NIGERIA’S WORSENING SECURITY ENVIRONMENT
The most insidious thing about the insecurity which is currently blowing its ill-wind all over Nigeria is that it is at once proving both relentless and remorseless. What started in pockets in parts of the country has since flared into a national problem, one which is poised to finally tip the country over the precipice.
That which started in Borno State just over a decade ago as a cabinet of grumbles by Boko Haram has since echoed across other parts of the country. Boko Haram has since splintered into different equally deadly groups. Emboldened by the successes of the group, bandits have mobilized themselves and successfully taken over communities in the North-west.
Even in regions of the country that were considered relatively peaceful, non-state actors have borrowed a leaf out of the books of the terrorists. Together, they are constantly threatening to cause Nigeria to implode.
On Sunday September 11, 2022, a sacrilegious attempt was made on the life of Mr. Ifeanyi Uba, the senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the National Assembly on the platform of the YPP. The attack happened in Enugu-Ukwu in Anambra State. According to reports, a number of security escorts and policemen accompanying the senator were killed.
It appeared the attack was a calculated attempt to snuff life out of the Senator. The shocking attack has again drawn sharp attention to the security situation in Anambra State. The early days in office of Mr. Charles Soludo who was sworn in as governor on March 17, 2022 were marked by a blizzard of security breaches all around the state culminating in the heinous beheading of a lawmaker and the brutal murder of Mrs. Hanifa Jibril and her four children.
Multiple local government headquarters were also reduced to heaps of ashes as criminals were cut loose in the state. The governor has since settled down and has gone on to do a decent job of stabilizing the security situation in Anambra State. However, this attack confirms that the storm is far from over. In fact, it appears that the attackers have remained in the shadows all along and are now poised to re-emerge and continue their hail of deadly attacks on the good people of Anambra State.
InNigeria, insecurity has become a national crisis. All over the country, Nigerians now look over their shoulders, mired in endless anxiety because they do not know where the next attack will come from.
Every day, Nigerians are kidnapped and held until outrageous amounts of money are paid in ransom. Every day, many are killed, and their farms and houses ransacked and then razed to the ground. These attacks have continued in spite of the best efforts of the security forces.
What makes these attacks even more disturbing is the fact that those they affect the most are Nigeria`s rural dwellers who were already being forced to make do with very little. These relentless attacks now have them on the brink.
These attacks tell an ugly story of where Nigeria is at the moment. One suspects that what especially emboldens those who carry out these attacks and those who commission them is the failure of the law to sufficiently rein them in.
If those who make Nigerians live in fear in their own country are to be put out of their business of death and distraction, then by all means those who enforce the law in Nigeria must shake off their slumber and get to work.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: @kenobiezu
