Worsening insecurity: Our lives matter

BY NAJEEB MAIGATARI

The recent attack on travellers along Abuja-Kaduna road is really shocking, and the sheer audacity with which those ‘terrorists’ could now detonate explosives before killing and kidnapping innocent people is damming and quite alarming — it says a lot about our security system.

It also sends a clear message to all and sundry that no one is safe, we are all in this mess together; the commoners and the elites alike. One could now be attacked when travelling by road, railway or air. No system of transportation is safe in the country.

The train attack is not the first of its kind — and will seemingly not be the last unless the needful is done — only that this time around, unlike other attacks before, the ‘terrorists’ appear well-armed, more aggressive with the hunger to kill; which shows their daunting strength.

Those terrorists have been attacking villages and killing people, especially in the northern part of the country, where such attacks have become the order of the day. They have established themselves as an authority with quite a number of villages under their control. Some of their brutal attacks are actually underreported.

According to the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), from January to February, at least 1761 people lost their lives across the country in incidents related to insecurity and protracted armed violence.

Under our noses, our beloved country — once a nation of peace and tranquillity — is gradually turning into the likes of Somalia, Libya, and Afghanistan or worse. The Nigeria of today has become a slaughterhouse and its citizens walking corpses.

Even worse, the majority of those killed are people trying to make a living for themselves and their families. People are killed in their homes, in offices, at markets, on roads and virtually every place. It’s practically killings everywhere, at every turn, under every circumstance.

It suffices to conclude at the moment that there’s seemingly the creation of ‘a state within another’. On one hand, there’s the almighty sovereign Nigeria — that continually fails to protect its citizens — and on another hand, the hypothetical terror nation ruled by terrorists such as Boko Haram, bandits, kidnappers and the likes.

The government is evidently failing — woefully so — in its basic responsibility, that is securing the lives of citizens, as it swore to do before taking over from the previous administration.

Therefore all hands must now be on deck to nip in the bud this issue that is threatening our very existence, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religious or political affiliations.

The government should be bold enough to fish out and address the ultimate cause of all these crises and answer the question as to the genesis of the terror groups, their sponsors, financial channels, sources of arms and weaponry, contacts in the community, etc.

In addition, such factors that tend to inflame the situation as poverty, social injustice, illiteracy, etc, should also be proactively addressed by devising measures that will assuage people’s suffering and displeasure.

The security forces should be well equipped with state-of-the-art weapons in order to take the war to the terrorists’ camp. They should also engage the public as they can be utilised for intelligence gathering, informant tracing, reporting suspicious activities and etcetera.

The people should also cooperate and work hand in hand with security forces and other relevant government agencies in every way legally possible in order to curtail the worsening insecurity crisis ravaging the country once and for all.

Our lives must matter as long we will continue to call this our homeland. We should not allow those ‘terrorists’ to take over our homes and continue to rule our lives in perpetual fear. If those in authority cannot secure our lives, they should honourably step aside and let competent individuals take over the helm of affairs in the country. Enough is enough!

Najeeb Maigatari writes from Jigawa state and could be reached via [email protected]