By Suleiman Umaru
President Muhammadu Buhari, popular, PMB, a retired army General appears to have been pushed to the wall due to the rising insecurity situation in the country that he can bite. Worried by the worsened insecurity in the country in the last three months, the Katsina state born Nigerian President has given a matching order to the service Chiefs Comprising of Lucky Irabor, a General and Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, ,Lt. General Ibrahim Atthahiru, Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, , Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, and Iiaka Oladayo Amoo, an Air Marshall and Chief of Air Staff, CAS.
The order is also applicable to Usman Akali Baba, acting Inspector General of Police, IGP. They were said to have been the Presidential mandate ‘’to identify the Leaders of the Bandits and kidnappers operating in the north west states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger’’, home state of military President , retired General Ibrahim Babangida.The Nigerian President was said to have given the order to the security Chiefs at a meeting held at Hajia Aisha Buhari, the First Lady’s Conference room because of the ongoing renovations in the Federal Executive Council Chambers on Friday, April 30, 2021.
Other top government officials at the security meeting at the time the retired army General handed down the order to the security Chiefs, were Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President, Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, retired Army Major- Generals Bashir Magashi, minister of Defence and Babagana Munguno, the National Security Adviser, NSA. Also at the meeting was Ibrahim Gambari, a Professor , and Chief of Staff to the Commander –In-Chief, C-In-C, of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It was a well studded top security meeting as the aggrieved Nigerian President is ready to use any person as a scape goat that stands on his way to frustrate the new security order. He believes that by identifying and arresting the Leaders and sponsors of the Bandits, it would restore people’s Confidence in the system’’. The of Zamfara state may have saved the soldiers the trouble of going in search of one Auwalum Daudawa, the acclaimed Leader of the Bandits who was said to have master-minded the abduction of the 344 students of Government Science Secondary School , Kankara, in Kankara, Local government Area of Katsina state by killing him in a mob action.He may have played into the aggrieved people’s hands after he had rustled 100 Cows and killed the herdsman in charge, which the people may have considered as a jungle justice and had t go after him.
Prior to his death, he had returned to the Zamfara state government 20AK47 rifles, 20 Magazines, one General Purpose Machine Gun, GPMG, one Rocket –Propelled Grenade, RPG, and several other ammunitions, on Febuary 8, 2021, when he laid down his arms with his Comrades and accepted Bello Matawalle, the north west of Zamfara Peace initiative. This clearly shows that the people of these north west state under the under the Bandits attacks know the Leaders and could fish them out at any time. It is a message to the Bandits that is no longer going to the business as usual as there is anger in the Land.
But one person, who may not want To take the PMB, order various serious was Samuel Ortom, a- one time minister of state, Trade and Investment, during President Goodluck Jonathan Presidency and now governor of Benue state, north central Nigeria.
Ortom’s anger was that this may not the first time the Nigerian President had given such an order that was never complied with by the security agencies personnel. He cited the Presidential order of March 1, 2021, to the security operatives to shoot at sight any person caught with AK47 on the street or in the bushes. But Magashi, the minister of Defence was said to have countered that the order that the security operatives would not shoot any person, fueling speculations making the round that PMB, may not be in total control of his government.
The Benue state governor, may have joined the Opposition People’s democratic leadership and the House of Representatives Lawmakers, to call on PMB,’’ to declare a state of emergency over the growing spate of attacks, killings and kidnappings in different parts of the country’’. But Nasir el-Rufai, a former minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo regime and now governor of Kaduna state, may not want to play along with Ortom, to advise PMB, to declare a state of emergency in the country, despite the rise in kidnapping and banditry in the north west state. However, he may have shocked Nigerians when he disclosed that the bandits operating in his home state, Kaduna ‘’are itching closer from the rural Communities to the cities , where they attack and kill innocent Citizens with utmost boldness’’.
The question on the lips of most people was why the one-time radical minister of the FCT, will not support the House of Representatives and his Counterpart in Benue state, to ensure that PMB, his political ally, declare a state of emergency in the country to address the insecurity Challenges facing the country.
