Insecurity has ravished and humiliated Nigeria enough. Let’s arrest it frontally now, writes MONDAY PHILIPS EKPE

One of the most unfortunate fallouts of the reign of terror that has bedevilled Nigeria for close to two decades is its numbing effect on the populace. What used to scare us and elicit commensurate thoughts and actions to tackle it has somehow resulted in attitudes that range from denial to resignation, diffusion to helplessness and anxiety to phobia. And, at other times, to arguments over its proper categorisation and semantics. Just imagine why the sweat over the campaign by some individuals to remove the label of terrorism from bandits. As if we always need a situation in the magnitude of the 9/11 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, masterminded by Osama bin Laden in which thousands of people were massacred within minutes, to qualify for terrorism.

Introducing such trivialities can only complicate a matter that has literally brought the country to its knees. Call it terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping or banditry. The strain that binds them together is the impact on the people, particularly the unarmed. The practitioners of these evil trades are mostly wielders of arms and ammunitions, the types that even those authorised to monopolise the ownership of instruments of violence do not possess in good volume and quality. An average Nigerian wakes up in the morning and can no longer take his safety for granted.

It’s that bad. If our declared demography is to be believed, up to half of the population – a chunk of the youth segment – don’t know any other life outside managing to keep safe. If not from personal experiences or of those known to them, the news they’re constantly exposed to are crippling enough. And don’t doubt for a second the gravity of this pervasive insecurity or the concerns it has generated everywhere. It’s now common to hear some television anchors and reporters in the southern part of the country worry about the menace “getting too close” to their homes (comfort zones). Really? So, Damaturu and Maiduguri are not home enough?

Time was when bombings, wanton murders and wholesale destruction of towns and villages were classified by some persons as the preserve, the self-inflicted lot of the north, beginning from the north-east. But, to the discerning, there weren’t any strong grounds to embrace such myopic, sabotaging thoughts. For one, Nigeria is a single geographical entity. Even those who doubt and disparage its nationhood must come to terms, at least in their sober moments, with this “rude” reality. No physical borders between the states. And, certainly, no official encumbrances of the movement of goods, including cattle, and human beings. It was, therefore, always going to be a matter of time for the criminalities to attain a nationwide spread if they were not confronted head-on.

The basis for this prediction is well-founded and in our recent history. Take the abductions of people to press for ransom or some other blackmails. Many Nigerians would remember that this crime as a regular national pastime has its origins in the Niger Delta. Something that started ostensibly as a tool for corporate agitations was soon hijacked by the hoodlums there for filthy lucre. With time, kidnapping moved upwards, first to the south-east where its mercantile values were fully explored. By the time it got to the north, this nocuous vocation was received by more vicious criminals who treated life (they still do) as a casually dispensable item. Although kidnappings still take place in many parts of the nation, the ones up north have remained largely more organised, audacious, brutal and relentless.

The severity of this national dilemma demands that we can’t afford to politicise it any further. This sort of handling has its roots in the mischaracterisation that began during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan when the crisis was believed in certain quarters to have been cooked by some northern interests to get rid of a president from the south. Curiously, such harmful opinions have begun to emerge. Since President Muhammadu Buhari, a northern, didn’t have respite while his administration lasted, what’s the impetus for that insinuation today? The duty to lead the country away from this destructive mindset rests on President Bola Tinubu. He shouldn’t blame the opposition now as he was in the vanguard of calling Jonathan’s government “clueless” in those days.

His Democracy Day speech this year is largely predictable except for one issue related to Nigerians’ cardinal need to stay alive and well. Hear his advice to the reprehensible death professionals in our midst: “To bandits, kidnappers, and sponsors of terror: Surrender or face the full force of the Nigerian state. These windows of surrender will not remain open forever.” Ha! That is bland! Sir, at this point, advising these merchants of human blood shouldn’t be a part of your job description. Yours is to preside over their own elimination in order to sanitise Nigeria. The interminable engagements of our security operatives with them haven’t yielded the desired results. The felons are all over the social media displaying their victories freely. The souls of the officers and men who have been neutralised in the course of withstanding these odious elements and those of the hundreds of thousands of citizens sent to their early graves mustn’t be further traumatised with knee-jerk responses.

Actually, hearing that from the president makes him resemble someone pandering to people like Sheikh Abubakar Gumi who have been campaigning for negotiating with bandits, a position that hasn’t produced any meaningful outcomes and is never likely to. And to his compatriots, Tinubu declared: “No mercy will be shown to those who trade in the blood of Nigerians. At a time like this, let us not assign blame or point fingers. Crime has no ethnicity. We must stand united and be assured that the enemies of our nation shall soon be history. We will triumph over terror and continue to build a more prosperous nation.” A tiring presidential refrain that has survived Jonathan, Buhari and, now, Tinubu himself.

Excuses for the failure to combat these existential challenges have gone on for too long. Prominent among them is that our soldiers are faced with asymmetric war rather than the conventional one they are trained to prosecute. Their syllabuses and training ought to have since been reviewed to reflect the present realities that bully us unendingly with contempt. After all, ours isn’t the first country that harbours characters who hide behind religion to torment and subjugate others. Or cause massive havoc with other motivations. Talks of rejigging our security architecture have gone on forever. Promises to adequately equip and motivate the military personnel are broken records. Most Nigerians find the idea of reintegrating “repentant” terrorists into the society ridiculous and shameful. It’s time to prioritise workable solutions above politicking.

Dr Ekpe is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board

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