My attention was drawn to the aforementioned piece of opinion published in this well-liked newspaper of October 9, 2023, in which the writer shed some light on how wide-spread insecurities, especially banditry, livestock rustling, kidnapping and a host of other crimes keep taking hold of the North West and the silence of the Nigerian authorities on it.
While delivering his Independence Day speech, Nigerians expected to hear Mr President’s sympathy for the families of those five abducted female students of the Federal University in Dutsin-Ma town in Katsina State and those 24 more of the Federal University, Gusau, who were also kidnapped from their dormitories.
An enigmatic silence of President Tinubu about terrifying pervasive insecurities across the North West has jogged my memory of what a former All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Director on Civil Society Organizations, Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, said that Tinubu told her that he had no blueprint for tackling insecurity in the North during their meeting in London.
Hence, there is certainly an element of truth in what Hajiya Naja’atu said, looking into how President Tinubu is doing nothing enough to combat these insecurities across the region.
Now hardly a day goes by without hearing news of deaths, abductions and brutal invasions across the North West. There are millions of people around the region fleeing their homes and towns fearing midnight attacks from terrorists.
Looking at how the insecurity situation swallowed up this region, the Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, said the federal government was not interested in the security of lives and property in the region and showing lethargy in the rescue of the kidnapped female university students in Zamfara State.
The current incessant kidnapping and gruesome massacre of citizens across the region is becoming a daily occurrence with little or no attention being given to this grave violation of human rights by the government of the day.
Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), states that “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government, and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this constitution”. The renewed hope regime should prioritise security sector which is the primary purpose of immaculate democracy.
Before terrorists take hold of the region and annihilate it, I plead with patriotic northern leaders to wake up from their deep slumber and save the innocent lives of northerners from the spate of rising insecurity now ravaging the North West and posing a grave threat to its existence.
People are asking some questions such as where is the Northern Governors Forum and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) or the Northern Elders Forum (NEF)? What sort of action is being taken by them?
Some of the concerned people of the North are now shedding tears and remembering their late patriotic leaders of the yesteryears like Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardaunan Sokoto) and Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who would always rise up and come together to grapple with any problem bedevilling their region and the entire country; unlike unpatriotic leaders of the present day whose hearts are swallowed by political parochialism and avariciousness.
Last but not least, the attention of the entire leaders of the northern part should be brought to the fact that even animals are sacred creatures deserving to be respected and protected. So, it is very important to realise that as long as this rising scaring insecurity and governments’ delinquency persist in the country none of us can truly rest.
Mustapha Baba Azare, Bauchi State
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