…Terrorists Daring Authorities
…Emergency Rule Long Overdue In Kaduna
…INEC Expresses Concern
…Nigerians Frustrated Over Killings, Attacks
April 03, (THEWILL) – In early March, Nigerians got a cheery piece of news from Global Terrorism Index based in London, a monitoring team on the impact of terrorism in 164 countries. Previous ratings of Nigeria by GTI were decidedly dismal, maintaining the number six position with a red arrow facing upward signifying “negative increase.” Countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Mali have occupied the top five unenviable positions along with Nigeria for years.
But then, the good news came last March that Nigeria had dropped to sixth place with a green arrow pointing downward showing “positive decrease.” By end of March, though, it did not seem to be so any more as a daring terror squad blew up a Kaduna-bound train from Abuja, killed eight people, wounded many and kidnapped scores more. The attack took place at night and it just seemed as if the attackers were giving the lie to GTI’s recent rating of the impact of terrorism in the country.
Everyone from market women to students, sundry professionals were enraged. It was worse with politicians, particularly those in the House of Representatives in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Not for the first time, the attack raised the hackles of the legislators, prompting some of them into making emotion-laden speeches.
Understandably, the mood inside the House of Representatives was tense when they hastily convened an ad hoc session to discuss the latest tragedy on Thursday, March 31, 2022. The agenda of the day had been stepped down deliberately to ponder on the burning issue in the country and it was not time for any politicking.
A member of the House, Shehu Balarabe, fired the first salvo with a motion of urgent public importance on the recent killings in Kaduna and supported by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa.
“You can see how this chamber is thrown into disquiet and into an emotionally-disturbed manner. When you have a government in place, the major responsibility of that government, especially one that was democratically elected by the people, is to ensure the safety of the lives and properties of its innocent citizens.
“When things like this continue on a daily basis, those of us who are representatives of the government will become speechless. I have to repeat: we become speechless in the discharge of our duties here to defend actions by the government.
“This is an elected government under a popular democracy, but we continue, day in day out…killings, massacre, banditry, armed robbery left, right, and centre. This is just a report of one local government area out of the 774 of the federation,” Ado Doguwa stated in an emotion-laden voice.
Lamenting that several parts of Kaduna State had been under attack despite the existence of several military and paramilitary institutions and bases in the state, he said: “The government, in this case, has to rise up to its responsibility and call a spade a spade.”
Describing the situation at hand as an “institutional failure” and “regimented failure” on the part of the security agencies, Ado- Doguwa maintained: “We are here for the people; we must speak for the people. We cannot sit down here, fold our arms and watch the electorate – people who elected us into our respective offices – being killed by the day.”
As if that was not enough, another member, Aminu Suleiman, warned that the situation “is going beyond the control of our security agencies,” adding, “This (is a) clear case of what I will call ineptitude – absolute ineptitude.”
Nowhere is safe anymore because of the worsening insecurity, Suleiman insinuated: “I am beginning to interrogate the power of our resolutions here. We have passed several resolutions and we have lamented. Is there any way now that we can ensure enforcement of our resolutions? Can’t we as a House take more drastic actions?
“If our resolutions cannot work, is it not possible to close this chamber and join ASUU and say we are not resuming here until the Commander-in-Chief (of the Armed Forces) performs his duty? I am not directly accusing him, but the buck stops at the table of the Commander-in-Chief. If there is success, he will be the first to take the glory. Now that there is complete failure, the Commander-in-Chief must take responsibility.
“And we have powers to drive this process to ensure that Mr. President takes responsibility, otherwise it will be difficult for us to go back and speak to our people that we have debated on the floor of the House and we have passed resolutions. These are academics; our people are not used to these. You have passed resolutions; you have debated, what is the effect? Have these issues been arrested? Have they been overcome?
“We must do something practical, dramatic and serious to show the government and the people that we are doing our best, otherwise when resolution starts some of the innocents may be the victims.”
The situation was not in any way different at the Senate.
THEWILL recalls that about a year ago, right on the floor of the Senate, the member representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi, could not hide his feelings as he spoke expressly about the worsening insecurity across the country in what he called a situation worse than a civil war.
