacks, killings and kidnappings while the presidency appears in total isolation or in deep denial by constantly flaunting victory in the face of glaring failure, has reached an unacceptable and an intolerable point where the urgent citizen action remains the only option. In the light of the above, the CNG has inadvertently arrived at the following inevitable observations and inferences: That the Federal and State Governments in the North have woefully failed in the vital area of providing security of lives and properties to citizens, especially in northern Nigeria, where the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) extracted the bulk of its votes in the 2015 and 2019 rounds of elections.

“That the escalation of the security challenges bedevilling the North today is not only existential threats to the region, but to the whole nation with our very fragile democracy threatened by the worst insecurity of our lifetime.  That the glaring inability to secure the borders, forests and highways in northern Nigeria is partly a result of incapacity, absence of a political will, defence corruption and bad governance.”

It is essential to note that while the scourge of insecurity in the North is well pronounced, such threats are not only limited to the region, as other zones in the Country are increasingly suffering rising challenges of security threats of various forms. At the NIREC meeting last Thursday, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Ayokunle had noted that highways in the Country have become “den of kidnappers and a no-go-area for travellers.” The CAN President who wondered why bandits were operating with free hands without being repelled by security forces, had said: “Travelling from one point to another by road in particular have become a very great risk. Kidnappers are everywhere and they don’t only come out to kidnap but also to kill. So, you don’t know who the next victim is going to be. Why should these people be killing and hiding people in our territory without being challenged? Why should it be easy for them to hide people somewhere within the state and the security agencies in the state within few days or weeks will not be able to fish them out?” Another coalition of Northern Youth Groups under the aegis of Northern Ethnic Group Assembly (NEYGA), had observed that Nigeria has been turned into a killing field by bandits terrorising the Country.  The Assembly had last Thursday in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Ibrahim Dan-Musa, lamented:  “Virtually all parts of Nigeria are currently battling with one form of insecurity or the other with various crimes going on, largely unabated. Despite attempts by Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to curb the rising criminalities and killings across the country, the nation’s security apparatus under Monguno appears to be overwhelmed with criminals maiming and extorting their victims.”

The turbulence of insecurity, as observed, is heightening to brew scourge of disturbing strings, gradually posing threats that are becoming too light to bear. The clusters of the strings, beyond the immediate impacts, have been observed to bear undertones of ravaging impacts which above the superficial considerations are clogging up frictions which in future hold negative omen for the Country. It is observable that the clustering strings of the metabiotic impacts of the mayhem of insecurity have been noted to be bearing wings of contributory factors to such ills as corruption. It would be recalled that the Civil Society Organisations, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Transparency International had last Thursday, identified insecurity among subjects on which it berated the President Muhammadu Buhari led government. The Groups had slammed the Government over alleged failure and throwing Nigeria into what they described as “deep and widespread insecurity, unemployment, poverty and inequality, and others.” In a statement signed by the Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Rafsanjani, in view of the 2021 International Anti-Corruption Day-with theme ‘Your Right, Your Role, Say No to Corruption’, the Advocacy Group had said “President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to quickly tackle the legacies of misgovernance inherited after coming to office in 2015 and missteps by the administration has sunk the Country deeper into widespread insecurity, unemployment, poverty and inequality, voter apathy, corruption and impunity, extra-judicial killings and high-handedness among law enforcement and security agencies, and a widening distrust for government among citizens.”

It is now pertinent that the call for firm reaction with pragmatic approaches have become non negotiable. Addressing the insecurity mayhem ravaging the Country headlong is an understatement, if the Country would survive the scourge of inconsistencies brewing under waxing state of fear, panic and disruptions roving from the heightening profile of insecurity. The call to fortify the force-response to exterminate the menace by knowledge, through intelligence driven structures, has been a strong submission recently. The need for the Government to coordinate structures of intelligence formations to fortify strategic response to dismantling the estate of insecurity blocs in the Country has become sacrosanct. It also behooves the citizenry to, beyond criticisms, give the force of their obligations by providing necessary information to aid intelligence gathering where necessary, as a building bloc to cut off the roving networks of the misadventures of mischief conveners.