Aware that ‘’the general mood of the Citizens in the state and the country in general was that of despondency and increasingly loss of Confidence in the security agencies personnel due to the continuous attacks ,killings and kidnappings’’, he would still want the m to be patient and Collaborate with the security Operatives to achieve more results.
Giving the security report of the state to el-Rufai, the north west state governor recently, which should have made the governor to change his people and be on the side of his Counterparts from other states of the Federation who are in support of Buhari declaring a state of emergency, Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs disclosed that 323 people were killed in the state between January and March, this year, noting that out of the figure 292, were male victims and 20 females. The report may not have made any impact on the Kaduna state governor ass he remained opposed to declaration of state of emergency by the Buhari led All Progressive Congress, APC, government.
In a voice laden with emotions the Commissioner said 948 people were kidnapped in the state by the Bandits with the three months , stressing that Kaduna Central Senatorial district alone , accounted for 236 deaths within Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Igabi and Kajuru , Local government areas alone.
He has an ally in the person of Aminu Masari, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives and now, the governor of Katsina, Buhari home state, who also believes that the state of emergency is not the solution to addressing the insecurity situation in the country.
Ali Ndume, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, may have have gone into investigation to find out how insurgents get their arms used in fighting the Operation Lafiya Dole, now renamed Hadi Kai, on the approval of Lt. General Atthahiru, the COAS, and the Multi-national Joint Task Force, MNJTF, soldiers involved in the insurgency war in the north east.
Ndume, who is the Chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army was said to have discovered that ‘’the bulk of the arms and ammunitions used by the insurgents were carted away from the Nigeria military barracks overrun and or stolen from other security agencies across the country’’.
He was said to have further discovered that some of the arms used by the Insurgents, particular, ISWAP, were stolen from the Neighbouring Chadian rebels, who were armed with the stolen weapons from the neghbouring Libya Civil war.
The Lawmaker noted that the security situation in the country appears to have worsened in the last three months despite assurances from PMB and the service Chiefs, both past and present curb the menace. He stated that the insurgents, operating in the north east and the Bandits operating in the north west are currently feeling the heat from the Nigerian army, that they have resorted ‘’to operation kill and run’’.
He may have Collaborated el-Rufai, the Kaduna state governor’s views, that the military would do better in tackling the myriads of security threats facing the country ‘’,if it is well funded and equipped’’. The Lawmaker wants PMB , to take cue from the neighbouring West African countries of Chad and Nigeria, which are poor than Nigeria and fund the country military properly to give then good kitting that would be superior to what is used in other Africa countries.
Mohammed Yerima, a Brigadier General and Direction of Army Public Relations had said that the re-designation of the Operation Lafiya Dole, to Hadi Kai, would also be extended to the army Super Camps to reflect the nomenclature of the formations and units .
The renaming of the Operation Lafiya Dole, Super Camps and the units, Yerima, the Army Brigadier General had said would be followed with’’ the redesignation of the Locations they occupy while the sub-units would now be known as forward Operating bases followed by the name of the Locations’’.
Given an insider information on why the COAS, considered it necessary to go ahead with the renaming of the Operations units,involved in the anti-Jihadists war, in the north east, the army spokesperson disclosed that it was informed by’’ the vision of the current COAS, as a way of repositioning the Army to Professionally defeat the insurgents and Bandits in a joint environment’’.
Lt. General Atthahiru, the COAS may have been encouraged to reposition the army because ISWAP,a splinter Group of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram, had given room for it. The Group, according to Magashi, a retired Major General and minister of Defence, since 2016, has become a dominant threat in Nigeria, attacking Troops and military bases while killing and kidnappng Passengers at bogus checkpoints in Borno and Yobe states, particular.
Not that the BokoHaram and ISWAP, insurgents had dragged the neighbouring West African countries Chad, Niger and the Central African country of Cameroon, into the war by extending their Operations to these countries, thus leading to the formation of the MNJTF, to flush out the Criminal elements.
Between 2009 and now, over 36,000 people, were said to have been killed in the north east states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and thousands of others displaced and are currently been haboured different Internally Displaced People, IDP’s, Camps in the north east Geopolitical egion and the Refugee Camps in Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
