It was recently revealed that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had helped to reach a truce with the bandits and terrorists in Zamfara State. In light of this event, a video was allegedly from one of the meetings with the bandits, wherein one of the bandits was speaking in Hausa as the governor and others listened. Translations of the video available online insinuated that the terrorist leader was boasting that the government could not have apprehended him (them) if they had not called for a truce and a negotiation for ceasefire.
Beyond the fact that this may imply a temporal reprieve from the hell which Zamfara and surrounding states have been subjected to of recent, it speaks poorly of the country’s security architecture. It shows that the security and intelligence chiefs have lost major control of national security, therefore, the Zamfara State government has to resort to self-help in order to secure lasting peace for her people.
For well over a year, Zamfara has experienced arguably more violence and brutal killings than what Boko Haram infested-Borno has undergone in one year. Thus, credit is due to the governor for the initiative to keep his people safe.
Also, in an apparent move to douse the rising tension in the South-West, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has begun a tour of Yorubaland – visiting monarchs and culling from them inputs on improving the pressing security situation in the geopolitical zone. All eyes now seem to have been shifted to the northwestern and southwestern parts of Nigeria. This shift from the once deteriorating security situation in the North East, Middle Belt and South East regions to other parts of the country shows that the current strategy being operated by the Buhari presidency has failed woefully.
If the President’s security chiefs and appointees are not up to the task anymore, then why haven’t they been sacked yet? All four of the current service chiefs- Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar and Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas -are said to have to have far exceeded the number of years in service for military personnel and so ought to have been retired. If the incompetence of someone such as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, is maintained amidst all evidential incompetence, one wonders what to expect in other spheres in the lifetime of this executive government.
Likewise, if the Federal Government is not determined enough about monitoring the borders for illegal crossings, and if the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) fails to ensure that no aliens and marauders are walking unauthorized among us, we might as well have ceded sovereignty to those who have ethnic chauvinist schemes to perpetrate while in government.
Sources
TheCable
Dailypost
Featured Image Source: TheGuardianng