Here we are again – summoned to the tired theater of presidential declarations, where the orchestra of failure plays yet another verse. President Bola Tinubu, draped in the regalia of command, ascended the podium of national despair last week, issuing “fresh directives” to his security chiefs with the familiar refrain: “Enough is enough.” The nation is told to hold its breath, again, as the drumbeat of “enough is enough” rises from the lips of a leader presiding over a country soaked in blood and broken promises. Yet, for a nation battered by relentless insecurity, these words ring hollow, echoing a litany of unfulfilled promises and recycled rhetoric. Nigerians are no longer fooled by the incense of these empty rituals. We have seen this charade before, too many times. It begins with a closed-door meeting. It continues with very stern instructions. It ends with another massacre, another village razed, another highway soaked in the blood of innocent Nigerians. Tinubu’s words are not directives. They are dirges.
This is not the first time President Tinubu has sounded the alarm. On October 3, 2024, he sternly warned terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers that their reign had ended, urging them to surrender or face the law. Represented by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu at an international lecture in Abuja, he declared, “Enough is enough. This has to stop. And it will stop.” Earlier, on June 24, 2024, at the North West Peace and Security Summit in Katsina State, Tinubu, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, emphasized regional cooperation to tackle insecurity, proclaiming, “We have come to say: enough is enough.” While the President’s words might have aimed to project resolve, the reality paints a different picture. In Borno State, insurgent activities have resurged, with increased incidents of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) causing civilian casualties. In the North West and North Central regions, banditry and kidnappings remain rampant, disrupting daily life and instilling fear among the populace. Nationwide, the same cycles of violence, and terror persist, casting doubt on the efficacy of these repeated admonitions. The disconnect between presidential proclamations and ground realities underscores a troubling pattern of inaction and ineffective strategies.
If anything, the President’s pronouncements have become a luxurious indulgence; a decadent tradition among Nigerian leaders to play Caesar while Rome burns. He tells his NSA and security chiefs to “work closely with governors and traditional rulers,” as if that sacred formula has not been recited and recycled like a broken spell. He claims “progress” but let him walk the scorched streets of Bokkos, the ghost villages of Benue, the shattered towns of Zamfara, and tell that to the widows gnawing on hunger and grief. Tinubu’s refrain of “enough is enough” has become a recurring soliloquy, passionate in delivery but devoid of action. Each declaration, meant to signal a turning point in the nation’s fight against insecurity, instead underscores a troubling pattern: bold proclamations followed by a deafening silence of inaction.
Every word uttered from that marble seat of power reeks of detachment. The President, like those before him, governs insecurity with words, not will. His security summits are symphonies played for the cameras and sycophants. His “new directives” are not new; they are necromantic echoes from the tomb of past failures, dressed in the perfume of urgency but soaked in the rot of inaction. What did he say last year? “Security is my top priority.” What did he say six months ago? “We are intensifying efforts.” What did he say last week? “Enough is enough.” But the only thing that seems enough is the capacity of this administration to speak, and never to act.
These are not just failures of policy. These are failures of conscience. To rule over a land where terrorists bloom like weeds, where children are abducted by the hundreds, where farms are death traps, where entire towns vanish overnight, and to still speak of “progress” is not leadership. It is delusion dipped in dishonor. And let no one try to lecture Nigerians about “relativity” – that our security is “better than before”? What nonsense is this? Relative to what? To hell itself? To 2014 when Chibok’s daughters were stolen in silence? Or to 2021 when Kaduna train passengers became hostages under the sun? The blood of Nigerians is not a chart to be improved. It is a cry – ancient, sacred, thunderous – demanding justice, not statistics. Tinubu’s security team, from NSA to service chiefs, talk glibly about “visits,” “stakeholder engagements,” and “adaptive strategies.” But who will adapt to the grave? Who will adjust to the silence of a son buried before his time?
The Nigerian people deserve more than repeated declarations. They deserve concrete actions, transparent strategies, and measurable results. It’s imperative for the administration to move beyond rhetoric and implement comprehensive security reforms that address the root causes of insecurity.
These include among others: investing in modern surveillance and intelligence technologies to preempt and prevent attacks. While there is value in collaborating with local leaders and communities to build trust and gather actionable intelligence, ensuring accountability within security agencies, improving training, and providing adequate resources, remains crucial. Most importantly, the government must address the root causes of poverty and unemployment, which often serve as breeding grounds for criminal activities. President Tinubu’s repeated declarations of “enough is enough” have, thus far, amounted to little more than empty rhetoric.
Let us call this what it really is: a government of the fatigued, speaking to a nation of the betrayed. Mr. President, if you are tired, resign. If your men are overwhelmed, replace them. If your ideas are exhausted, listen to the people, not the palace parrots that surround you. But do not mount the podium of grief and mock us with speeches carved in cowardice. Until the forests are cleared of bandits, until no student is kidnapped again, until Nigerians can travel from Abuja to Kaduna without whispering prayers of survival, your words are lies – gilded lies, but lies all the same. Nigeria does not need another directive from Tinubu to security chiefs. Nigeria needs deliverance. And if President Tinubu cannot give us that, he should stop pretending he can. Enough is enough!
