By Sunny Ikhioya

THE Abuja-Kaduna train bombing has,  once again, exposed the beast in us as a people. Life continues; no shock, surprises, feelings, emotions, empathy and the likes; it’s business as usual.

No candlelight processions, no reactions from the people; we are just plain dumb. What has happened to our collective psyche? Is this how we will continue as a nation? Is it a reflection of our feelings as a nation? Or, the manifestations of the predictions that were foretold many years ago? 

How did we get to this point? Could it have been averted? Can it still be averted? The news of April 6, 2022, reported the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, telling the APC party leader and presidential candidate that: “Nigeria is at critical crossroads, and we must take very tough decisions to get the right leaders who would take us out of the multiple quagmire that we are going through “. He went on to say that: “These are human challenges and they can be solved by human ingenuity. I pray for God to choose who is best for Nigeria, so that we will have a better, united, progressive and exemplary country that is fair and just to everyone”.

I agree with El-Rufai in this instance; the problem is man created and the solution is electing the right leadership. In the midst of these, is the cheery news of some Nigerian students discovery of technological equipment that could track intrusions on our railway lines, something the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, is looking for billions of naira to implement. Are we going to see these students’ dream actualised in the country or we will allow another wave of brain drain take them out of the country? The choice is ours to make. But, fate can sometimes be cruel.

If we had not concentrated on excuses and buck passing, we would have, in one concerted effort, addressed our security issues long ago; we were playing to the gallery; some for political reasons, were happy to see insurgents and bandits at full display. Now it has come full circle: those who sow the wind must reap the whirlwind. It is ironical to see El-Rufai battling bandits and insurgents in his state and looking so helpless. It is also amazing to see Lai Muhammed struggling, howbeit fruitlessly, to convince the general populace that the security situation in the country is now changing for the better. Some have challenged him to take a car ride round the country to prove to the people that he can, indeed, walk his talk. But, I doubt if he will take up this challenge.

The lesson from this is: we must   remove politics from very critical areas that are vital to the survival of this country, including the matter of security, religion, ethnicity, food, job and shelter.   If we had, together as one, approached these challenges, we will not be where we are today. But, because of the way we had and continued to play our politics, the country is more divided now than ever in our history.

The issue of how some of these bandits and insurgents came into this country, supported by politicians, have been raised so many times; can’t these same politicians mobilise themselves to get these vermins off our shores? We must send these people back to wherever they came from and take back our humanity.

The claim that life is ‘nasty and brutish’ bears relevance to present day Nigeria; we are gradually getting to that stage and except consequential actions are taken, we will finally arrive at that destination. We play politics with peoples’ lives; we forget that considering the spirit part of human beings, the wasted lives are now coming back to haunt us. In recorded history, those responsible for blatant waste of human lives always pay the full price – Nazi Germany and Japan of the Second World War era are recent examples.

So, as it seem, the challenges are multifaceted and look impossible to overcome. Some have even given up hope to the solutions to Nigeria’s problems,   but we must take them one at a time. We are expending too much energy, spreading our tentacles in different directions, where a concentration on the solutions, one at a time, will yield us better results. It is barely a year for the tenure of this government to come to an end. What do they wish to be remembered for? The Economic Confidential of April 4, 2020, published a story titled: “In 12 months, Food Imports Exceeded Exports by N2.23trn”.

According to the report: “Despite interventions by the Federal Government to diversify the economy and increased food production in the country, security concerns have driven a lot of farmers out of their livelihood“. So, the Federal Government appears to be doing its best, but, its best is not yielding the required results, consequently, situations are getting worse. With only one year left, how will the people remember this Buhari government? Is it going to be remembered for the hardship alone? This is because, the beautiful projects and infrastructure put in place by this government, with the aid of foreign loans and grants are being ravaged by the activities of terrorists, bandits and insurgents.

If all of these cannot work, what will be the reward of eight unstoppable years in government? It is important that government officials begin to assess their performance and the kind of legacy that they will be leaving behind. Some have started picking expression of interest forms from their party secretariat to contest coming elections; are these people bothered about the legacy they are leaving behind? If they truly do, it is not too late for them to do the needful, let us together face the challenges of insecurity in the country, let it be on record, that this government will leave one lasting legacy for this country, that of peace and security.   

In whichever area our security architecture is lagging behind, we must begin to correct the lapses. President Buhari is a soldier first, before becoming president and commander-in-chief, if he does not fix the insecurity problem, his performance will generally be regarded as a failure, no matter the angle you are viewing it from. As earlier noted, it is not too late to take decisive actions: he will step on toes, but that is the only way he will be remembered positively.

Restructure the combined armed forces for more effective service delivery; embark on massive enlightenment campaign to sensitise   the people of the need to exterminate the killers in our midst; execute strategies that will ruthlessly deal with these fellows, in such a way that they will not rear their ugly heads again. The foreigners amongst them must be identified and shipped back to where they came from. Insurgents, terrorists and bandits do not succumb to negotiations, it has never worked with them; they succumb only to superior fire power and force, that is the only way to bring an end to their activities. This is not the first time this will happen in the world; the Sri Lankans armed forces took the Tamil Tigers insurgents head on with brutal force; today you don’t hear of the tigers again.

Israel is relatively at peace because terrorists know that they will get more than double reward for any attack carried out by them. Our armed forces must take the war to the bandits; do not allow them to relax; by so doing you are taking the initiative out of them. Reacting only   after every attack is not the way to go. Our action or response must also be devoid of politics, religion and ethnicity if we want to succeed in this war and have peace in our land. The President must act with the necessary political will if he wants to see peace return in this country.

Without peace, there cannot be progress and development. With peace everywhere, the farmers will come out and begin to produce food for the nation. That is the only thing left for President Buhari to do in the remaining period of his government; he will not be the first to do so; with the aid of foreign mercenaries, Goodluck Jonathan was able to push Boko Haram insurgents out of occupied territories to pave way for elections to hold in year 2015. It is Buhari’s turn to make the terrain peaceful for his successor; at least, let him do one thing for the records.

Ikhioya  wrote viawww.southsouthecho.com

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