On the growing insecurity, Nigerians are becoming increasingly frustrated with President Muhammadu Buhari’s no action approach, writes Tobi Soniyi
President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets, wherein he threatened to deal with “many people misbehaving today” who “were too young to remember the deaths and destruction from the civil war”, continue to generate controversy almost a week after the statement was made.
“Those of us, who went through the war will treat them in the language they understand,” he warned.
Many found the president’s statement not just objectionable but insensitive given the dangerous security situation in the country. Twitter, therefore, deleted it and suspended the president’s handle for 12 hours, which further irked the Nigerian authorities.
The statement by the president has shown that he and his advisers did not correctly read the mood of the country or have deliberately underestimated the potential for escalation. Either way, the statement, many believed, gave the president away as someone, who was not genuinely interested in ensuring peace. This is not the time to issue threats.
Beyond the condemnation and rebuke, however, it is high time the president adopted a different approach to resolving the multifaceted and perilous security challenges threatening to derail the country.
First, the president needs to talk less and act more. Nigerians are interested in results and not talks or threats. Action, it is said, speaks louder than words. Nigerians have lost count of how many times the president had threatened Boko Haram, but the insurgents remain deadly.
Second, it should have danwed on the president by now that it is either the security agencies are incapable of carrying out his threats or are unwilling to do so or both. The point is, none of the criminal groups terrorising the country is moved by the president’s otherwise empty threat statements. They carry on as if the country did not even have a commander-in-chief.
He once ordered that anyone found with an AK47 should be shot on sight. That order was never carried out. But herdsmen armed with AK47 have continued to terrorise the country. This much was admitted by the president, when the Presidential Economic Advisory Council told him that insecurity had slowed down the economy.
The president said: “I said shoot anyone found illegally with an AK-47”, yet, they haven’t stopped, saying, “People must show consideration for their own country.”
As the president issued the latest warning, Niger Delta warlord, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo gave him and the Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Godswill Akpabio a seven-day ultimatum to reconstitute the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board or face a major breakdown of law and order in the Niger Delta. If the Niger Delta joins the fray, Nigeria may be in for a long haul.
Policemen serving in the southeast, who could no longer wear uniform for fear they would be targeted and killed would be wondering where the president is getting his idea from. They need protection and assurances, not rhetorics that further endanger them.
Isn’t it ironic that a president, who helplessly stands by and allows kidnappers to forcefully take students for ransom on a daily basis is now threatening to deal with those too young to remember the civil war of 1967 to 1970?
If the president had been decisive enough, banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and herdsmen’s attacks would have become history by now.
If the president must know, kinetic power alone isn’t going to pull the country out of the brink. The military is overstretched. The ENDSARS protests had exposed the police as an institution that is not capable of protecting the people. Since then, nothing, in terms of logistic, has been done to re-equip them.
If the president is truly desirous of engendering peace in the country, he should start talking to those who are aggrieved. Heads of security agencies should put their education to use by advising the president to adopt a more conciliatory approach. In the Southwest, there are people, who can call Sunday Igboho to order. The president has refused to identify those people and seek their help.
In the East, there are people, who can reach out to the agitators. The president should be humble enough to invite them for talks. Talking to your adversaries is not a sign of weakness. Nigerians want results and they want them very fast. Nobody is going to crucify the president for achieving a peaceful society by talking to agitators.
Security agencies also need to up their game on intelligence gathering. That the country is this insecure is evident of intelligence failure. True be told, the security agencies as presently structured cannot thrive in intelligence gathering. It is like us versus them. That has to change. No one can deny the nexus between criminality and the economy.
Last month, Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Professor Doyin Salami told Buhari his effort to boost the economy was being thwarted by insecurity.
According to the council, banditry, Boko Haram insurgency, farmers-herdsmen conflict, separatist agitation and organised violent groups, among others, cost the federation a whopping sum of $10.3 billion in 2020.
For political and economic reasons, it is expedient for the president to tone down his threats and explore more effective alternatives. He must accept that his approach presently isn’t working hence the need for a review of strategy.
Pix: President Buhari.jpg
