Insecurity had continued to rear its very ugly head in Kaduna State with the historically volatile area continuing to count the cost of Nigeria’s expensive and extensive tangle with non-state actors.
Pounded by bandits for many years, the people of Ruruma in Kauru Local Government Area of the state have cried out to President Tinubu to establish a military base in the area to ward off incessant attacks by bandits. According to them, the establishment of a military base in the area will deter bandits who have turned the area to their favourite stomping ground resulting in over one billion Naira paid as ransom in the last one year, and dozens of residents kidnapped.
Among Nigerians, there is a chilling consensus that more than grinding poverty, it is insecurity that has forced the citizens of Africa’s most populous democracy and economy to reckon with the failure of leadership and the complacency of followership. Security breaches used to be limited to episodic incidents quickly contained by security forces until about 2009 when Boko Haram, after many years of filing its teeth on the back of Borno State, launched an all-out assault on the Nigerian state. Expectedly, the Nigerian state was caught cold. More than a decade since it was forced to muster a response, it remains an uphill task for the Giant of Africa to dislodge criminals growing in sophistication and ruthlessness by the day. To put into context what relentless fighting has meant for Nigeria, more than a trillion Naira has been spent on humanitarian aid in the Northeast since the fighting started.
For the long-suffering people of Southern Kaduna and their history of oppression in the state, the years between 2015 and 2023 proved to be a period of spectacular upheaval.
Under Muhammadu Buhari as president and Nasir-El-rufai as governor, parts of the state were practically abandoned to the ravages of insecurity. In those heady, bloody days, hardly did a week pass without the killing of dozens killed, and many houses razed, breaking the news and hearts across the country.
In May 2023, the disastrous administrations of Buhari and El- Rufai shuddered to a close with the advent of new administrations giving the people much needed hope that peace could return to their regions. While the killings have drastically reduced, recent attacks in the state show that there is still a lot of work to be done.
More than electricity and economic development, Nigeria requires peace and security of lives and property. Without peace and security, there can be neither development nor prosperity.
That some parts of Nigeria remain in turmoil despite considerable efforts made, feeds the irreducible conclusion that there are those who fuel the trouble in those areas.
It is in the interest of national security to stop them in their tracks.
Since it has become clear that it is in the ravenous interest of a select few who do not mean well for Nigerians that insecurity should remain
a burning issue, it is in the interest of Nigerians that such people and their schemes should be dislodged permanently.
There is the lingering sense that parochial interests in Nigeria are not keeping the war on insecurity honest. Unless Nigerian authorities are prepared to wage a transparent war on terrorism, the country will keep running around in circles, with no end in sight to what has been a national nightmare.
Security of lives and property is a debt Nigeria owes those in the rural areas, who already bear the brunt of neglect and underdevelopment.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
