Time To Act, Mr President – By Arnold A. Alalibo

Posted by admin Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, Muhammadu Buhari (1983-85), NNP Columnists, Presidency Friday, August 2nd, 2019

By Arnold A. Alalibo | NNP | August 2, 2019 – Given current developments of eclectic killings and the perpetration of horrific crimes in Nigeria, it is now time for President Muhammadu Buhari to act and live up to his sacred oath of securing Nigerians who voted him to protect them.
Nigerians have always grouched about the unprecedented level of insecurity in their country. But our imperial president has consistently failed to meet his contractual obligation towards his people by not demonstrating sufficient concern for their safeguard.
Nigerians are peaceful and peace-loving. That is not in doubt. That is why they have always bawled on Buhari to return the relative serenity they had savoured before the advent of his administration. Therefore, our president has to do all within his authority to ensure peace, cohesion and rejuvenate national security.
In the face of apparent security lapses, it is hard to infer why there are no workable measures to beef up that sector, especially given the fact that the man at the helm of affairs has a sure-enough military background. If the vile experiences of Nigerians are anything to go by, it is as good as saying government and governance have failed sorely. Welcome to the state of nature.
While the security agencies deserve to be commended for their dogged fight against insurgency in the last four years, I strongly believe that the emerging multifarious security challenges such as kidnapping, brutal murder, armed robbery, cultism, banditry and so on, emphasise the need for an overhaul.
The security apparatuses of the country are incredibly deficient. Recent events have shown this clearly. Since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999, security has been rotting away significantly with virtually next to nothing being done to discontinue the grotesque trend.
Nigerians are murdered in communities and cities right before family members or loved ones in broad daylight. Sadly, some of the cases are not investigated or even where investigations commence, have remained inconclusive and the suspects left unprosecuted.
The question is: who are these attackers, where do they come from, where do they go after each attack, who arms them and why is security forces’ response time very slow? Why are the killers not held accountable? Making arrests and bringing to justice those suspected to be responsible for these attacks are pivotal in ending the menace that has become a daily occurrence.
It is time the federal authorities tackled the factors which undermine the security of Nigerians. Besides the acquisition of hard security gadgets, enormous investments have to be made in intelligence gathering which is the core of a viable security architecture.
It is amazing that we don’t conduct our affairs as a country that fought a 30-month civil war. If we do, why is it taking us so long to realise the need for peace? There have been many unrests arising from communal, religious, ethnic and political frays that have taken us decades to put down, yet we claim to be a giant nation with active military might. What an irony!
Once again, how did things get so bad? Where did we get it wrong? How can we ameliorate this seemingly intractable situation? These are some of the calls on the lips of many Nigerians who cannot wait to see an end to the security stink.
We happen to be unlucky to have serial unpatriotic or incompetent leaders who don’t give a hoot if the country goes up in flames. Needless to say that many of them are in government for pecuniary gains. Some of them have colossal investments abroad which they acquired upon their exploits in politics.
These are the same leaders that rent capacity crowds to appear at their election campaign venues and pay touts to unleash mayhem on the hapless populace when they lose an election. Some of them utter unguarded and inflammatory remarks capable of plunging the nation into large-scale violence.
As we know, Nigerians are persevering people and very slow to anger. Persistent provocation, however, has a way of building up tension to a certain point when it will no longer be possible to accommodate it anymore. Therefore, I believe the current security situation in the country is partly as a result of years of pent-up frustration.
One is ill at ease about this spate of killings across the country. Just between January and June last year, an unimpressive 1,800 lives were lost to violence. By failing to hold murderers to account, Nigerian authorities are gratifying impunity that is fuelling rising insecurity across the country. You must do something now, dear Mr President.wp_posts