‘Entire nation is under siege’ — NBA asks Tinubu to declare state of emergency on insecurity

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has asked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the insecurity in the country.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Yakubu Maikyau, president of the NBA, said Nigerians require “a well-thought-out, informed, all-inclusive and purposeful intervention” in the aspect of security.

“Some Nigerians have lost, and many more are fast losing confidence in the ability of the federal government to deal with the security situation in the country,” the NBA president said.

“All forms of criminal activities across the nation, howsoever described, by criminal elements by whatever name called, are completely inexcusable and unacceptable.

“The entire country is under siege by terrorists, bandits and criminal gangs. It is no longer easily determinable, if not impossible, which square kilometre of the Nigerian territory is under the authority not control of the federal government of Nigeria.

“A situation where criminality dots all over the space known as the Nigeria territory, in a manner that diminishes the presence of law enforcement agencies, directly challenges the sovereignty of Nigeria.

“This is particularly so when we hear that the said bandits and terrorists are foreign nationals. 

“If the activities of foreign nationals have been responsible for this high level of insecurity in our nation when the country is not at war, these criminal elements go on to boldly record and send out videos on social media platforms boasting about their strongholds with the territory of the Nigerian state and suffer no consequence for so doing, then there is more to it than meets the eye, and Nigerians need to be better informed of the nature of the insecurity they are dealing with.

“The entire nation is swimming in the pool of the blood of its citizens and we seem to have become numb to it and insensitive to the bloodletting in this country.”

“We appear to have lost our humanity and these incidents are fast becoming a norm and a part of our existence.

“Those entrusted with the responsibility to drive and implement government policies appear to be content with the false sense of security created by the high walls around them and the few arms-bearing security personnel who keep vigil over them. We must reverse the trend.

“We call on government to have a change of mindset, strategy and tactics in not only making necessary investments in security, but also in a way our military strength/capabilities are displayed to the public.

“There is literally no part of the country that is not enmeshed in one form of insecurity challenge or the other. What makes the entire situation even more disturbing is the increasing boldness of the perpetrators.”

‘DWINDLING ECONOMY’

The NBA president also warned that the security challenges, if not promptly tackled, would continue to hurt the nation’s economy.

“The Nigerian economy is dwindling; value of Naira has been bastardized, prizes of foodstuff have skyrocketed, everything negative seems that be on the rise,” Maikyau added.

“The insecurity has equally impacted negatively on food sufficiency and good security as a nation. 

“Those who rely on farming as their sole means of livelihood have been thrown into abject poverty, because they no longer go to their farms. 

“While this administration may argue that it is only seven months into office and is not the cause of present-day experience, the fact remains that it is this government that has the responsibility of stemming the negative tide.”