My Candid Thought On Insecurity.

Elempe Dele, Benin.

We are faced with a realization after close to six years of a president who was never prepared for the job no matter how affiliated we are politically, religiously or tribally. The sacrosanct of this truth cannot be debated.

Two of the major challenges Nigeria was faced with were corruption and insecurity, however, let’s leave corruption for another debate because all can be recovered but life. And these two deadly phenomenons were part of what formed the body of highfalutin propaganda that won the election off the ruling party, PDP.

The masses were honestly sold to the populist mantra of ‘Change.’ The banal rhetoric sold like wild fire to the extent those who opposed it were sent to imaginary tons of fire for opposing God’s will and those of honest men. All turned out to illusions from sophists that were loosed upon our landscape then looking for the willing.

Now, to the conundrum, why has the Buhari’s led administration failed to live up to expectations in the area of security? The answer is in a solution. We might proffer a solution here if it’s difficult to understand.

It’s the lack of preparedness. Rather than face the Present and Clear Danger, it was sure it will resolve its own impasse by chasing shadows in Saraki and co. I am talking realistically. The problem was not Saraki or it’s phenomenal achievement of the 8th Senate Ironically, nor was the past that the administration was not able to shrug off.

The problem was the insecurity that was growing like a hydra-headed maligning all over the swathe of the North East to the North West then to all parts of the entire country, now the South West and South East. The problem was the armed herdsmen from whatever constituency that were destroying food security with illegal arms in their pouches to kill farmers who protested.

The problem was kidnappers and criminals from all tribes who made interstate travels seem suicidal. These were the problems, not Saraki or even GEJ…

I was expecting a genuine conference of stakeholders to sit down to chart security templates to fight these aforementioned problems. First, there would be no more than six months illegal gun-buy-back amnesty. That is, all guns especially with the AK-47 would be bought back by the government with incentives.

Gunmen Strike Again, Kidnap Passengers On The Benin-Auchi Road

Passage of laws to make the acquisition and possession of these guns attract either death sentences or life in imprisonment at specially created courts to try suspects not more than 2-3 months of deliberations…

Another aspect would have been the genuine reforms that our security agencies needed. The police would have been more equiped with modern firearms rather then the obsolete ones we see with them.

They would have been more paid rather than the rag-tag depressive look they carry about with their small take homes, and then specially trained to combat physical crimes. Of course we needed more recruited police officers to cater for the over 200 million citizens to meet with the UN ratio.

And when we talk about reforms, I mean genuine reforms, not the one where the IG of police would say no more road blocks, but you see over 70 from Warri to Lagos.

Not the one you hear bail is free, always being reinforced by new IGPs even when the government goes to the police to bail people with huge sum of money. The reforms must be genuine and scapegoats must be used for others to learn lessons.

And lastly, as it has been said over and over again, the security situation has overwhelmed this administration, we cannot continue to look back to what this administration did not do to arrest the situation.

Nigeria is sliding into Yemen, Congo, Afghanistan or Somalia… this is not mere exaggeration. People from Zamfara, Benue, Kastina, Kaduna, Borno, Imo, Enugu…will give you details of what life is worth in those areas daily.

Nigeria at this moment needs external help, let’s not be shy to admit it. When ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the most brutal terrorist group of all time, overran Iraq and nearly created a caliphate in the entire country, America came to their rescue, of course with casualties. Today, ISIS is left with remnants with their leader, Al Bagdadi disseminated.

Nigeria needs help. We need foreign intervention to prevent total breakdown of law and order…we can pretend all we want, I think it is closer to a solution if we seek help than farther from it. Nigeria needs help, it does.