As the year 2020 draws to a close and reflections on the precarious security situation in the nation must of necessity boggle the mind, the recent attack on Zabarmari, Jere LGA, some 20km from the Borno state capital Maiduguri, by Boko Haram terrorists was evidence, if any were needed that the security situation is intractable despite repeated assurances by the Muhammadu Buhari administration that Boko Haram has been technically degraded and defeated. It is very unfortunate that a killing field is the catch-all phrase with which Borno is now easily described. And just when that description appears to cull the blood, the state lives up to it in spectacular fashion. Last Saturday, 43 farmers who had gone to their farms during the current harvest season were attacked, tied up their hands behind their backs, and their throats were slit. The UN puts the number of casualties at 110, not 43. The global rights watchdog, Amnesty International said over 10 women and others remain missing. Shocked and outraged, the people of Zabarmari refused to bury the dead; insisting Governor Babagana Zulum, must show up to personally witness the tragedy that has befallen their community. Zabarmari is also a tragic reminder of lamentations by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, who recently declared that the North is the most unsafe part of Nigeria, and the most difficult place to live in. This is unacceptable in a country with a government and the killings must stop.
President Buhari and northern governors should take a hard look at the persistent destruction of lives and property in the region with a view to putting a stop to it. A situation where the country has been turned into killing fields is condemnable. The massacre in the war-ravaged northeast has been going on for too long and has become almost intractable. Since March 2001, when the first major hostilities broke out, thousands of people have been killed and property worth billions destroyed. The socio-economic impact on the citizens of the region has been enormously immeasurable. Little surprise for the second time in two days, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) asked Buhari to resign, saying he has failed to secure Nigerians. NEF spokesman, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said it is disappointing that after over five years in office, Buhari still hasn’t delivered on the promises he made to Nigerians when he was first elected in 2015. Baba-Ahmed noted that Buhari had asked his predecessor, former President Goodluck Jonathan, to resign in 2013 over growing insecurity; hence it stands to reason to demand his own resignation over the same security challenges.
Hear him: “We will continue to ask that he (Buhari) resigns. He is a democratically elected president. We wish he is doing better but he is not. Ordinarily, under a democratic system, a leader is supposed to deliver, he is supposed to do two things – he is supposed to secure citizens and he is supposed to facilitate their economic welfare. He (Buhari) hasn’t done the first and he is not doing the second. So, explain to me on what basis President Buhari should continue to be our president? We have respected the President, we understand the difficulty he is facing and we understand how difficult it is to tell him to resign but we also have the democratic right to tell him: Sorry sir, you cannot run this country, you have been given five, six years to do so and the situation is just getting worse and we believe that you have nothing new to offer and the only way is for you to resign. We believe we are speaking for millions of Nigerians.” The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development share the same view.
The killing in Zabarmari is a clear affirmation that Nigeria has not defeated or degraded the terrorists, and if anything, the country’s security problem has worsened since Buhari came to power in 2015. Zabarmari is well known for the good yield of its rice fields. They may be peasant, subsistence farmers but they contribute to Nigeria’s food production and the agriculture value chain. With Boko Haram insurgents taking over those fields, surviving farmers would be afraid to go to their farms. The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has warned of an imminent food crisis. The situation is both alarming and worrisome. This dastard criminality not only questions the operational preparedness and alertness of the troops on the frontlines in the area, but also spread fear among the populace.
However, it is obvious that the troops cannot be totally blamed for the brazenness of the insurgents. There are several contributory factors. First, there is a leadership problem not only within the military operation, but also nationally. When the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces appears so absent in the face of unprecedented national challenges, including excruciating security breaches, it will be hard, if not impossible, to expect total loyalty and commitment from the troops, who are being traumatized by the exploits of the insurgents. Moreover, the military itself has failed to provide adequate leadership structure in its war against the insurgents. The leadership problem is not just about the appalling absence of a single, unified command structure to lead the operations, but also the lack of effective coordination, which manifests in different, and at times contradictory reports on the military operation by various security agencies. Consequently, no one knows who is leading the war.
This troubling development also compels some critical questions regarding the service chiefs amid repeated false claims of achievement of peace and stability through all kinds of military operations – Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Safe Corridor, and Operation Yancin Tafki – including the creation of super camps for internally displaced persons. Recently, Nigeria was named the third most terrorized country in the world in the Global Terrorism Index, after war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. In August, President Buhari gave the service chiefs marching orders to address the security problem in the country and stop making excuses. He needs to summon them again and ask for their resignations. However, as recent events have indicated, changing of personnel may not solve the problem. In fact, the insurgency has hardly abated and many more Nigerians have been killed since the current service chiefs were appointed. For change of personnel to be meaningful, it must be based on competence, experience and track record. The President should heed the call of many Nigerians and replace the service chiefs without any further delay.
Nigerians were shocked when presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, told the BBC in an interview that the 43 farmers whose throats were slit didn’t have clearance from the military before going to the farm. This kind of victim-blaming is unconscionable as it is inexcusable; is Shehu the new army spokesman? While public indifference, or better still, discontent with the war may not be unconnected with associated complications, particularly the destruction of the local economy and alleged violation of human rights, a greater undercurrent relates to the absence of the government in the war-ravaged communities in terms of the dividends of democracy. Part of the consequences of the “absentee state” manifests in the willingness of the local population to allow the terrorists free passage in a manner injurious to the success of the counter-insurgency efforts.
Terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, drug addicts and criminally-minded Fulani herdsmen have constituted themselves into overlords across Nigeria. It is not only the North that is unsafe; the entire country has become a killing field. Not even in Katsina, the President’s home state is safe. In the face of rising insecurity, many northern Governors who are the chief security officers in their states are on self-exile in Abuja and only visit their states of origin, under heavily armed escorts. Obviously, troops operating under these conditions are far from being highly motivated. And when morale is low, the operational performance of the troops must diminish. There is, therefore, an urgent need for a serious reorganization of the nation’s security apparatus. President Buhari should publicly show an appreciation of the enormity of the crisis facing the nation and appear, in reality and in symbolic terms, to give more attention to the welfare and security of the Nigerian people.
