Former President Muhammadu Buhari
By Adebayo Obajemu
One of the highlights of the Buhari administration has been the unprecedented level of insecurity in the country ranging from heightened Boko Haram attacks at the beginning of his government to kidnapping for ransom which later became a thriving business to banditry and a barefaced criminilality.
Buhari from the onset promised to recover the girls taken by Boko Haram during the time of President Good luck Jonathan, he never did.
Over time, he managed to downgrade the capacity of Boko Haram to inflict serious damage.
When it was clear that the service chiefs he appointed had no clearcut idea on moving forward the security architecture in order to safeguard the country and calls were strident for their removal he refused to budge.
“As a military man ,many of us thought that Buhari going by his antecedent would be able to maintain the security of the country. Even the cynical Obasanjo thought as much. But look at what happened. Even in Jonathan’s era, insecurity did not reach this alarming level”, Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon a political scientist told National Waves
The insecurity challenge in the country has reached unprecedented level such that many Nigerians now live in daily fear. According to Dr. Sola Olutoye, a psychologist, ” many of our country men and women are beginning to show symptoms of depression and hypertension due to high state of fear engendered by insecurity, killing and kidnapping going on in the country. ”
Before the Presidential election, there was lull in the killing, kidnapping and banditry , but immediately after the election, we have continued to witness resurgence of insecurity in the areas traditionally associated with it such as the North West, North Central and the Eastern parts of the country.
” The fact that Buhari did not succeed in reining in insecurity is not about military incapacity but neglect, because of emotional, tribal attachment to perpetrators”, a retired Colonel who craved anonymity told this medium.
Immediately after the election, killing had resumed in Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna as well as Zamfara. In the east, the new theatre of killing opened in Owerri and Abia, as in other parts of eastern Nigeria
The Eastern killing has remained a conundrum, as the indigenous peoples of Biafra, IPOB has always taken the blame, though security experts who spoke to National Waves are saying not all the killing should be heaped on IPOB, alleging likelihood of infiltrators who do not want peace in the region fuelled by criminal politicians.
Only last week, gunmen killed Victor Ijioma, the traditional ruler of Orsu Obodo, a community in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria’s south-east.
The hoodlums also killed the traditional prime minister of Mgbele, otherwise known as the Isama of Mgbele, another community in the same council area.
The two victims were killed in separate attacks in different locations on Thursday, it was learnt.
Mr Ijioma, the traditional ruler of Orsu Obodo Community, was said to have been ambushed and killed at Umuamaka Junction in the neigbouring Izombe, another community in the council area.
The attackers set the victim’s body ablaze alongside his car after killing him, according to sources from the community.
The traditional prime minister, whose name could not be obtained as at the time of filing this report, was killed in Mgbele, his community.
Like other states in Nigeria’s south-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed personnel.
The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.
Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in such attacks.
The latest attack comes about six days after gunmen killed two police officers at Okpala Junction in Ulakwo, a community in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of the state.
Last month, gunmen killed five police officers and a couple in the same community and council area.
The Nigerian government has accused outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
A year ago,in the wake of the kidnapping of Kagara secondary school students, Emmanuel Nwandie, National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers said “education sector is now under siege, and this portends great danger for the future of the country. ”
Then, 27 students, three staff and family members of Government Science College Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of the state, were abducted by gunmen.
Among many incidents too numerous to mention, bandits struck again and killed 11 people in an outlying villages in Niger state in January this year while more than 15 villagers were said to have perished in a river identified as Kaduna river at the Niger State end, while trying to escape the bandits’ attack on their villages.
Two weeks after this incident, marauding bandits struck yet again in Katsina, Adamawa and Niger States, killing a number of innocent citizens.
The Adamawa United Football club was attacked and kidnapped along Benin- Ore road by bandits who are demanding N50 million ransom.
Across the country, there are daily reports of kidnappings, killing by bandits and people now live in daily fear.
The situation is so bad that to commute from one part of the country to another is a great risk.
Recall last September, a relative of one of the aides of governor Okowa of Delta State, Osemute Sowho, was waylaid and killed in broad day light by gunmen.
Also, a traditional ruler in Katsina State was one of the people kidnapped at about the same time the relative of the aide of Okowa was attacked.
From Maiduguri to Akure , to Asaba and across the country, life has become cheap; and insecurity walks on four legs.
Many Nigerians are worried that the ship of the state is gradually sliding down the ditch into anarchy.
In a disturbing report which has underlined the worsening security situation in the country towards the tail end of 2022, about 5,000 Nigerians who were displaced by Fulani herdsmen reportedly arrived at Beninese villages near Pobè, a border community situated some 100 km from Cotonou. According to the reports, Nigerian refugees consist of 2,163 men and 2,314 women.
In the PANA report widely cited by the media, these refugees escaped the worsening insecurity, killing, kidnapping and raping of women in their villages back home as a result of government’s inability to secure them. PANA has reported that:
“A total of 688 households are affected by this massive displacement of Nigerian citizens after the inter-community clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and the Yoruba in the border area.”
In a publication of the communal communication unit, these refugees were welcomed in the Igana district, and have been visited by the political and administrative authorities who reassured them of the plans to assure them of their safety and to offer them better living conditions.
Unlike in Nigeria where authorities often leave the people in dire situation in lurch, government agencies and departments, including Protection Agency, the Beninese Agency for Integrated Border Management, the World Food Programme, UN Children’s Fund, Care Benin-Togo, the Police, Departmental Directorates of Health and Social Affairs, and other organisations visited the displaced. The slide in the country into anarchy has continued to attract comments even after the general election.
Recall that two years ago,Professor Pat Utomi and Dr. Obadiah Malafia separately gave their take, with the duo saying the country is now ” exhibiting indices of a failed state.
Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political science scholar told this newspaper that, “it is trite to say the country is exhibiting signs of a failed state. That is unacceptable euphemism. The correct position is that under Buhari this country has collapsed.”
In a bid to stem the herdsmen attack, the southwest governors created Amotekun, a regional security outfit to fight banditry, kidnapping and incessant attacks by criminal elements believed to be Fulani herdsmen.
“As far as I am concerned, under Buhari’s eight years, we are in Somalia situation if not worse, yet this administration, the worst in history pretends all is well. The security infrastructure has collapsed, yet the administration does not want the people under siege of Fulani herdsmen to resort to self help to protect themselves”, said Professor Funlade Anjoorin, of the department of history and international studies, Kogi State University , in his chat with National Waves
Many solutions were proferred but the most popular is state police.
Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and his colleague, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna had among other eminent Nigerians advocated state police and devolution of power between the Federal Government and states of the country.
The governors who spoke at a virtual programme sometimes two years ago advocated state police and decentralised judiciary.
The programme tagged “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Tactics and Strategies to Pull Nigeria from the Brink” was monitored by National Waves Mr El-Rufai said having a state police was critical to the immediate needs of the country to pull back from the brink, saying “one centralised police for the country just has not worked”.
“Secondly, we must amend the Constitution and relevant laws to ensure control of oil and gas, mines, and minerals in the states that already have control over land under the Land Use Act with royalties and taxes payable to the Federal Government and the Federation Account.
“Number three, we must rectify the anomaly of a Federation that has a more or less unitary judiciary,” the governor said.
Emphasising on state police, Mr El-rufai continued, “my first recommendation is to implement the three key devolution proposals that I mentioned above. Give us state police now, vest all minerals in the state now, and decentralise our judiciary now, not tomorrow, not later.”
“There are certain things governors cannot do.
“In six and a half years, as governor of Kaduna State, I have had eight commissioners of police. They are just posted; they spend seven or eight months (each) on average. Do the mathematics. Eight CPs that have virtually no say in their posting, and so on. How can you have security management if you change the frontline chief of security every eight months on average?”
Fayemi Meanwhile, Mr Fayemi said the country needed a credible leadership structure to tackle insecurity.
“I concur with virtually everything that my brother (Governor El-rufai) has put forward,” Mr Fayemi said.
“Conflict is part of human existence and Nigeria has experienced his own cycle of it since independence. However, the spate of it in the last two years should certainly be a major cause of concern for not just the government, citizens, stakeholders as well as external interests who desire the best for our country.
“The root causes of violence are major layers of deep-seated, political, economic, social and environmental challenges that have been allowed to fester for so long to the extent that they are now able to disrupt livelihoods, cause unprecedented destruction of public and private property, and lead to nnecessary deaths,” he said.
“Given this worrisome state of insecurity in the country, from Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflict, youth restiveness that led to #EndSARS in October 2020, militancy, and piracy, the common trend is that we are now in a season of anomie in our country.”
Mr Fayemi also urged citizens and, particularly, the media against the ethnic profiling of citizens.
“We do not subscribe to ethnic profiling. We believe that criminals are found all over our country; they come from virtually almost every ethnic group.
“When you have lost somebody or you know someone who has lost someone, it’s no use telling the person to be rational about the ill that has befallen them and the bereavement they’ve suffered. The truth of the matter is that we also need compassionate leadership in order to help deal with these issues, in addition to all the substantive things we need to deal with.
“Our forests have now become a huge menace and a space for criminal elements to perpetrate their business. We need a forest management framework to ensure that those who don’t have business in the forests must leave the forests.
Also adding his voice to the insecurity , the senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre , Sam Adeyemi, said while restructuring agitation is correct, ”breaking up will not solve Nigeria’s problem”.
“Let me be honest, I have friends in government. We should be discussing Nigeria’s development; Nigeria needs to move into the 21st century as fast as possible. This whole thing is about the economy. If you have any problem in this country that is not tractable, somebody is making money from it.
“People are making money from Boko Haram. Banditry and kidnappings are about making money. Why don’t we then create a country where people can make money legitimately?
Once you begin to discuss that idea with Nigerians, a vision will give people hope.
Presently, there is despair; people can’t see anyway.
“When you look from a leadership standpoint, these crises we are going through are predictable. I had said to the people that listened to me years ago that Nigeria will go from crisis to crisis. Why? Because we have a culture basically that is not aligned with principles. We are dealing with cultural issues,
deep issues, mindsets, beliefs, values, that eventually influence behaviour.
“So, the leadership culture itself has a big problem because there is a wide gap between the leader and the led. It is a cultural problem – the leader is very powerful, the led powerless.
“Leadership requires change, that is the essence, if you are not taking me from A to B, you are not leading me. If we stand on the same spot for 12 hours, you are standing in front of me for 12 hours and they ask you what are you doing to him? You say ‘I am leading him’, that is not true; you are actually
obstructing my progress. We need to move forward.”
Not too long ago, Archbishop Onaiyekan of the Catholic Church said the way the insecurity was panning out that Nigerians may revolt. He accused the Buhari administration of outsourcing power to unelected non state actors, saying the President should resign if he can no longer secure life and property.
Professor Hassan Saliu, eminent scholar and former Dean, social sciences, University of Ilorin told this newspaper that ” no country can secure foreign investments in an atmosphere of insecurity”, warning that the country is gradually moving towards anarchy.
The insecurity challenge has further left a deep gorge in social and ethnic relations, widening the already fragile friction among ethnic nationalities.
“The reality is that when the government fails to secure life and property it loses its moral authority to govern, and by implications, it’s legitimacy”, says Dr. Olufemi Omoyele, a university don and public affairs analyst.
The Buhari era will be longed remember for its inability to tackle insecurity in the country among many failings.
