By Lateef Adegbite
Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laurete, who has been quiet for sometimes in making his Contributions to burning national issues such as the rising insecurity in the country appear to have broken his silence.
The Nobel Laurete who could no longer keep to himself was said to have sent a message to President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army General,’’to seek help from other countries both within and outside the African Continent to regain peace in the country and chart a way forward without using Nigerians as victims’’. He may have been forced to speak out because of the recent attack at a Customs Patrol base Checkpoint at Isikpo in Rivers state, where three Customs operatives carrying out their Legitimate duties were killed by gunmen.
An aggrieved Soyinka, who is in his 80s’ had cried out that ‘’the gunmen have sacrificed and trumatised the country’s Youths and their capacity to cope’’. Appealing to the Katsina born Nigerian President and his security Chiefs to stop pretending that all is well but put in more efforts to crush the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram, and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, who were said to have link with al-Qaeda and other militant groups within the Sahel region operating in the north east states of Borno and Yobe, particular, as well as the armed Bandits operating in the north west states of Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina, his home state. He will also want the Buhari led All Progressive Congress, APC, government to address the challenges posed by other armed militia groups in their respective regions.
He said the government should go beyond the practice of’’ blame trade’’, noting that ‘’the country is at war’’. He may be right. What is happening in Geidam Local government Area of Yobe state barely two weeks after Usman Alkali Baba, a former Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, who has been elevated to the enviable rank of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, though in an acting capacity, speaks volume.
The Insurgents who had had invaded some of the Communities in the Police acting IGP, Local government Area , were said to have hoisted their flags and engaging in a House -House Teachings urging the people to embrace their own ideologies.
The force at which they are going about their religious Campaign in the Geidam Local government Araea may have encouraged the mass exodus of residents of the Geidam, town Hasana, Adamu and Idris Abubakar, Communities in the state , crossing over to the neibouring West African country of Niger to stay in their Refuge Camp.
The worry of many was that the insurgents are moving freely in the Geidam Local government Area despite the military personnel presence in Geidam, fueling speculations that there may have been a Compromise somewhere.
This may have informed why the people have called on Ibrahim Attahiru, a Lt. General and Chief of Army Staff , COAS, to ‘’to urgently deploy more troops to the Police acting IGP, Local government Area, to recapture the lost Communities currently being controlled by Abubakar Shekau, founder of BokoHaram and his men. They may have sent a signal to the Nigerian President, who had sworn on assumption of duties in May 29, 2019,’’ to protect lives and property of the Citizenry’’ that the Lives of the residents of the Communities under the control of the insurgents are at risk if the soldiers did not move in fast to rescue them.
Security experts would want the Force Intelligence Response Team, IRT and the Department of State security Service, DSS, did to do exactly what they did in Imo state , to locate the Awomama, Headquarters of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOD AND Eastern Security Network, ESN, in Oru East Local government Area, before finally Launching an attack on the armed south east armed gang which had resulted in the elemination of Ikonso, the overall Commander of the armed gang,, popularly addressed as‘’Vice President’’ in the gang cycles and sis other top Commanders of the group.
There are indications that the Joint security Team, had worked closely with the Hope Uzodimma government in the state to achieve the feat. They noted that if Baba, the acting IGP, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, Director General , DSS and Attahiru, a Lt General , and the COAS, want to know about the movement and position of the Insurgents in the flash point states in the north east, they needed to work closely with Mai Bala Buni and Babaga Zulum, governors of Yobe and Borno states, respectively, who should be ready to volunteer information to them to do their work as Uzodimma, did in Imo state to facilitate the work of the Joint security Team to attack the IPOD and ESN Headquarters.
Given the situation in the Yobe Communities that had fallen into the hands of the insurgents, as they were said to have tampered with the major Telecommunication Companies: MTN, airtel, 9 Mobile and GLO facilities, may have made Communication difficult within the Community and even worrisome to reach out to reach out to security personnel to give out information.
The northern governors, may have known that the region is in a security mess that they were said to have met behind closed door with the retired army General to see what can be done to salvage the s situation in the region which is gradually spreading to other parts of the country including the south East. Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau state and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, NGF, had said that the meeting had centred on the peculiar security Challenges Facing the 19 states in the old northern region and efforts to tackle them.
‘’We got the commitment of the Nigerian President that all suggestions that had had been made on how to tackle the problems of insecurity in the region would be implemented. He had said that the governors had to sit together to be able to come out with the suggestions on how to deal with the hydra-headed security Challenge facing the states which are very similar: Insurgency, Banditry or Armed herdsmen and Farmers clash.
In spite of the poor security situation in the country, Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor and the Nigeria Vice President had said that Nigeria would ebevenually emerge from the crisis as ‘’an oasis of peace, security and prosperity such as has never been seen before on the Continent and beyond’’.
Osinbajo, who could not hide his feelings while speaking at the 108 annual Convention of the Nigerian Baptist Academy Convention in Ogun state, south west Nigeria, recently said the country will eventually turn out ‘’to be the epicentre of an astounding economic and scientific developments of the 21st Cenury’’. But Critics would want the Vice President to tell that to the marines as the country have continued to battle several security Challenges , including but limited to the insurgency in the north east, Banditry in the north west, secessionist agitations in the south eat and armed Herdsmen crisis across the Middle Belt and other parts of the country which have defiled all known military solutions.
