As President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to leave office on May 29, a defining legacy of his eight-year-long rule is the extent to which insecurity has pummeled Nigerians.
From within the Federal Capital Territory to Buhari’s native state of Katsina to Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Benue and Niger States, determined killers have defiantly exposed how soft Nigeria’s underbelly is.
In leaving vulnerable communities criminally exposed to ruthless killers, the Nigerian State under Buhari has continued to take a rather bizarre gamble on the lives and properties of those it is expected to protect.
Under Buhari’s watch, Kaduna, one of the states which flank the Federal Capital Territory, has been left horribly exposed to insecurity. On March 28, 2022, just a day before Nigeria was to host Ghana in an ultimately failed bid to qualify for the World Cup, daredevil terrorists fell upon a passenger train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna. At the end of the attack, nine travelers lay dead. More than 60 others were captured, and held for six months, in one of the most humiliating assaults on Nigeria’s sovereignty.
The March 28 attack was not an isolated event. Long before then, Kaduna State had become a magnet for deadly terrorists’ attacks. As the 2023 election approached, the killers seemed to pause their lethal campaign. However, they have since resumed.
Recently, terrorists attacked two churches in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped over 30 worshipers. Three worshipers were killed in the process, while one was injured. Besides, terrorists killed seven persons in Warkan village, Atyap land in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State. These recent attacks continue the tragic trend of deadly attacks which have turned a once stable state into a hotbed of crisis.
In a state where many rely on agriculture to feed and foot their bills, the criminals have continued to kill and maim with impunity. They attack and abduct farmers for ransom. They burn farms. Generally, they have succeeded in instilling a culture of fear that has crippled the farming activities of many people who rely on agriculture for their sustenance.
While the attacks in Kaduna have continued with relentless ferocity, between the federal government led by Buhari and the Kaduna State government of Nasir el-Rufai, the kind of confusion which borders on complicity has reigned supreme.
It beats many Nigerians that while many of country’s most prominent military institutions are located in Kaduna, the state has become a prime target for terrorists who even had the temerity to storm the Nigeria Defence Academy.
It is a sign of just how spectacularly the government of the day had failed that under its watch, a state that is just a stone throw away from the Federal Capital Territory has become a hunting ground for killers, many of whom are rumored to have been imported from other countries.
For every child beheaded in Kaduna, every farmer whose livelihood has been destroyed by Boko Haram or bandits, the federal and the Kaduna State governments must accept responsibility.
As the killings raged in Southern Kaduna especially, conspiracy theories have thickened just as the central and the Kaduna State government have each taken turns to wail over the killings. Yet, the killers, seemingly sensing the impotence of the government have simply refused to take their foot off the killing pedals.
There is no doubt that more than a government stuffed by hubris and hypocrisy, the people who face mortal danger every day would know what can be done to free their communities from the claws of ruthless killers.
For Nigerians, hard and harsh lessons must be learned that in choosing those to occupy public offices, those who would fold their arms and do nothing in times of crisis must be eschewed for proactive leaders.
Kene Obiezu,
