TOO much blood is flowing in Nigeria. A new tally by the Nigerian Security Tracker, run by the Council on Foreign Relations, showed that at least 3,478 people were killed across the country from December 2021 to June 15, 2022. Since then, more have died, felled by terrorists, bandits, gunmen, and cultists. Last week, in a major blow to the country, bandits/terrorists ambushed and killed 37 soldiers and police officers in Shiroro, Niger State. The country is tottering towards disaster. Yet, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has not devised an effective strategy or yielded to well-meaning suggestions on how to stop the bloodletting. He needs to act decisively or watch the country fail on his watch.
No fewer than 2,079 people were killed in 68 massacres in Nigeria between January 1, 2020, and June 9, 2022, says SBM Intelligence. The report added, “Data does not include the North-East geopolitical zone. The massacre at St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo, Ondo State on June 5 dispels the government’s claim that Nigeria is more secure than ever.” The slaughter of 30 soldiers in Niger demonstrates the enormity of the insecurity challenge.
The PUNCH reported that 139 clerics and worshippers in churches and mosques were murdered in attacks across the country between January 2021 and July 4, 2022. Within the same period, 394 worshippers were kidnapped. Of this, 229 Christians were kidnapped and 86 murdered; 53 Islamic clerics and worshippers were killed and 165 kidnapped, the report added.
Some 342 Nigerians were killed in December 2021, among them 45 farmers massacred in Nasarawa State. In January, more than 844 people were killed. Another 495 persons were killed in February, and in March, bandits hacked down 33 persons in a community in Zamfara State when they could not raise the N40 million levy the terrorists demanded. In that same month, 44 people were butchered in Niger State. Shadowy gunmen are also killing at will in the South-East region.
From March to June 2022, Benue State has been drenched in blood, and 10 cases of gunmen attacks have resulted in the deaths of 92 people.
The highways, farms, trains, rural communities, and churches are hunting fields. Across the country, the forests are occupied by bloodthirsty kidnappers, rapists, and terrorists. No one, not even security operatives, is safe. The NST recorded 323 security personnel killed by terrorists between January 1 and May 15, 2022.
The 2022 Global Peace Index ranked Nigeria 143 among 163 independent nations and territories. Mauritius ranked 28; Ghana 40; The Gambia 45; Sierra Leone 50; Equatorial Guinea 59; Malawi 65; Senegal 70; Morocco 74; Rwanda 72 and Liberia 75. Indicators used included the level of criminality, the number of internal security officers, ease of access to light weapons, the level of organised (internal) conflict and terrorist activities.
In contrast, in 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan, the United Kingdom lost just 457 servicemen, averaging just below 23 fatalities per year. The US Department of Defense lists 2,461 servicemen as having died in the 20-year long conflict. Proportionally, Nigeria is clearly bleeding more.
Islamist insurgents dislodged in 2015 have re-established themselves in the North-East and infiltrated the North-West andNorth-Central. They have formed close alliances with Fulani militants, and bandits who have similarly spread across the entire North from their North-West strongholds.
With the country descending into blood-soaked anarchy, Buhari remains clueless. Seven years in office, he has never devised a coherent strategy to combat insecurity beyond appointing a succession of ineffective security chiefs. There is no effective coordinator.
The centralised policing system has collapsed. And, deployed in all 36 states and the federal capital and fighting motivated insurgent forces on multiple fronts, the military is losing ground, suffering high casualties, and confronted with unprecedented issues of discipline, morale, and corruption.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s casualty rate is higher compared to the major war-torn zones across the world. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that a total of 4,731 civilians had died in Russia’s war on Ukraine as of June 26. However, the United Nations Development Programme said that insurgency-related conflicts claimed 350,000 lives directly and indirectly in North-East Nigeria between 2009 and 2020. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said there were 304,526 Nigerian refugees, over 2.1 million Internally Displaced Persons locally, and 778,000 dispersed in neighbouring countries.
The government has been flat-footed and incompetent. Corruption reigns. There is an urgent need to adopt an effective strategy. First, the country’s policing system must be totally overhauled and decentralised.
Second, deal with traitors. The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, has admitted that fifth columnists are active in the Armed Forces. Several personnel have been exposed as informants, collaborators, and arms suppliers to terrorists and kidnappers. The military should clean up.
Third, insecurity in Nigeria has been politicised and regionalised; sectarianism persists. Many segments of the country are alienated from the federal security system. In appointing security heads, Buhari totally ignores Nigeria’s diversity. In a polarised polity, this is counter-productive and a huge drawback to crime control.
State governors should set up state-based and regional security outfits and arm them to protect their people before asking for constitutional backing. They should insist on invoking the ‘doctrine of necessity’ by the National Assembly and state assemblies to immediately amend the 1999 Constitution to allow state policing.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, should immediately withdraw the 70 percent of operational police personnel attached to individuals and organisations; and apart from the few entitled officials, deploy them for crime fighting.
Communities across the country themselves should form vigilance associations, and liaise with the relevant security agencies to protect themselves.
Nigerians should mobilise for peaceful agitation and demand action from their uncaring public office holders. Labour unions, student unions, organised private sectors and professional bodies should join these protests.
Buhari should promptly replace incompetent security chiefs and appoint new ones based on merit and nuanced towards the country’s diversity. The senseless killings must stop!
