THE Nigerian security situation deteriorated in the last week with the government proving helpless and raising its arms in the air. The deterioration can be aptly called the ‘Kaduna Statement.’ The statement is about the attack by terrorists within the perimeters of Kaduna State. This discourse reviews the statement and its significance in the descent to anarchy in Nigeria while reaffirming that the government has apparently abdicated its role to secure the lives and property of the people. It proffers a way forward for the people of Nigeria.
The ‘Kaduna Statement’ is important because it is a clear, categorical and unequivocal statement made by terrorists in Kaduna State. The facts about the statement are as follows: It started with an attack on the airport where it was reported by the media without contradiction that one airport security official was killed. There are pictures on social media showing tens of terrorists riding their motorcycles on the tarmac of the Kaduna airport. The attack was in broad daylight, not late in the day or at night. As usual, the government was in denial and after many attempts to deny the obvious, the official account admitted that the terrorists were somewhere near the fence of the airport. Pray, what efforts will it take for terrorists to kill all occupants of the aircraft that was reported to be taxiing on the runway? A volley of bullets, of which a couple will hit the fuel tank and the aircraft goes up in flames. There are uncontroverted reports that all airlines have cancelled their flights to and from Kaduna airport.
The second part of the statement was the attack on the train. The terrorists used explosives to attack a fully loaded train, killing several innocent passengers, causing grievous hurt to others and taking many hostages. The rail lines have been damaged; the train itself suffered extensive damage and all of these will require hundreds of millions to repair. Those captured by the terrorists and taken away have not been returned as I write. The media reports that the terrorists have contacted the families and are demanding ransom. They are using the same telephone lines that owners have been mandated to register and link with their national identity numbers. They are making these calls and no one has intercepted and caught up with them at a time our security agencies have been allocated so many billions of naira to eavesdrop and monitor our conversations to find out when we are breaching national security.
The third part of the statement was that on the day after the terrorists bombed and attacked the passenger train, they went back to the Kaduna-Abuja expressway and carted away tens of Nigerians and, of course, have been making their usual demands for ransom. The attack on Nigerians on this particular expressway has become so routine that it is very difficult to give the exact number of attacks and the human casualties. Most of the attacks on the expressway happen in the daytime.
The significance of these coordinated attacks is the message it sends out to citizens of Nigeria. The terrorists simply state that Nigerians should be aware that they dominate the tarred roads and expressways and can take away innocent citizens at will. They state that their domination has extended to the rail lines because Nigerians have started patronising the railways to avoid the motorways. They have further stated that in the event you want to avoid the roads and rail lines and wish to use the aircrafts, such a category of persons is not beyond their reach.
Furthermore, these attacks happened in the week the ruling All Progressives Congress was repositioning itself and electing officials to lead them into the 2023 elections based on their wonderful “achievements” in the last seven years. It was a big slap on the face of the president and entire leadership of the country, especially those in the ruling party. Will Muhammadu Buhari as president and as a retired military general accept the challenge and reciprocate with a presidential statement in response to the Kaduna Statement? It seems Nigerians will only get “assurances,” the normal presidential routine and response to attacks on hapless Nigerians who have entrusted their lives and property to a leadership that has proved incapable of living up to its basic obligation to secure lives and property.
When these facts are juxtaposed with the statements of the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, then the situation gets to a frightening dimension. He has been reported in several media reports as stating that, “They came ready and they have been preparing for a long time and knew which coach to attack, abduct the VIP. And I have been saying that the forests where these bandits are hiding, it is high time that we go there and bomb them all. Everyone in the forest should be killed…We know where they are, SSS gives reports on them every day, they have their numbers including that of Dogo Gide and what he is planning,”. “We” here refers to the government and authorities and “they” refers to the terrorists and outlaws.
El-Rufai’s position raises the poser, if the government receives security reports on the abode of these terrorists and even gets information on their plans, why has the government failed to take preventive action to avoid the loss of human lives? El-Rufai even threatened to hire foreign mercenaries if the Federal Government refuses to take action against the terrorists. The implication of the foregoing is that El-Rufai has openly come out to blame the Federal Government and its security agencies for failing to take action to secure lives and property even after receiving security reports. This is not an opposition governor blaming the Federal Government but a governor considered to be a close confidant of the president.
The ‘Kaduna Statement’ is a statement of domination by terrorists. If Kaduna State had access to navigable rivers, the terrorists could also have caused mayhem on that front to complete their show of strength. Kaduna is the most fortified state in Nigeria in terms of military establishments. How will the president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria respond to this statement beyond his traditional assurances. How are the security chiefs responding to this statement? It is clear that if the president and the security chiefs had taken their oath of office with the seriousness it deserves, Nigeria would not have descended so low in its inability to secure lives and property.
When key government officials fail in the performance of their duties leading to irreversible and incalculable damage to lives and property, they have lost the moral and legal right to continue in office and there is only one option left for them. Resign and let more capable and committed hands do the job. There is no legal or constitutional right to preside over deaths, funerals and mourning; rather there is a constitutional obligation to secure lives and property.
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