Life has become brutish like in barbaric times. Life has become meaningless in Nigeria. The country has become a killing field. People kill and walk away as if there’s no law against such height of criminality. From Katsina to Kaduna where bandits operate in disguise; from Adamawa to Zamfara where terrorists appeared to have established their agenda; from Benue to Kogi to Enugu where Boko Haram and herdsmen are contending who to rule, and Rivers where cultists want to control territories, it’s all story about mindless killings!
In July last year, following the increasing wave of insecurity across the country, particularly in parts of North, President Muhammadu Buhari became so exasperated that he managed to say: “I wish to assure all Nigerians that their security is receiving the greatest attention from this administration and there is no compromise in this commitment. I appeal for your patience while my security teams crack their brains to put an end to this horrendous violence.”
Sadly, nine months after the President gave the assurance, his security teams are still “cracking their brains.”
Since January this year, the President has met with the security chiefs up to 20 times over the security situation of the country. The more they meet, the more the killings by various clubs of blood suckers.
Last Tuesday, President Buhari returned to Abuja from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), a day ahead of schedule. He was initially billed to return to Abuja on Wednesday, but had to change his mind over the worsening security situation in Zamfara, Kaduna, Taraba, among other parts of the country.
Despite government’s efforts to rein in the murderous activities of the Islamist Boko Haram, the group has continued to wreak havoc in North East states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. In the North Central states of Benue, Plateau, including parts of Southern Kaduna and Taraba, the Fulani herdsmen have continued in their bloody campaign. In the Northwest, a band of bandits have literally taken over ZamfaraState. They have also overrun Kebbi, Sokoto and Katsina, and have since declared war against the constituted authorities in those states. They kill, maim and kidnap with reckless abandon.
Neither South West, South East, nor the South-south is safe as cultists, kidnappers, ritualists, armed robbers make a mincemeat of people’s lives.
At the floor of the Senate last week, the rising incidence of insecurity and wanton killings across the country flabbergasted the lawmakers.
Kabir Marafa, a senator from Zamfara, said: “Since 2011, as a result of the unabating activities of the criminals in the state, roughly estimated 11,000 males have been killed leaving behind an average of 22,000 widows and by extension, 44,000 orphans.”
According to Marafa, “These figures are just by conservative estimates because the figures are higher. Bandits and heavily armed kidnappers operate with little or no resistance in Gusau, the state capital, making less than 75 percent of the people in Zamfara not to be sleeping in their houses.
“The situation has nothing to do with politics because my own blood sister was brutally murdered in her matrimonial home in February this year and even two of my cousins were killed outside the state capital few weeks back.”
Emmanuel Bwacha, another senator from Zamfara, alerted the Senate on the series of kidnappings in his state and suggested that there should be legislative backing for individuals who wanted to carry arms for self-defence.
The House of Representatives of the National Assembly last Thursday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to President Buhari to provide explanation to the worsening insecurity in the country.
The same day, Kashim Shetima, governor of Borno State, visited all the security apparatchiks in their various offices over the situation in his home state.
In January, this year, Shetima had, at a meeting with Buhari over the raging insurgency in his state, broken down in tears. He said he was moved to tears over the recent setback in the fight against insurgency.
Recall that shortly before the general election, Shetima had escaped death by a whisker when a band of Boko Haram insurgents laid ambush against his convoy. There were fatalities.
A few days ago, Aminu Masari, re-elected governor of Katsian State, cried out that bandits had taken over some parts of the state. Katsina is the state of President Buhari.
At a recent meeting convened by the apex northern socio-cultural group, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)over the increasing rate of banditry in the North, particularly in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto states, the group said it was alarmed at the rising wave of mindless killings in the North in particular and the country in general.
But the Senate has blamed the Federal Government over its inability to tackle the alarming rate of insecurity in the country, particularly banditry in the North-West geopolitical zone. It stressed that introduction of state police remained the only solution to the menace.
Bukola Saraki, Senate president, said apart from the establishment of community or state police, the funding of the Nigeria Police Force was essential to tackle the menace.
“From the contributions we have had, I think it is key that we begin to look at the problem and look for long-term solutions. I think that what we did yesterday (Tuesday) in trying to strengthen the funding of the police through the Police Reform Bill is right.
“But more importantly is that we must go back to what a lot of us had been advocating here that there is the need for us to have state or community police. It is the way forward. Otherwise, we will continue to run into these problems.
In his suggestion on how government can address the problem of banditry in the country, Abubakar Tsav, a retired Commissioner of Police, said: “President Muhammadu Buhari should rise up to the occasion. Security is his area of core competence from his training and orientation. While fighting corruption is good, fighting this menace of insecurity would be better because without security, no meaningful development can take place.
“I suggest that the President should declare a state of emergency in this area; the situation is getting worse by the day. Take the case of Zamfara for example. I read in the media that gold mining is at the heart of the senseless killings in the area and that traditional rulers, top politicians and even policemen are benefiting from the crime being committed against the people. I even heard that some policemen are involved in collecting ransom from kidnap victims for bandits; this should not be the case. The President must take the necessary steps to ensure that those found culpable of involvement in these crimes are punished to serve as deterrent to others. There is even information that some of these people involved in kidnapping for ransom were herdsmen who were victims of cattle rustling. I heard that some of them resorted to this form of criminality because they discovered it was a quicker way of making money.
“It is sad that the governor of Zamfara State has abandoned the state and has taken up residence in Abuja from where he is shouting. This is not what he was elected to do. As a long term solution to this problem, governments at all levels must create jobs for our teeming unemployed youths, the police is short staffed and underpaid, we should find a way of recruiting more men into the security services in line with global best practices and reduce the number of idle hands in our society. This is the way to go.”
Last Thursday, the Ag. Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, gave state commissioners of police a marching order to be creative in their fight against crime.
ZEBULON AGOMUO, IGNATIUS CHUKWU, CHUKA UROKO, TONY AILEMEN and AMAKA EWUZIE
