The last two weeks have been one of the most troubling times for the nation. Nigerians were at a point literally on tenterhooks as mass abductions by soulless terrorists, obviously hitting soft targets to use them as “human shields” against the onslaught of the military, spiked.
However, the big balloon of dysphoria cascading the land became deflated, temporarily easing off the fever pitch anxiety, when the news of the rescue of all the 38 worshippers kidnapped from an Eruku, Ekiti council Kwara State CAC church and 24 Kebbi school girls hit the airwaves. And of course, the escape from captivity of 51 of the 303 girls whisked away from St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State added to the list of the freed captives.
Relief graduated to joy at the further revelation that all the victims were rescued unhurt and the almost incredible medical report showing that none of the Kebbi school girls was violated by the otherwise vile elements.
For President Bola Tinubu, his security team, who were prompt and responsive to the tragic wave of mass abductions, governors of the affected states and others who were part of the rescue efforts, it is a humdinger of a feat. They deserve the thumbs up.
Indeed, you may fault President Tinubu in other areas, but not on humanitarian grounds. He has proved to be a responsive leader in crisis times. He has been quite adulous, most especially after US President Donald Trump’s threat of military invasion escalated the security maelstrom and stirred panic across the land, especially among discerning Nigerians who had a foreboding over the threat.
The President gave marching orders and followed up to see results. And like any other responsive leader should do at a time like this, not only does he talk tough, he has also tried to enliven the dampened spirit of Nigerians through pep talks that tend to keep hope of victory alive amid overwhelming panic and despair.
The greatest hope dampener is a leader’s docility, fright and glaring cluelessness in the face of existential danger. The President rather than clasp his hands in fright and helplessness, even at the threat of a superpower’s invasion of his country, displayed uncommon courage by vigorously dispelling President Trump’s ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC) and genocide against Christians narratives.
He also took far-reaching decisions to address matters. He ordered the military to scale up onslaught against the bandits and insurgents, destabilizing them and upending their operational networks. He raised teams to continue to engage the US and other strategic members of the international community in diplomatic talks.
Over 11,000 police personnel attached to very important personalities (VIPs) have also been withdrawn, following his directive, to boost community policing and other critical areas.
He ordered immediate aerial surveillance of Kebbi, Niger, Kwara and other critical forests under siege with a view to ridding them of bandits. He has also declared a nationwide emergency on security, directing the Army and the Police to embark on massive recruitments to address the dearth of manpower.
The Directorate of State Security (DSS) is to deploy already trained Forest Guards to begin flushing out the terrorists holed up in the nation’s forests. The National Assembly is also to review the relevant laws to allow state police come on stream.
These are far-reaching and commendable measures to address the hydra-headed terrorism challenges. There are, however, bothersome gaps in the handling of the escalating terrorism challenge.
First, after the mirth that trailed the rescue of the kidnap victims had simmered, people started wondering why no arrests were made in the course of rescuing the abductees from the kidnappers’ dens.
As a matter of fact, the mass abductions appeared to have halted the initial military onslaught against the terrorists, a development people feared could allow the felons the dangerous breather to recoup and restrategize.
The explanation of the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, tends to provide a window, which is rather troubling. It tends to explain why the anti-terror war may have been convoluted and somewhat interminable.
Onanuga, who featured on ‘Prime Time,’ an Arise TV programme, gave the credit for the victims’ rescue to the DSS and the military, which, according to him, promptly established contacts with the kidnappers and demanded that they release their captives unharmed. And penultimate Sunday, they(DSS and the military) were able to get them out unharmed, using a non-kinetic approach.
“The security agencies have a way of contacting these people. They (bandits) know the consequences of not acquiescing to government demands. They know they could be pummelled,” he added.
The presidency’s explanation has raised critical questions from curious segments of society. Onanuga said no ransom was paid, just as affirmed by the Kebbi State governor, Nasil Idris, but Onanuga’s clarification implies that the communication lines between state security agencies and terrorists are open, functional and effective.
That admission, according to some analysts, tends to suggest obliquely that all along, Nigerian security agencies had the capability to track, identify and communicate with terrorists, but it defines logic that mass killings and mass abductions are being ferociously perpetrated by the terrorists unabated.
Onanuga’s excuse as to why kinetic approach— direct attack— was not used in rescuing the abductees was that the terrorists often use captives as “human shields,” which could result in “collateral damage”. Attacking their base could be risky because you can kill the civilians,” he added.
