Nigeria has not only become a vast killing field, it has, become, sorrowfully, a country in perpetual mourning. Not a week passes than we witness dastardly acts of abductions, kidnappings and killings. Sometimes these killings take place on genocidal scales.
On Sunday, 3rd December 2023, the village of Tudun Biri, in Igabi Local Government(LGA) of Kaduna State, was erroneously strafed by a drone while Muslim faithfuls celebrated Maulud, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Not less than one hundred and twenty civilians were killed. Though the military profusely apologised and took responsibility for this fatal mistake, it is on record that not less than three hundred civilians have been killed via accidental airstrikes since 2017.
While the country was recovering from this tragedy, another two hundred innocent civilians were killed on Christmas eve and the small hours of Christmas day in several Christian villages across Bokkos and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State.
Reminiscent of the heinous and genocidal killings of late April 2023, in several villages of Mangu Local Government Area(LGA) of Plateau State, these killings were co-ordinated. They were similarly unprovoked and they took place while their innocent and unsuspecting victims were asleep.
While the killing of innocents in Tudun Biri was a grave error and it was acknowledged by the military high command and deeply regretted, the recent senseless killings in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi LGAs were, simply and inexplicably, bloodthirsty. No argument can rationalise or explain this mindless genocide or the gruesome ones that preceded it.
It is heartwarming, indeed relieving, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered, in the immediate aftermath of this genocide, that its wicked perpetrators be identified and apprehended. According to a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, the “President directs security agencies to immediately move in, scour every stretch of the zone and apprehend the culprits”.
To be fair, the wicked acts of abductions, kidnappings, genocidal killings and insurgency, which afflict not less than four geopolitical zones of the country, did not begin on President Tinubu’s watch. Nonetheless, as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is obligated to stop them in their tracks. Afterall, the first duty of any government is to protect the lives and properties of its citizens.
Besides, how does the country proper in an atmosphere of senseless violence and orgy of bloodletting? How can commercial, educational, agricultural and sundry activities associated with development and civilization thrive in such an unhelpful circumstance? How can the country canvass Foreign Direct Investment(FDI), not to talk of attract same, in a tempestuous climate? Rather than a renewed hope, these acts of wanton brigandage and unbridled killings can only engender despair and trauma. And to say that these mindless killings are happening, pell mell, at a time when the country is in a very difficult place, beggars belief and understanding.
Beyond merely giving orders, President Tinubu must be hands-on. He must see his orders through. He must ensure that they are carried out with faithfulness and fidelity. And he must make sure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are verrily apprehended and punished to the full extent of the law.
Part of why Nigerians view such orders with misgivings is that they were either benignly disregarded or merely observed in the breach in the past. His predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari, issued so many of such hollow orders. They were calmly and cynically ignored by his supercilious and untouchable Service Chiefs. The upshot is that, by and by, the orders assumed the ungainly status of jokes. President Buhari then came across as some pathetic clown.
Compounding haughtiness of the former Service Chiefs, who seemed beyond reproach and sanctions, is that even the few perpetrators who were apprehended were seldom punished. This bred a culture of impunity. Bandits could then mow whole communities in cold blood and nothing, not a whimper, could be heard but the wailing and lamentations of the helpless victims.
Impunity is worsened by the less than professional carriage of Commanders who take their cue from their superiors and the Service Chiefs. In the North Central geopolitical zone, for instance, where Operation Safe Haven(OPSH) has been trying to keep the peace since 2010 in Plateau and Bauchi States and in Southern Kaduna, its comportment has been less than neutral or impartial. The OPSH has been accused by stakeholders, severally, of siding with the perpetrators of these senseless killings. The victims are often at the receiving end of the OPSH while the perpetrators go scot-free.
Members of the OPSH, and other security agencies, rather than being proactive, always arrive after the marauders have done their damndest. At other occasions, they feign helplessness to the chagrin and anguish of villagers mourning their dead. Apart from their tardy arrivals at these killing fields, they have not consciously striven to win the hearts and minds of the victims. Consequently, they are unable to earn or elicit the trust and confidence of these innocent victims. The disconnect between them and the victims makes it challenging for them to harvest vital intelligence which they can use to anticipate or avert subsequent attacks and casualties.
It is instructive that in its more than one decade of existence, only one OPSH Commander, Major General Anthony Atolagbe, distinguished himself. As a consequence of his proactivity and sustenance of peace beyond the pale, he was honoured. The International Federation of Civil Rights and Liberty Organisations conferred on General Atolagbe an award for:”Outstanding Commander of Military Operations in Nigeria and Icon of Human Rights and Conflict Prevention”.
Thus, apart from issuing orders to the security agencies to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this recent crime, the President must issue a deadline as to when this senseless bloodletting must cease. To complement this deadline, appropriate logistics, weapons and motivation should be provided. Also, appropriate sanctions should be meted out or applied in the event of failure. This will prompt the security agencies to take their responsibilities more seriously.
There must be a change of orientation and strategy by the Service Chiefs. Apart from honing synergy amongst the Services, a practical and coherent road map should be articulated with a time frame for rooting out insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and genocidal killings. Command positions should be given only to Officers who are capable, who possess the requisite disposition, are determined to achieve results and are prepared to make the difference. Patronage should not inform sensitive postings.
Lastly, we await, with bated breath, the outcome of the President’s solemn pledge, to wit:”envoys of death, pain and sorrow will not escape justice”.
As the trite saying goes, the test of the pudding is in the eating. A prompt apprehension and punishment of the mendacious perpetrators of this crime will not only send a strong signal, it will serve as a deterrent. It will also check the impunity with which some bestial persons are eager to despatch other innocent humans to the great beyond.