Asking the President to be honest enough to accept that he could no longer handle the situation, Adeyemi said that, as a matter of urgency, Nigeria should seek foreign assistance in tackling insecurity in the country. One year after his call, there is still no respite. The terrorists, which the federal government has consistently refused to treat as such, preferring to call them bandits and treating them with kid gloves, are becoming more daring. They have continued to unleash terror on innocent Nigerians, both the low and the mighty, leaving in their trail blood, sorrow and tears.
Reactions To Abuja-Kaduna Train Attack
The Abuja – Kaduna train attack is the worst in the history of Nigeria less because of the number of those killed but more because of the sheer audacity of the criminals and the way it was carried out before the terrorists melted into the dark of night. Before then, there was a daring raid on Kaduna International Airport during which time they had a free run of the tarmac for well over 30 minutes and, in the process, detained an Azman aircraft readying for a flight to Lagos. As a coup de grace, they shot and killed a security guard as they were being repelled by the military.
The attack on the Abuja – Kaduna railway line and the extent of the damage to public infrastructure has once again deepened the threat posed by insecurity to the 2023 general election.
Apart from the late night bombing of the Abuja-Kaduna train last Monday, terrorists also surprised some communities in Kaduna and Abuja where a royal father was abducted. According to reports, the terrorists have since established control over seven out of 25 local government areas in Niger State, as well as many communities in the northwestern states of Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
North Central states of Benue and Plateau are still theatres of terrorist attacks. Surprisingly, there is some quiet in the long drawn insurgency in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, but sporadic attacks by ISWAP and Boko Haram still keep those states under tension. Tension mounts regularly in the southeastern states, with Imo as the epicenter of ‘unknown gunmen’ attacks, causing havoc and mayhem on an unprecedented scale.
“The situation is quite appalling. It is pathetic that Nigeria has gradually become a country where human lives and properties are no longer secure. The situation has not been this bad. Nigerians can no longer move about freely due to the activities of terrorists, kidnappers and other criminal elements, who have taken over the space and now making life uncomfortable and harsh for law abiding citizens. Nobody is safe. With what is happening in the country, ordinary Nigerians are getting scared. Nobody is sure what will happen in 2023 or before we get there,” said Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in an interview with THEWILL.
Besides the fear and uncertainty terrorism exacts on the people, it also shapes their opinions and trust for others, particularly those connected or identified with the terrorists in any way.
An Interesting Study
In a 10-year study, entitled, ‘Democracy at Risk: How Terrorist Threats Affect the Public,’ two American professors of Political Science, Jennifer L. Merolla of the University of California, Riverside, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister of Vanderbilt University, established the link between terrorism and elections.
They identified at least three politically relevant ways terrorist threats are more prominent in the news. Two are relevant to the Nigerian context, since the third, which is that preference for “public opinion shifts in response to terrorism” is toward support for more hawkish policies in foreign affairs and homeland security, “even at the expense of civil liberties,” is less pronounced in the country’s politics.
“First, when terrorists’ threats are pronounced, individuals become less trusting of others, even their own neighbours,” they said about their findings.
In the Nigerian contest, this would play out with the association of the Fulani with terrorism. This has been increasing since the strong public opposition to the RUGA policy of the Federal Government in 2018, the farmer/herdsmen conflicts that have affected farming in many parts of the country and the threatening statements by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in support of herders, even though President Buhari, in an interview with Arise TV on June 9, 2021 disabused Nigerians of the view by stating, “Those with sophisticated weapons, with AK-47 rifles, are from the Sahel area. They are Fulani people from Mauritania and Central Africa Republic. They look the same, so they think they are Nigerians.”
In spite of that Presidential clarification, the view has remained, reinforced by violent events, such as the last Abuja- Kaduna train attack, in which the attackers were mostly youths speaking Fulani and Hausa, according to accounts by some survivors.
The second finding of the study is that, “terrorist threats help increase the public’s support for certain political leaders.” Again in the Nigerian context, the agitation for self-determination in the South-West and secession in the South-East led by Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho, and the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), respectively, is also anchored on the perception that the Fulani have monopolised the commanding heights of the country at the expense of other nationalities.