The immediate posers arising from the the presidency’s explanation include: why did the military dawdle in moving in to rout the terrorists after successfully rescuing the captives?
If it is true that security agencies can track bandits; know their bases; know their movements; can reach them and when the state wants something urgently or makes a request, they comply, why then are thousands of kidnap victims still in captivity?
Why do bandits operate freely for years, collecting taxes, running parallel governments in some communities and slaughtering or decapitating victims without consequence?
What this surmises is that our security agencies actually have the capacity to rout the terrorists but lack the will to go all out against them.
Could this have explained why some of the ostensibly powerful and influential persons suspected to be backing or sponsoring the terrorists are yet to be fished out and dealt with?
The idea of the state, which is the only force statutorily empowered to use force, negotiating with the terrorists, who have high capacity for caprice, amounts to a sort of capitulation. It is an oblique admission of loss of the monopoly of coercion. And it is terrifying.
President Tinubu, while declaring an emergency on security, was warning the terrorists not to mistake the government’s restraint for weakness. No! This is not the time to show restraint, Mr President.
Government should stop treating the terrorists with kid gloves. It should henceforth be operation no more mercy. They have taken the nation for a ride for too long.
The government’s somewhat insouciant attitude towards the rag tag band of malefactors appears to be emboldening them, to the extent that they have become so audacious to often display the sickening products of their heist on the social media. They are now even threatening to go after politicians, the governors and the president!
This is why we admonish Mr President to have a rethink over his decision not to engage mercenaries so as not to undermine sovereignty. If the combination of sabotage, complicity and inexplicable internal contradictions continue to compromise our military, reputed to be one of the strongest in Africa, in its campaign to totally defeat the terrorists, there is wisdom in opting for the mercenaries option.
We should jettison the sheer hubris of flaunting our moniker as the ‘giant of Africa’ at this stage and be sober enough to embrace whatever solution will bail us out of this insecurity quagmire. After all, the Goodluck Jonathan government contracted mercenaries from South Africa in 2014 who, with the added advantage of technology, were sure to decimate the insurgents but for internal blackmail along the line.
It is good to populate our security forces but we need to invest more in intelligence and technology, the fulcrum upon which modern warfare runs. These are the twin-factors that today shape the military capabilities of world powers, including the United States, nicknamed the ‘policeman of the world.’
However, if the nation’s intelligence and technology needs can be met by the newly created US–Nigeria Joint Working Group, it will be splendid. The creation of the joint working group, a bilateral mechanism designed to strengthen collaboration between both countries in addressing Nigeria’s security challenges, followed the recent high-level engagements in Washington DC, where a Nigerian delegation, led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, held extensive talks with senior US government officials.
It was one of the key outcomes of those meetings. The birth of the joint working group marks what appears to be a shift in narrative on the part of the US President Donald Trump, who had earlier threatened to intervene in Nigeria’s security problem “gun-a-blazing” following the nation’s conciliatory diplomatic engagements.
Again, it is difficult to reconcile the current practice of absorbing repentant terrorists into our security forces with the high level of internal sabotage and complicity, which tend to fuel recurrent ambushes of our troops. It is plausible for some of the so-called repentant terrorists to act as moles for non-state actors. That practice should be stopped forthwith.
The state police policy and other emergency measures enumerated by the President should be implemented without further delay. State and community policing will strengthen security and complement existing security agencies, especially in the area of intelligence and surveillance.
Besides, governors will now have the teeth to bite in securing their domains with state police under their beck and call. With the current centralization of military and police administration, the state chief executives, who are constitutionally the chief security officers of their states, are in reality lame ducks because none of the security agencies are answerable to them.
In another breath, it is oddly that very important personalities (VIPs), especially our federal legislators, have been lamenting the presidential order withdrawing police personnel attached to them following the escalation of terrorist activities.
They are asking Mr President to reverse or review the order because it may expose them to danger, especially with the threat by terrorists to start going after politicians and political leaders. We feel their position as selfish and insensitive. They seem to be saying that mindless killings of ordinary Nigerians could continue as long as they are protected.
While the withdrawal order, which the Inspector General of Police(IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, said will strengthen rural and township security, improve intelligence-led operations and boost rapid response capacity, could truly imperil some categories of VIPs because of the nature of their assignments, they should stop whingeing and simply seek alternatives in protecting themselves by engaging private security professionals.
After all, most of the VIPs concerned are affluent enough to fund private security arrangements to fill the gap instead of pressuring the government to rescind the police withdrawal order.