In as much as one does not want comment about the security situation in Nigeria, some forces and circumstances within and outside his horizons will keep urging him to write. One of the cardinal principles of every government is protecting the lives and properties of the people living in that country, be they are citizens or foreigners living in the country for one reason or another; but is that the case in Nigeria today? We will know the answer. Between late 2014 and early 2015, the All Progressive Congress (APC) capitalized on the then insecurity issues in the country particularly in the Niger/Delta and the Northeast and made it the crux of its campaign promises. At every rally APC and its candidate would announce that the problem and the persistent attacks by various militant groups over and above the menace of the Boko Haram insurgents in the country was as a result of the negligence of the government of the day to take decisive action to deal with perpetrators. There were even insinuation going round which was mostly cooked up by the opposition party (APC) then that the government was intentionally allowing the militants to take over the country in order to siphon public resources for 2015 campaigns. The rest is now history.
The current insecurity in the country and the rampant kidnappings in some parts of the country have forced many people to abandon Abuja-Kaduna express way, because in almost every blessed day kidnappers would storm the road, block it for some hours without any interruption and cart away with as many number of people as they want. The incessant kidnapping in our roads is what made even the army generals to start taking the safest route (train) when travelling to Abuja. On 1st May, 2019 I was reading a tweet by Senator Shehu Sani where he was narrating how he and one general left the masses in the hands of their creator and travelled through the safest Abuja-Kaduna train. These are few among the people of their caliber that hijack the Kaduna-Abuja train and made its tickets to skyrocket.
From the looks of things the country is facing one of the greatest challenge of insecurity in its history. In not fewer than 10 days between Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna bandits have killed more than 20 people in different attack escapades. On Tuesday, 30th of April 2019 not fewer than seventeen people were killed in two villages in Safana local government of Katsina state in the same day 300 cows and 3 people were slaughtered in Plateau state. These are just few among the deteriorating indicators of insecurity in the country.
In what appears like magic and to announce their might and how strong they have become, on Friday, 26th of April 2019 gunmen stormed the home town of Mr. President and abducted his ADC’s father In-law. His case is just one of few cases of victims of the country’s negligence. One painful thing about this kidnapping issue is how they are demanding outrageous amount of money which most of the time the victims’ relatives do not have to secure the release of their relatives and in some instances they go extra miles and kill their hostages after their families struggled to raise the ransom demanded. A friend in Zamfara state narrated to me how he has been abducted in January this year together with his friend who was on his sick bed. He told me the goriest part of the story was how they made him to guard the body of his best friend for three days after he died due to lack of medical attention.
The question Nigerians are always asking is “who will be blamed for the risen spate of insecurity in the country”? Is it only federal government that is at fault or the states also have their own share on this? To answer this, on the 1st May 2019 the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFFC), Ibrahim Magu, said that some of the state governors are collaborators in what is happening in their states in order to inflate security vote. With statement like this from government head of Anti-Corruption Agency we will understand that the insurgency is not ending soon in the country.
Ali Sab works with Centre for Information Technology and Development in Dutse, Jigawa State. You can reach him either through email: aliyuncee@gmail.com or his twitter handle @alygee124
