In the last week or two, a cursory look at the papers revealed the following kidnappings, among several mass kidnapping of children from schools, attacks on policemen in the South East and other idiocies that have now been normalised in our milieu:- Emir of Bugundu (Zamfara State) kidnapped along Abuja-Kaduna highway.- Father of LG Chairman kidnapped in Bayelsa State- Gunmen kidnap 73 students of Government Secondary School, Kaya, Zamfara State- Sister of Deputy Speaker kidnapped in Katsina State- Adamawa, Katsina, Zamfara, school closures- Children of Katsina SSG kidnapped- Former Senator kidnapped in Akwa Ibom- Jigawa State – Bandits abduct monarch in Taura LG, set palace ablaze- Former Chief Justice of Abia State, Nnenna Oti, kidnapped- Former NBC Director kidnapped in Katsina State- Sowore’s brother shot dead. Reverend Sister escapes, says there were other victims in the bush- Deputy provost’s three sons kidnapped in Katsina- Pastor’s wife and children kidnapped in Abuja- Pastor, 27 others kidnapped in Kwara. One dies 7 days after release- Gunmen kill two, abduct 60 others in Sokoto- Anglican Priest killed for inviting soldiers to stop school raid in Imo State
Is this not worse than Iraq and Afghanistan? Is this not a war situation? Okay, we now know that nowhere is safe in Nigeria and anyone can be abducted in broad daylight anywhere. We see that many of our big men are relocating abroad – Nigeria has become too hot apparently. The question is; who next? Every representative of our demographic has seen trauma in the hands of the insecurity that Buhari foisted on us by his non-governance. The buck stops with him and he can see his testimonial being written by himself so starkly. He said he was a general and will lead from the front right? He fought tooth and nail to be president. He cursed and whipped up sentiments and when he got in, he cocooned himself in all the security that money can buy. But look at him today. Sorry, look at us.
Four states in Nigeria have had to totally shut down schools – and these are states with educational disadvantages. In Katsina, where Buhari is from, the entire state was overrun just about two weeks ago. It was in that same state that former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, Mamman Nasir – 90 years old and blind – and a whole traditional ruler was kidnapped and traumatised, dying shortly after he managed to escape in 2019. In Zamfara, a sitting Sharia Court Judge was recently hijacked right in court and taken away for almost two months, until his people paid a ransom. He said the kidnappers were Fulani. My friend Sola Fagorusi was kidnapped for 21 days in Ekiti, by people whom he said spoke Fulfulde and occasional French, who boasted of their exploits as far as Mali and Sudan and Cameroun. When he was eventually released after a huge ransom had been collected, not a soul from DSS or the police debriefed him or tried to obtain any intelligence. Just last week, I read about one Mr Orisan, who was killed in Ekiti State where he had gone to bury his mother-in-law. His daughter and someone else were kidnapped for weeks. The east of Nigeria is still a fragile place after so-called unknown gunmen have wasted dozens of security servicemen. In the South West, Ekiti is volatile for kidnappings and Ondo, bank robberies. The South South seems to be the safest place today, but at sea, a lot of pirate hijackings are going on in the Gulf of Guinea. Nowhere is safe.
We have become inured to violence and absurdities. When I did a bit of research on mass kidnappings, I found that Nigeria is the only country in the world where mass kidnappings of children (in fact of anyone) happens. How does anyone mount hundreds of children on bikes or stuff them in buses and drive for hundreds of kilometres without being stopped or questioned? The villagers are complicit. The government (local, state and federal) are complicit. The security services (police, DSS and the lot), are complicit. A lot of these kidnappings are setups to extract money and power and they have been overly successful so far. I also believe that the other kidnappings around the country are very organised and that former armed robbers and hardened crime kingpins have discovered that they can make a whole lot more cool money therefrom. Their kingpins are among us, living in mansions, hailed by society and given awards, regarded as philanthropists in our religious houses and buffeted by governments. Evil has mainstreamed in Nigeria. Every tribe/nationality is involved, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani and the others in Nigeria. Even the security services cannot wash themselves clean. These are largely intelligence failures allowed to go on for so long. They can therefore be solved. In the killing of Mr Orisan in Ekiti State, his unemployed MSc-holder daughter said that the suspected Fulani guys that abducted her and someone else spoke Yoruba with an accent, but their kingpin spoke fluent Yoruba without one and must be a Yoruba man. There is huge collaboration for business here. The guys who effect the jobs are just errand boys. Forget the silly ‘fulanisation’ agenda, this is largely economic. We live in a heartless society – and that society mirrors the heart, soul, spirit and minds of the leaders (political, traditional, business, religious). I believe if we have a clean-spirited leader at the very top, with love for the people and a pure heart to strive for his best, these things will disappear.
Yes, our security crisis can be tackled but the leadership of Nigeria must have to change. Buhari will probably suffer the stigma of such unacceptable, painful, heartbreaking levels of insecurity until he leaves. He should check himself. There is a spiritual angle to this problem, and it has to do with the compromises people make in order to get power. The tenure of leaders leaves stories, etched on the tablets of time. And the story that Buhari’s tenure will tell is already in plain sight for all to see – a damaged economy, a damaged currency, insecurity and killings all over the country, mass kidnappings like never before, sadness all over the land, a rash of misguided folks trying to split the country, corruption gone AWOL and so much deception too. the escalated confusion. In the end, it is all about money, money, money and power.
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