The country has not known peace since the militant Islamist, Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram was killed by the security agents in 2009. The insurgency which started like a child’s play in faraway Maiduguri, Borno state, for several years has continued to rage and make headlines around the globe. The problem however has festered to a point that people are wondering what has become of the security architecture of the country, which has also suffered unimaginable onslaught in the past. Since the death of the so-called Yusuf, many years ago, thousands of people have been abducted, kidnapped or killed. Nigeria has lost count, as no one can say exactly the number of people sent to their early graves. Villagers in the Middle Belt, especially have also been sacked from their ancestral homes, farm lands completely destroyed, while many are still living in Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs). The point remains that the country is paying dearly for a misplaced ideology of a confused man, whose message was antithetical to any progressive society.
That President Muhammadu Buhari and his Service Chiefs are unable to tackle this insecurity menace after so much has been spent, coupled with acquisition of modern weapons to tackle the issue frontally, indeed has continued to raise fundamental questions on what is happening and where the country is going from here? Again, the pronouncement of Zamfara State Governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle that all residents in the state should bear arms to defend themselves confirms that the solution to the nation’s insecurity is not ending anytime soon, even with the hue and cry, harvest of deaths, and blood of the innocent that is flowing across the land, daily! In fact, the Nigerian people have resigned to fate over this lingering insecurity, which root cause alluded to: Bad governance, poverty, weak judicial system and above all, corruption that has remained an albatross in today’s society. It is regrettable that in today’s Nigeria, the clergy are kidnapped and killed at will.
This is happening almost every day and everywhere. While the people are still mourning the killings in the Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, which occurred on June 5, 2022, another took place in Kaduna, same Catholic Church, and yet again, in Edo State where a Catholic priest who was going to celebrate early morning Mass was gunned down, in cold blood. No thanks that to all these killings, the police is saying that nobody has been arrested in connection with the Owo killing, even when Amotekun, the regional security outfit in the South West holds a different view. Simply put, the insecurity challenge in the country is so dire. The earlier we realize that the battle cannot be won by same old method of combating crime in the country, the better for all of us. We need a scientific approach to tackle the menace and to stop the death of innocent people. Technology is the only way out. The terrorists, bandits and other criminals are having a field day, and the people are suffering endlessly. The collapse of security in the country is the reason people are clamouring for state police. The present police structure has proven in every facet that it cannot secure the people and their properties.
The situation now is so bad that Churches, which are supposed to be places of refuge are now asking their members to evolve a mechanism of protecting themselves by installing Close Circuit Television cameras, (CCTV), provision of body scanners and other necessary gadgets that can be of use in this challenging period the country is facing. This development is not unconnected with the Executive Order already signed into law by the Ondo State Governor, which is already in force that directs all public places, especially the Church in the state to install security equipment that could either forestall or detect danger when it’s lurking around. Any country that cannot protect her citizens is akin to a failed state. The issue of insecurity in the country sincerely has ridiculed the present government who the citizens had lots of trust in when it came on board in 2015.
Whether the government within these remaining few months would redeem and restore hopes of Nigerians on security matters, calls for a reamain to be seen action. Moving forward, we want to see concrete action in this direction. We also call on the security agencies, especially the police to ensure that these marauders going about everywhere, killing people at will are apprehended and brought to justice. Those behind Owo killings and other places in the country should be smoked out, no matter how long. The land is drenched with innocent blood and that is not how to protect a country that is plagued also with economic problems.
