Everyone seems to know those behind the worsening security situation in Nigeria, but nobody is willing to name names.
The Federal Government has always pointed fingers at so-called political enemies who are not happy with the much-vaunted sterling performance of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Some of the governors whose states are going through the fire of intense attack by bandits, terrorists and hoodlums say their political enemies are at work.
Zamfara State Governor, Matawalle Bello; Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State have made such allegations.
Some of these claims may be true going by what they know, information at their disposal and what they themselves may have done while trying to get to power.
YunusaTanko, a former presidential candidate/head, Public Affairs NCFront, said: “We have heard some chieftains of the current government confess how they hired mercenaries from other countries to cause mayhem in Nigeria to discredit former president Goodluck Jonathan and his administration.”
“So, when they are now saying that what is happening is politically motivated, they know what they are saying,” Tanko added.
YinusaAbubakar, a member of the House of Representatives, alleged that political actors may be conniving with terrorists and bandits in sharing the ransom money of kidnapped victims. He also believes that people know where the bandits are because they work hand-in-hand with the bandits.
The lawmaker, who also is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), pointed out that some soldiers in the Nigerian Army may have been compromised by the enemy.
He said that the division in the Army is so dangerous as it has made Nigerians to lose trust in the Army.
While many Nigerians expect the government and all those who make allegations of knowing those behind the insecurity to name and shame them, others would want President Buhari to start with the known enemies.
“Everybody knows that the greatest security threat in the country today are the Fulani herdsmen. They have caused more havoc in the country than any group, but none of them is being prosecuted; none has been jailed. Even the shoot-on-sight order given by the President has not been carried out on the herdsmen, who are still moving about with AK-47,” a concerned politician who craved anonymity said.
According to the politician, “Recently, Governor Samuel Ortom was attacked and the Fulani herdsmen claimed responsibility for the attack on his convoy. They even threatened that the governor would not be as lucky next time, yet, the Presidency has kept quiet. The Federal Government merely ordered investigation, but nobody is fooled.”
Recall that Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State recently said that the continued attack in the state was being masterminded by political enemies.
Uzodinma made the claim when he was reacting to the attack on the Correctional Centre and police headquarters in Owerri last month.
Dan Nwanyanwu, national chairman of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), also believes that the attacks in the South East had to do with politics.
He said that terrorism had been imported into Imo State and the zone as a whole by individuals who may have lost out in power equation. He believes that the conflagration in Imo is being stoked by political elements that do not want to give Uzodinma rest of mind, but sleepless nights.
While speaking to Channels Television recently, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State had said that some individuals were being sponsored to cause mayhem in the state.
Umahialso said that some desperate politicians who have never in their lives managed N100million want to manage billions of naira. They sponsor all manner of brigandage and character assassination of other people. He also spoke about the security risk posed by the army of lazy youths who sit idly waiting for cheap money without going into productive ventures, unlike in China where everybody is busy contributing to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in one way or the order.
The governor deplored a situation where everybody wants to go into politics and make cheap money.
But observers say that it is the flamboyant lifestyle of politicians that encourages insecurity and gives false impression of excess money in government.
Governor Umahi’s allegation was also corroborated by one of his aides in charge of security who claimed that they had intelligence reports on those allegedly responsible for the crisis in the state.
But ObinnaChidoka, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member, representing Idemili North and Idemili South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said those saying that politicians were responsible for the heightened insecurity in the country should be bold enough to mention names.
Chidoka believes that the bucks stop at President Buhari’s desk. He advised the President to resign if he can no longer guarantee the protection of lives and property of citizens that voted him into power.
He also said that if the President had sought to occupy the post for many times before he eventually got the opportunity, he should know that it was not just to occupy office for the sake of it but to perform the duty of it.
But BubaGaladima, a politician and farmer, blamed the government for the worsening insecurity in Nigeria. He said that those who claimed to have been elected by the Nigerian people have failed in all the promises they made before coming to power, and that rather than looking elsewhere for the cause of the crisis, they should blame themselves.
He said that while insecurity has worsened, corruption has gone beyond the level it was in 2015 and that the economy has suffered recession three times in six years. He noted that while the naira was 180 to one dollar when the APC government took over power from the PDP, it is now N500 to one dollar.
“This is the worst government that we have ever seen. They should resign,” he said.
“Why is it taking government a lot of time to fish out those behind the insecurity in the country?” he wondered.
He also accused the Federal Government of insincerity in the fight against insurgency.
While the government and its security agencies close their eyes to the atrocious deeds of the Fulani herdsmen across the country, they are breathing down on some other people.
A cleric, Reverend Olusola Idowu of AjayiDahunsi Baptist Church, Ilashamaja, Lagos, alleged that there were some sacred cows in Buhari administration that no matter what they do, they would not be questioned or punished.
“When you look at the things happening in the country, you would find out that there are some sacred cows in this government and no matter the investigation anybody brings up – as long as it has to do with the sacred cows you can be sure that this government constituted and led by President Muhammadu Buhari will not look into some cases that are related to these people.
“But those that they can usually use as sacrificial lamb, they know how to get them out of the way. I bet you, if Isa Pantami was another person he would have actually been made to resign. So, I don’t see him resigning because even before he made any attempt to say the allegations are not true, the Federal Government had supported him – so, why will he resign? He has no reason to resign and unfortunately, that is where we are today as a nation,” Idowu said.
Some observers say that why it may have become difficult to name and shame anybody is the different perception of what constitutes insecurity and the real perpetrators.
The definition of insecurity in Nigeria is dependent on who is looking at it. For the Federal Government, it is the handiwork of political enemies. For the masses, it is a failure of governance.
In the eyes of some elements in the north, insecurity manifested in the form of banditry, terrorism and Boko Haram insurgency is a mere anger by youths offended by the Federal Government, who must be compensated and rehabilitated.
In the southern part of the country, whether in the South West, South-South or South-East, the major insecurity is the Fulani herdsman. The menace of herdsmen is the only problem they know.
Again, while the Federal Government and the Muhammadu Buhari administration see insecurity as mere activities of IPOB and other groups that must be crushed by all means, some others believe government must search itself.
