While it is entirely in line with the character of Nigerian leaders to bemoan problems, which are their responsibility to solve; the latest display of this disgraceful disposition, which came the other day, from Niger Governor Abubakar Bello, who openly expressed apprehension over the presence of Boko Haram insurgents close to the political capital, Abuja, has expectedly, raised anxiety among Nigerians, even as the alarm signals another unwholesome reflection of the collapse of governance in the country under President Muhammadu Buhari. The state of war in which Nigeria now reels is too ferocious to be denied. The crisis may have pre-dated the Buhari administration; he may be doing his best, and the military is not without some success, but his best is not enough and the intensity of this war is such that the president must take steps to own it. No mollifying rhetoric can negate the barrage of hostilities currently bludgeoning the country; and government’s failure to roll out a cohesive and comprehensive national security strategy. Buhari has his job well cut out: save Nigeria from terrorism or resign!
Buhari rode into power as an army general on a wave of goodwill after promising to fight insecurity, particularly the Boko Haram insurgency. But after six years in office, the president now faces a bigger challenge as the insurgency is gradually spreading to other parts of the country, including Niger state, close to the seat of power. On Monday April 26, a day after Boko Haram terrorists killed over 30 soldiers when they attacked a military base in Mainok, Borno state, Governor Bello warned that Boko Haram terrorists have taken advantage of the land mass in Niger, to establish camps in Shiroro LGA, using the mountains and forests as their hideouts. “Boko Haram elements are here in Niger State; here in Kaure. I am confirming that they have hoisted their flags here,” Bello warned, adding that with Abuja located just two hours from Niger state, “even Abuja is not safe” if action is not taken to flush out the insurgents who have made Nigeria the third most terrorized country in the world for six years running, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI).
With Boko Haram next door to Abuja, the state of insecurity in the country has reached an embarrassing level. In effect, persistent insecurity confined hitherto to the northeast is fast spreading. In a continued orgy of indiscriminate bestiality, thousands of Nigerians have been killed in extremely brutal manner by the terrorists. Scores of homes and places of worship have been razed and many villages sacked. Indeed, the entire Northeast has become a killing field and den for kidnappers. The massacres from Boko Haram have become routine; abductions are carried out with scandalous audacity; while Fulani herdsmen sack villages and mow down helpless citizens like weeds. There has been so much bloodletting, despondency is palpable in the air and instead of life more abundant; it is death, cries of death and threat of death all over the place. Security of life and property is completely prostrate, obviously a tall order for Buhari to accomplish, leaving agents of death on the rampage, wreaking havoc at home, places of rest, in the holy sanctuaries, school dormitories, police stations, military barracks, in and out of places of work.
The brazen activities of Boko Haram, the sophisticated arms, including military uniforms at their disposal, the funding and training gives cause, firstly, to the possibility of external involvement, and secondly, probable access to insider information from within the security apparatus. As lawlessness holds sway in the face of ineffective state response, the attendant consequence is that the armed forces are being spread thin to deal with a widening threat to internal security as well as challenge to the authority of the state. A military thus diverted and distracted from its core constitutional duty to protect the nation from all enemies, domestic and foreign, is dangerous for Nigeria. But, the Boko Haram problem could not have graduated from a small religious group disgruntled with the system to a band of well-trained and well-funded insurgents that have now earned international notoriety except that there was a terrible gap between what needed to be done about them, and what was actually done. And central to this has been the failure of leadership to do the needful as, and where appropriate.
With security forces stretched across the nation from farmer-herder clashes, to banditry, to militants in both the north and south; who will protect Abuja? Even if security forces were available, the threat has become near-impossible to manage with guns alone. No military or law enforcement approach, even in the most sophisticated of societies, resolves political differences, especially of violent sectarian kind, when consistently fed by ancient suspicion and mistrust. As Nigeria bleeds, the sophisticated methods of Boko Haram, the audacity of their attacks and the devastating stealth with which they operate, calls to question the strategy of Nigerian security forces and their commitment to the fight. Is there an insufficiency in the tools for the fight or are there people profiting from its open-endedness? If there have been successes, such have been cancelled out by the plundering of Nigerian lives, lives of security personnel and innocent civilians. Nigeria is in a state of war and the management of the situation is awful. Too many security personnel are being killed by a ragtag band of presumably less trained hoodlums. Amidst this ongoing carnage and atmosphere of siege, the President, commander-in-chief has failed woefully to lead the charge.
A corresponding cause for worry is kidnapping. According to a recent report on the state of human rights in the country, kidnapping has become an industry. Indeed, the authorities appear overwhelmed by the situation. There are hardly any instance of successful arrest and prosecution of kidnappers, thus provoking the suspicion of a possible collaboration from law enforcement agencies. That security agencies in the country seem to be losing control over the activities of terrorists and armed bandits ravaging the country is worrisome. The time has come for the president to live up to his primary responsibility of ensuring the security of lives and property in the country, as no one is immuned from the widespread terror in the land. Not even public office holders.
The fact that Boko Haram terrorists are now camped two hours away from Abuja calls for soul-searching. What is the country not doing right in this war? Are there genuine political reasons behind the activities of Boko Haram and how could it be addressed? These are the urgent tasks before the political leadership in the country today, and they need to act fast to stem the spreading anarchy. Beyond physical security measures to protect lives and property, government must begin to interrogate the economic and political bases of the prevailing insurgency. How may it encourage genuine productive activities and get most of the unemployed youth gainfully engaged? A lot more is required to rekindle hope that the battle is not lost and that the terrorists are not achieving their objectives.
All things considered though, the war against Boko Haram is a Nigerian fight and all Nigerians must brace up to fight that battle squarely. In the quest for solution, the nation certainly needs the input of all key stakeholders to galvanize support for an enduring solution to an insurgency which now threatens the corporate existence of Nigeria as a nation. The buck might stop on the president’s desk, but Boko Haram is a moral burden hanging on the shoulder of every Nigerian. Thus, a concerted national effort, harnessing the energy and goodwill of every Nigerian, is required to end the scourge so that the country can face the urgent task of nation building. It is not too late to rescue the country from the brink of collapse. Exemplary leadership is imperative at all levels to realise the dreams of our fathers who toiled for Nigeria’s statehood. That leadership must initiate a national dialogue to forge a creed for the country. It is not enough for President Buhari to throw up his hands in befuddlement, as he has been doing. He has an historic duty to confront and defeat this clear and present danger to the nation. To fail to do so will be the ultimate betrayal of the Nigerian dream.
