Suffering and Smiling : Insecurity in Northern Nigeria- Idris Mohammed

Writing on the issue of insecurity is one of the most difficult and heartbreaking because it is talking about human being maimed, kidnapped under the watch of so-called leaders.

Anytime I place my fingers on the keyboard to analyses and put my opinion on the Nigerian state of insecurity, I feel very nerve, so frustrated and headache because the country is in serious danger and our leaders are not disturbed or pretending all is well.

Amidst the worsening insecurity in the country, we will not keep quiet watching things go on the wrong ways without drawing the attention of the government.

Where do I start? Is it the over one decade Boko Haram conflict in the Northeast or the protracted violent armed bandits in the North West? Should I turn my eye blind on the persistent farmer/herder conflict in the north-central or what please? These heartbreaking issues are the trending news every passing second on our national dailies.

Permit me to send my condolences to the families and relatives of the 43 slaughtered farmers in Zabarmari village in Jere local government of Borno State by the deadly Boko Haram terrorist on Saturday 28th of November, this incompetent government failed to discharge its primary responsibility. May their gentle souls rest in perfect peace and comfort the hearts of their relatives.

In this month alone, a lot of shocking and frightening atrocities happened in the region, Boko Haram killed 43 local farmers, bandits ransacked the whole village in Gudu in Sokoto, over 40 Muslim worshippers were abducted in their mosques, kidnapping everywhere, especially in the Kaduna –Abuja high ways, some communities in Katsina State, is no go area, Zamfara is another dead grave and many more unreported cases. Are the people of North suffering and smiling with the president hails from the region?

It has become an offense to criticize the President even if things are not going well. Both his hired aids and self-appointed social media aids will tag you as anti-government or someone who sees nothing good in this government.

What do you want us to tell those who were supposed to provide security to lives and properties as enshrined in the constitution?   Clap for them for such dereliction of duty or smile and suffering?

Travelling on Northern Nigerian roads these days is very frightening and risking. People normally encounter daredevil kidnappers who can jump on you at any moment. The securities on the road became beggars and wished people well when going to pay ransoms to the kidnappers. There is nothing good and motivating about Nigeria now, a lot of frustrations and anger everywhere because of the incompetency of this government pushing the million population to endless suffering.

Every sensible person in northern Nigeria is aware that the region is becoming Somalia, recall, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saadu Abubakar III described the region as the worst place to stay.

His warning is timely and has captured the bloodletting due to insecurity in the region. There is a population explosion, poverty and a wide gap of income inequality. Do you know how many people are becoming jobless every day because of terror attacks in the region? Farmers are not going near to their farms, let alone cultivate their crop., villagers are paying levy and taxes to the bandits before they can access their farms. people are forced to save money just in case kidnappers will strike and abduct their loved ones. Is North with this catalogue of problems a good place for us to grow? Certainly no!

Read Also:Insecurity: Bandits now go from house to house to kidnap -Sultan Abubakar

The region is sliding to anarchy with all hope being lost. The un-govern spaces in the region is one of the major contributing factors of overgrowing terrorism and armed criminal activities.

It’s disheartening people who have invested their time and resources expecting a better life under this administration to be gruesomely killed by armed bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram. Can we keep smiling and suffering?

There is nothing wrong for Mr President to change his underperforming service chiefs who have overstayed and outlived their usefulness. Mr President should quickly inject new blood into the security structure in the country who will come with fresh ideas.

What most security observers are basing their view on in this situation is, the service chiefs, especially military generals’ conspire to perpetuate the Boko Haram insurgency for their unlawful financial gain.

Despite massive expenditure by the Nigerian government over the last decade, these security chiefs have not recorded any significant achievement in the war against insurgency and other insecurity in the country.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, for the Nigerian government to win this war. The government must investigate the funds budgeted for security. Change the service chiefs and also nip into bud the security agencies rivalry which hampers efforts to crush insecurity in the country.

Insurgency requires tact, diplomacy and combativeness. Banditry requires a studied approach to underpin the reason for the growing cases and the use of tactical methods in confronting this monster.

Cooperating with border localities especially lake chad basin areas will help in curbing the terror groups activities and finally, the government should address the issue of  explosive population growth, unemployment  and climate change, these issues are exacerbating economic anxiety and fomenting lawlessness especially in the communities in northern Nigeria that border with Niger Republic and Chad

Idris Mohammed wrote this piece from Funtua, Katsina state. He tweets @Edrees4P