Though many commentators may this week be discussing THE SIEGE ON THE CAPITOL as an existential threat to US and ‘international’ democracy, this Column chooses instead to focus on this country’s most immediate and ongoing existential threat – that of violent crime.
The greatest calamity to ever befall Nigeria in contemporary times is the formula “AK47+Tramadol=Mayhem” or, in plain language, the most lethal and murderous combination is that of the AK47 gun and the Tramadol drug. These two are what are essentially killing us ii insurgency, armed robbery, kidnapping and banditry. It is, therefore, most surprising that while we are busy lamenting and ruing our insecurity situation, these two primary causes are not usually at the centre of our discussions.
Possession of a gun that make criminals bold; that they have power over their victims and can confront security forces, however well-armed and whatever their number. In the criminal enterprise, guns and bullets are available on demand – for sale, hire or rent – for a consideration from the proceeds of crime. But holding weapons alone does not guarantee bravado and suicidal tendencies – that is the work of drugs which make criminals reckless. The AK47 and Tramadol are therefore the lethal combination.
The gun lobby in the United States, so powerful that no politician dare cross its lines, usually claims “Guns don’t kill, but demented humans do…” Liberal response to the Conservatives (generally represented by the Republican Party) has been “If guns don’t kill, let that demented human use a machete instead…”, rhetorically asking, in effect, how many people would a machete-bearing criminal kill? The Liberals (represented generally by the Democratic Party) under former President Obama tried to enact gun reform, with little success. No matter, the right to bear arms is a constitutional matter over there, and it’s proving impossible to amend.
Here in Nigeria, it is guns that kill us, period. Combine that with the drugs the criminals abuse, and you have the most murderous mindset on a human criminal. Bearing arms in Nigeria is neither constitutional nor universal. But it seems there are as many guns in the bushes and creeks of the nation as there are goats, or fishes. And the availability of drugs, bought and sold on the cheap, ensure that criminals – as insurgents and robbers and kidnappers and militiamen – are reckless enough to kill us.
AK47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, was developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov just after WWII. The number 47 refers to the year it was finished. It was the originating firearm of the famous Kalashnikov (or “AK”) family of rifles. According to research, more than seven decades after its deployment, the AK47 remains the most popular and most widely-used rifle in the world because of its reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost, ease of use and availability in virtually every geographic region. Moreover, more than a million AK47s are being manufactured annually in many countries.
The AK47 has seen service with official armed forces as well as irregular forces (such as our kidnappers) and insurgencies (such as our Boko Haram) worldwide. The research adds that the model was the basis for developing many other types of individual, specialised firearms and it is estimated that almost a quarter of all firearms used worldwide belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK47s.
On Tramadol, hear this: “The world’s second-biggest importer of Tramadol, behind only the US, is Nigeria’s tiny neighbour, Benin [Republic], whose entire population numbers less than that of the state of New York. The reason? Benin [Republic] is a notorious smuggling hub — its porous borders mean drugs can flow freely into Africa’s most populous country [Nigeria]…” Now this is a research by non-Nigerians and it is freely available on the internet. (Google, for example, “Substance Abuse: Perspectives, Trends, Issues and the Way Forward” and “The Opioid Crisis Is Not Just An American Epidemic.”)
Any sensible country – sadly Nigeria is not one – would have used its military to occupy any neighbouring ports to ensure drugs and arms importations are stopped completely. So, while our NDLEA is doing its utmost in policing our nation against drugs, some of our neighbours are busy ‘helping’ our criminal elements in smuggling these drugs and guns.
According to this Columnist’s contacts within NDLEA, the reason Tramadol (or Tramal or Ultram) as an opioid is the drug of choice for criminals is that it is a quick-action, immediate-release formulation. Tramadol’s ‘high’ usually begins within an hour of ingestion. Compare that with cannabis, for example, which requires some time of smoking it, and more time before the ‘high’ hits. Though intended by its manufacturers as a pain reliever, Tramadol deadens feelings when overdosed, which is what criminals do. It can also be taken with other combinations to make the ‘high’ longer-lasting. Tramadol is the modern ‘A-Ji-Garau’.
Now that we have these calamities on our hands, we should ask these questions – Who manufactures AK47s? Who manufactures Tramadol? Who smuggles in the guns and the drugs? The answer is simple, obvious and glaring at us in the face. Two countries are generally culpable in the manufacturing of these wicked things, and they are well known, and they even have ambassadors in Nigeria. As for the smugglers, it is those same people that are apprehended by serious countries overseas and executed, whereby they are given a pat on the wrist here. In short, we know them. And we allow them kill us.
AK47 and Tramadol, we repeat, make criminals disproportionately emboldened and utterly reckless. These two make Boko Haram and kidnappers and armed robbers and bandits ‘courageous’ enough to do what they do – killing, pillaging, raping, abducting. Nigeria must find a way of staunching the movement of small arms through our porous land borders; and of stopping the trafficking of drugs through especially the sea routes. The laws should be amended to prescribe capital punishment and immediate execution of all gunrunners and drug traffickers. And it has to be now, not later. And no so-called Human Righters should tell us otherwise.
Way forward? If only we had a serious government, we should review our laws and copy the non-Muslim and non-Christian countries of Thailand and China and re-institute the death penalty for drugs trafficking, and institute the same capital punishment for weapons smuggling. A serious government would direct the DSS, Police, NDLEA, NAFDAC and Customs to immediately cease their petty jealousy and ‘this is my turf mentality’ and get their acts together and cooperate in this work.
Meanwhile, the army and air force should continue their firepower, but these five agencies must proceed as one. Without this cooperation, we are sunk. In fact, we are ‘re-sunk’ because we are already sunk. Inna lilLahi wa inna ilaiHi raji’un!