Igboho has been declared wanted by the government, while the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has been arrested and is currently being prosecuted by the government for alleged acts of terrorism.
They concluded: “Some of these reactions are natural reactions to concerns about terrorism, but our research suggests that some of the reactions may be driven more by fear than by reason.”
While these fear-induced perceptions persist and pose a potential threat to the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general election, they are being fueled by the incompetence and inability of the Federal Government to tackle insecurity.
Incompetence, Ineptitude Fueling Insecurity
The failure of the government to effectively tackle the worsening insecurity in the country was the import of the lamentation of the lawmakers in the lower chamber of the National Assembly last week. Added to that was the admission by the Nigeria Governors Forum that they have all failed Nigerians to whom they apologised profusely last week.
“If you dissect Governor Nasri el-Rufai’s statement on the lack of action on the part of the country’s security outfits from the Army to the Police and the DSS, you will understand that he was indicting the Presidency.
“The President is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and Section 281 (1) of the Constitution confers the appointment of the various heads of the armed forces, as well as the command and operational use of the same on the President. “Section 215 (1a) confers on the President the powers to appoint the Inspector- General of Police with advice of the Nigeria Police Council, whose role is advisory and can be jettisoned by the President.
“Section 215 (2) gives control of the operational use of the police to the Federal Government. These provisions in the Constitution are similar to those in the Police Act, 2020. El-Rufai is a law graduate, even though he is yet to attend law school. So he knows what he was saying,” said Mr Mack Ogbamosa, a constitutional lawyer.
INEC Raises The Alarm Over Worsening Insecurity
Only three weeks ago, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) raised the alarm over the worsening insecurity in the country and its implications for the 2023 general election. Addressing a Town Hall meeting organised by the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, who was represented by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, noted that the increasing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country as a result of the growing insecurity will definitely pose a challenge to INEC in the conduct of the 2023 general election.
Kaduna Ripe For State Of Emergency
For over four years now, Kaduna State has been a killing field, with violent attacks by terrorists claiming thousands of lives, particularly in Southern Kaduna where sectarian violence has deepened. Almost on a daily basis, reports of attacks in the state make newspaper headlines.
Killing has become the norm, such that declaring a state of emergency in Kaduna may be the most feasible step to restore sanity and peace.
Ironically, Kaduna is host to multiple elite military institutions – 1st Division of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Nigerian Defense Industry, Nigerian Airforce Training School, Nigerian Police College, Nigerian Navy School of Armament, Kachia, Nigerian Army School of Legal Services, Bassawa Zaria, the Nigerian Defence Academy, the Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Kachia, the Nigerian Army School of Military Police, Army Operation Base, Southern Kaduna and the Nigerian Army School of Infantry.
While reacting to the recent train attack, el-Rufai did, among other things, hint at the underlying Constitutional provision for the declaration of a state of emergency anywhere in the country.
He said: “We are in a state of war. This place should be declared a war zone. The Army, Air Force, and the Police should go in there and kill them. Will there be innocent casualties? Yes! In every war situation, there are casualties.”
He went on to express his frustration and helplessness, saying, “I’m angry, frustrated and feel totally helpless.”
Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution permits the declaration of a state of emergency when it is evident that the country is in a state of war or in danger of invasion, provided that the intention to declare a state of emergency should first be published in a Federal Government Gazette.
According to Ogbamosa, there is no doubt that Kaduna State, as the governor said, is in a state of war and therefore ripe for the declaration of a state of emergency.
“But look at the political angle. We always politicise things in this country. If the government in power is of the same political party as the Federal Government, it will have the sympathy of the centre. If it is the opposition, it will say that it is being victimised. Yet, killings are going on everyday there and there is a breakdown of law and order. So what we are doing is more political than constitutional.”
The President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, is however optimistic that if the Federal Government rises to the occasion, elections would be held.
He told THEWILL: “We have never had any election without security challenges. The election must take place. Government must do everything possible security wise to ensure that the general election is successfully conducted.’’
*** By Amos Esele and Mike Jimoh
About the Author
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
