THE KILLINGS AT NDA BARRACKS

The authorities must do more to secure the nation

Tuesday’s dare-devil attack of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) by unknown gunmen who killed two officers on the spot and abducted another (whose remains were later found) has underscored the fact that we are dealing with a far bigger security threat than the authorities can comprehend. Despite the claim by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, this tragedy has also exposed how vulnerable Nigerians have become, regardless of where they are domiciled within the country. The choice of location and victims could not have been an accident. We want to believe that the attack was carefully planned with the intention of daring the federal government and sending some sinister message about the capacity of the perpetrators.

It is more instructive that the NDA is located opposite the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka in Kaduna State where 39 students were abducted by bandits in March this year. That ordinarily should have put the institution on red alert and a state of preparedness. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is therefore apt in its reading of how “ordinary street bandits” could invade and desecrate a military institution that trains our officers and, in the process, “outwit the security system and men there, kill officers and take one away to an unknown destination.” That the attack came barely a month after a Nigeria Airforce fighter jet was brought down in Zamfara State makes the situation more serious. Although the pilot of that ill-fated aircraft survived by ejecting to safety, the NDA incident has no such happy ending.

While we commiserate with the families of the deceased officers, we enjoin the authorities to understand the implication of this attack so that it would not attract the usual tepid response. If gunmen could also cynically invade the NDA like they did to some fortified military barracks in the theatre of the insurgency in the Northeast, it is very telling of the capacity and the boldness they have mustered. Indeed, the ability of criminal gangs to thumb their noses at the federal government in different locations across the country must be seen as a measure of their strength. But this is not the first time they would strike at military targets. We recall also that in November 2012 two suicide bombers successfully attacked St. Andrews Military Protestant Church, Jaji with the first vehicle exploding inside the church premises while the second detonated outside. Eleven people were confirmed dead on the spot, with dozens of others seriously injured.

The attack on military institutions and their personnel is a pointer to the extent the security crisis has degenerated. Almost daily, these criminal gangs given fanciful titles kill and abduct innocent citizens in many of the communities, especially in the northern parts of the country. Aside the thousands of people they kill, several families are today dislocated with countless of our citizens physically and psychologically maimed for life.

For the umpteenth time, we reiterate that the military and security agencies need to step up their game to checkmate the current descent into anarchy. But they also need the support of the larger society for them to succeed. As we have repeatedly pointed out, it is important for all the critical stakeholders in the country to look beyond politics and render whatever assistance they can in the bid to put an end to the spiral of violence, which clearly puts all at risk. But the greater responsibility is with the federal government that must restore law and order to the country. The current culture of impunity will not end until people with criminal tendencies realise that the law can, and will, always catch up with them.