The brutal murder on Tuesday of a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, by some yet-to-be-identified gunmen, is a sad development that poignantly reminds everyone of how appalling the security situation in the country has become. Nigerians now live in palpable fear for their lives due to heightened insecurity; it matters not where one lives, whether in the North, the Middle Belt or southern parts of the country. This is an enactment of Thomas Hobbes’ state of nature, where life is “nasty, brutish and short.”
It is indeed frightening that even the lives of generals in the Nigerian Armed Forces are also at risk, much the same way as those of ordinary citizens. This is one of the unmistakable signs of a failing state, which has to be addressed, first, by apprehending perpetrators of violent crimes and punishing them and, second, by ensuring that such ugly incidents do not recur. That is the only way to restore credibility and confidence to the security of the nation. No functional state cedes the power of control over weapons of coercion to non-state actors as is currently being experienced in Nigeria.
An Air Chief Marshal, Badeh, who headed the Nigerian military until his retirement three years ago, was reportedly on his way back from his farm when his car came under a fusillade of gunfire on the busy Abuja-Keffi Road, which has become very notorious for such attacks. The assailants ensured that he did not die alone; they also killed his driver.
His untimely death also brings to mind the recent dastardly and gruesome killing of another retired senior military officer, Idris Alkali, whose remains were later recovered from an abandoned well after an intense search by a military intelligence team. A major-general, Alkali was first reported missing before intelligence led to the recovery of his car where it had been dumped in a mining pond. By the time the body was recovered, it had been buried, exhumed and dumped in a well, all in a bid to hide the truth about his death.
Random attacks and killings of retired military officers are indeed becoming commonplace, dating back to November 2012, when Mohammed Shuwa, a retired major-general, was shot dead right in front of his house in Maiduguri, Borno State, by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram members. His death was preceded by that of Sylvester Iruh, who was attacked and killed at the Berger end of the Long Bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The retired brigadier-general was trying to change a flat tyre when he was attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
Ambush by bandits as was experienced by Badeh and Alkali is becoming too frequent in Nigeria, where the victims are either killed or taken hostage only to regain their freedom upon the payment of ransom. Instances abound where busloads of people were kidnapped after their vehicles had been forcibly brought to a halt by hoodlums who sometimes dress like security officials. In a similar incident on the Abuja-Kaduna Road, 20 commuters were abducted in a single operation in June last year.
Recently, Ondo State, a place that had enjoyed some relative peace, has suddenly come under a spate of attacks by gun-wielding men suspected to be Fulani herders. In one of their escapades, a lecturer at the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic in Owo, Taiwo Akinyemi, who was picked up on the busy Akure-Owo Road, was later found dead after his abductors reportedly collected a ransom but complained about its late delivery. His body was found tied to a tree after he had been executed.
If criminals are becoming more daring, the security agencies too have to step up their act and match the criminals every step of the way. Unfortunately, this has not been the case as criminals continue to unleash havoc on the society almost unchallenged. In April, one of the most brutal robbery attacks took place in Offa, Kwara State, where over 33 people, including nine policemen, were killed. The robbers, numbering over a dozen, first raided the police station where most of the policemen were killed, before heading for their main targets, which were the banks.
As a response to the security threats posed by robbers, kidnappers, ritual killers and even militants and terrorists, there has been an overwhelming outcry for the devolution of police powers for effective policing. The current system of a central policing system, taking orders from Abuja, has failed abysmally. Compounding an already hopeless situation, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 5 in Benin, Rasheed Akintunde, once had cause to complain that 80 per cent of policemen that were supposed to offer protection to Nigerians were deployed to protect a few well-heeled individuals, while the “remaining 20 per cent police the whole of the country.”
Nigeria, as a federal state, with estimated 400 ethnic groups, has to go the way of other federal entities, which have several layers of policing co-existing with the central ones. That is the system in Germany, in Canada and the United States. Even in the United Kingdom that operates a unitary system of government, there are 43 autonomous police forces in England and Wales alone. In the meantime, state governments have to find a way, under the law, to secure their people. It is obvious that the current system has failed, which is why the soldiers are taking over police duties across the land. Since state governments fund the police, they should also fund some vigilance groups that would offer protection to their people.
The government should equip and fund the police well so that they can match the sophistication of the criminals. Different types of modern technology should be employed, including the installation of Closed Circuit Television cameras to ensure that many places are properly monitored even in the absence of the physical presence of security men. Besides, laws need to be properly enforced and those caught committing crimes should be tried and punished.
END
Be the first to comment