Towards a more secured Nigeria

In truth, President Buhari promised two main things during the campaigns for the 2015 elections: to fight corruption and insecurity in the country. All the other lofty promises were largely inputs from the party – an amalgam of then opposition parties, prominent of which was the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) particularly skilled at propaganda and in making electoral promises.

As expected the President has taken the war directly to the killer group. He began by first changing the service chiefs and reorganising the military to better position it to comprehensively defeat the Boko Haram group. One of the strategic decisions he made was in moving the military command and control centre to Maiduguri – the very location of the insurgency group. After systematically eliminating or minimising the corruption in the defence and security architecture of the country that has compromised the ability of the military to successfully fight the insurgency and lowered morale and with morale at an all-time high, the military was giving the task of capturing all territories still under the control of the insurgents within three months.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Burutai renamed the operation “Operation Lafiya Dole’’ and in most cases, was at the forefront of the war. Consequently, the Nigerian military has successfully liberated virtually all of the territories under the control of the insurgents, opened up roads and communities that were hitherto deserted and are pushing the insurgents hard into the precincts of their last stronghold – the huge Sambisa forest. As at the last report, the Nigerian Air force has intensified bombardment and ground troops are doing the mop up of the forest. If the military sustains the fight at the current level, the insurgency should be fully contained before year end. Even die-hard critics of the president could not disagree with the achievement of the president in curtailing the Boko Haram scourge.

However, just as the Boko Haram scourge is being curtailed, another greater threat, this time from rampaging terrorists masquerading as herdsmen who go about communities in the North Central and Southern Nigeria killing and engaging in wholesale massacres. Although the cases of Fulani herdsmen and farmer’s clashes have been going on for years, the inability of the government to stop it is now emboldening groups to go on wholesale massacres and elimination of whole communities – including helpless women, children, the elderly and infirm – as a way of settling supposed scores. The cases of the Agatu and Enugu killings where about 400 and 50 people were reportedly massacred by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue and Enugu states quickly comes to mind. As widely reported by the media, Fulani cattle rearers in combat gears, armed with AK – 47 rifles invaded several villages and farm settlements in broad daylight and at night, gunning down children, women, men and the elderly alike. According to the report, the Fulani invaders were not only content with killings, but also burned down houses, churches, police posts, food and farm items.

Shockingly, however, the government initial maintained a painful and loud silence on the killings as if nothing was wrong and after severe criticisms, its spokesperson came out to say the government was handling the matter silently.

Unfortunately, the inability of the government to act decisively just as it is doing against Boko Haram to bring the issue of the killer herdsmen under control is threatening to undo all the good works the president is doing in securing the nation and it may ultimately lead to an ethnic conflagration that the government cannot handle and which may pose more threat to the unity and continued existence of the country. It even becomes confounding when the government’s response to the killer herdsmen is contrasted to the little or no threat posed by pro-Briafran agitators and protesters who were mercilessly mowed down by the Nigerian military.

The President must realise he is the President of the whole of Nigeria and it behoves on him to govern in such a manner as to earn the trust of all Nigerians.