INSECURITY in Nigeria is still on my mind, and I have not quite exhausted everything I can write about it. This is because insecurity is worsening daily; apart from fear of attacks by Luciferous militias,  food insecurity is worsening as the earnings of people can no longer keep pace with the rate at which prices of foodstuffs are increasing. As such, famine is staring us all in the face as everybody, including the rich, is spending far more than is necessary on food. Also, many state governments are spending more to support the Police and other security agencies as the insecurity problem gets more and more intractable.

Last week, I observed that it is time to tell each other the basic truth about the problem of insecurity; I noted that the ruling party, APC, put us in this security cul-de-sac with their strategy of “importing” people from other parts of West Africa to help them scare the PDP out of power. The strategy worked; and the APC has been in power since 2015, all of 10 years. I dare say that they have been 10 horrible years during which every progress the nation recorded were primitively destroyed.

The alarming dimension of this problem is that there seems no end in sight, unlike the bodily issues a pregnant woman endures which terminate at childbirth. She thereafter regains fuller control of her body, and her radiance resurfaces to the admiration of her loved ones. When will the radiance of Nigeria resurface?

One dimension of this insecurity problem that a lot of commentators shy away from, since they can be called out for ethnic profiling is that it has since become clear that one ethnic group is responsible for the carnage going on in Nigeria at the moment. But, like I said before, it is time to say the truth, and nothing but the truth, because, as Usman Dan Fodio (1754-1816)said: “Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it.”

In his column in a sister publication, Daily Trust, called Line of  Sight, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim wrote a piece yesterday on the back page with the headline: Sultan Abubakar’s burden and the herdsmen crisis. I encourage readers of this column to search out Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s column of yesterday in Daily Trust and read.  He made a point that I find particularly interesting, especially for those who will allege ethnic profiling. He wrote, and I quote: “While Nigerians have always had a penchant for exaggeration and stereotyping, it is no exaggeration to say that the majority of the bandits in the wild—those killing Muslims in the North West, in Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, and other states—are mostly Fulani. If in doubt, ask any survivors of these murderous gangs or look at the hundreds of videos the bandits themselves post on social media or the many interviews the gang leaders grant, in which their identities are not only obvious but are presented by them as justification for their crimes.”

My own position, and which is the truth that I want us to face derives from the fact that before APC happened on us, there had always been Fulani in Nigeria, and we had all lived together, peacefully, over the decades. No killing, no kidnapping for ransom, no blood-letting. What has happened? I am of the opinion that the ethnic kith and kin of these Luciferous killers have a responsibility to take on their ethnic kith and kin, talk to them, and get them to renounce this bloody way of life. Before, we used to know of Town Fulani and Cow Fulani. Which ones are these? Every Fulani man or woman, originally indigenous to Nigeria has a duty to help rein them in and end this bloodbath that is slowly choking the life out of our country. Unable to go to farm, the counytryside is being deserted for the towns and cities. What will those in the towns and cities eat? 

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim made another interesting point in his column, which I want to share. He wrote, and I quote again: “There is nothing golden about the silence of prominent northern leaders on this bloodletting, nor is there wisdom in trying to deflect attention to something else. The activities of these bandits and militias are tarnishing the reputation not only of the Fulani tribe but of Muslims as a whole, considering the religious dimensions of the situation. In his position, the Sultan should be concerned about the damage being done to the victims, both Muslims and non-Muslims, and the harm being inflicted on the tribe and religion he leads.”

That is why I said the time to face the truth is now, if not yesterday. The way things are going, leaders of conscience who love this country must rise and take action. The reason for this is in the saying that nobody has a monopoly of anything. That also includes violence. As we all know, when you push a goat to the wall, it will turn and bare its teeth at you. That is because you have taken undue advantage of the goat’s docile, near harmless nature. Then, anarchy will be unleashed if every Nigerian takes up arms in self-defence. I join Abubakar Adam Ibrahim to call on all the Emirs of Northern Nigeria (they are exclusively Fulani), and other religious leaders, including businessmen, to rise to the occasion and help Nigeria by initiating moves to rein in these killers as it is obvious that our armed services have their hands full battling insurgency, militancy and other evils. The time to do it is yesterday. TGIF.