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After corruption and inept leadership, insecurity arising from violent crimes and acts of terrorism have done more harm to this country’s economy and polity than anything we can ever imagine. It therefore goes without saying that to undo the damage wrought by these anomalies we have to dispassionately address them to fix Nigeria.
The rising spate of insecurity has not only served as disincentive to existing investors, it also discourages potential investors from coming as it projects the country in a negative light around the world.
Insecurity which gained notoriety during the reign of President Goodluck Jonathan, owing to political power tussle, became even more heightened and embarrassing to the country during the ruinous eight years of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
The refusal of Buhari to fight insecurity to a stand still might as well not be unconnected with the fact that the APC government that he led was not only complicit but also encouraged and weaponised it to get to power in 2015. They created a monster that outgrew them and could not be tamed. They paid lip service to fighting insecurity. They spent eight wasted years looking the other way while the nation was on fire.
The immediate consequences being that businesses fled the country, food insecurity gained frightening proportions, farmers ran from their farms to escape bandits, kidnappers and insurgents. Nations issued travelling advisory to their citizens against coming to Nigeria. Travelling by road became a passport to landing in the killer Fulani herdsmen hideouts in the forests, our politicians and citizens ran to city centres where there was relative peace as they abandoned their country homes for fear of being kidnapped for ransom or being killed.
That was how we lived for eight years under a retired general whose credential was sold to us as a no nonsense retired Jackboot who will rout these deviants in no time. Well, we know better now.
The coming of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023 had raised expectations that our worst days would be over. I was particularly optimistic that, unlike during Buhari’s reign, when it was very obvious that Buhari had outsourced his responsibilities to cronies and close relatives, there would not be any doubt as to where the buck stops under Tinubu.
Again, unlike Buhari, who gave his kith and kin unparalleled abuse of power and free reign of terror, Tinubu would be more decisive in checking insecurity, especially as it concerns banditry and activities of killer herdsmen.
And have I been proved right? Yes. At least marginally compared to what still has to be done, and by far better than the Buhari era in just two years.
For the first time we are having cases of arrests and killings of terror kingpins. The effort of the military now is attracting commendations from across the world and the rate of terror attacks have been reduced. Travelling by road and by train has picked up. The notorious Kaduna-Abuja route for both rail and road users is no longer the nightmare it used to be.
In two years, Tinubu has achieved what Buhari would never have achieved even if he had another 8 years, because of his affinity and open sympathy for these marauders.
For the much so far achieved under Tinubu, there is still a lot of job left. We cannot effectively check insecurity if we fail to address the issue of who the financiers of these groups are? Who are the ones arming and financing these groups? Where do those hunger-stricken Fulani herdsmen get their AK-47 from? Who owns these cattle? How do rustlers escape with hundreds of cattle with no trace or arrests. How did these criminals hide away from the law into forests beyond the trace and knowledge of the military, yet some of their sympathisers in government know how to find them to pay huge sums of money and mediate between them and states and federal governments? How is it possible that in those eight years of Buhari not one single arrest was made and no notable gang leader was arrested or killed? What also happened to the list of identified terrorists by some countries abroad and which was handed to the Buhari government.
Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, revealed that the process of identifying and prosecuting terrorism financiers in Nigeria was ongoing, stressing that the matter involves legal complexities… Some of them have funds coming from outside, we cannot do anything from within.
The CDS said terrorism financiers often rely on local operatives who remit money into certain accounts.
However, if our previous experience is anything to go by, then one might be tempted to say that is the last we will ever hear of this. That has been the pattern all these years. Processes that never come to any logical conclusions. Investigations whose outcomes never see the light of the day. That’s why insecurity has remained intractable.
In September 2021, the Federal Government, through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had promised that they would leave no stone unturned in the prosecution of Boko Haram financiers and the fight against terrorism in the country. By the time they were leaving office two years after, all stones remained unturned.
Malami, who was speaking in New York at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, said; “The position, as it stands, is that investigation has reached an advanced stage and the government will make a statement in that direction in due course.
“As per terrorism funding and financing is concerned, we have succeeded in identifying those that are allegedly responsible for funding same and we are blocking the leakages associated with funding while embarking on aggressive investigation that is indeed impacting positively in terms of the fight against terrorism.
“One thing I can tell you for sure is that whatever we do in terms of detention and arrest is indeed backed-up by judicial processes. We have acquired and obtained legitimate court orders taking into consideration the facts and material proof of evidence presented before the court on account of which the court eventually exercises its discretion in terms of granting orders that we can have the suspects in custody pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
It was also revealed that the FG through the Complex Case Group of the Department of Public Prosecution of the Federation in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice that over one thousand Boko Haram Case files out of which 285 have been filed before the Federal High Court based on prima facie cases of terrorism against them.
They claimed that the delay witnessed in the prosecution process was occasioned by COVID-19 lockdown, Judiciary Staff Union (JUSUN) Strike and court vacation.
“Naming and shaming of suspects is not embarked upon as a policy by the Federal Government out of sheer respect to the constitutional rights of Nigerians relating to presumption of innocence. It is a product of constitutionalism and the law. It is rooted in the law and the names of the suspects will accordingly be made public at the point of judicial arraignment while the shaming remains a consequence of judicial conviction.
To Malami he sounded convincing. An Attorney General of a government that was unfazed with persecuting justices and senior legal practitioners through media trials believed that bandits deserved better treatment. What an irony!
Perhaps Malami chose that grand stage at the UN for grandstanding, and nothing more. What has happened since then and what was the outcome of that investigation?
Gen. Musa must by now understand why Nigerians are ever pessimistic and indifferent to promises and pledges of government that never get fulfilled. It’s always the same old song.
General Musa should spare us the rhetoric, we can’t wait to see this promise kept. Until the sponsors of these heinous crimes against our country are brought to book, every other thing would remain what they are: empty promises and terrorism and other forms of criminality will continue ad infinitum.