By CHIMA CHRISTIAN

Not that I expected much from him. But Simon Ekpa could have, but failed, to transform an otherwise justifiable regional sentiment into any sort of coherent push. Even after the Federal Government designated the organisation, he is a part of as a terrorist organisation, Ekpa held all the aces. He could have still proved to the world that he does not represent a “barbarian uprising, but a social movement that is reputable in its own right.” Sadly, through his speeches and conduct, he masterfully reduced the lofty aspirations of a people into tactless terrorism.

The Federal Government of Nigeria must however be persuaded to go beyond him and the 96 other individuals/entities that were recently designated as terrorists. Meanwhile, the laws of Nigeria is clear on the protocols of designating one a terrorist. I am afraid that the Nigeria’s military may have seriously come short of that mark in publishing the names of the 97 designated entities. In so doing, they may have needlessly exposed Nigeria’s fight against terrorism to suffer possible legal and reputational damage.

Even at that, the Attorney General of the Federation must now be dragged into the equally important issue of the killings and other acts of terrorism going on in Nigeria’s Middlebelt region. His office should immediately invoke section 48 of Nigeria’s Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022, to declare the wanton killings in the Middlebelt as acts of terrorism. This is to be followed by a ruthless pursuit of the sponsors and perpetrators of this premeditated violence against the indigenous people of the Middlebelt region.

I have elsewhere argued that the spate of killings, usurpation of lands, replacement and renaming of communities going on in the Middlebelt is not as random as the organisers present it to be. The number of guns, bullets, logistics, military-grade precision and the coordination it takes to sustain the kind of systematic killings we see in the Middlebelt should leave no one in doubt as to the cohesiveness, and the command-and-control structure of the groups carrying out these attacks.

Sit back for a minute and see through the amount of logistics and planning it takes to carry out coordinated Christmas eve attacks on the Plateau where over two hundred people were killed. Try killing 200 chickens in one evening and see how cumbersome it is. Then, think of the kind of planning and efforts that went into killing two hundred human beings in one night. This is advanced level terrorism! We all know this at the instinctive level. Our laws acknowledge it as such, why is the Federal Government of Nigeria still seeing it differently?

See also how many bullets for instance, it takes to shoot non-stop for nearly seven hours in communities in Taraba State, as recently reported. This is no ragtag pastoralists. Nigerians are dealing with full-blown terrorist syndicates. The only thing is that they have mastered the art of subterfuge. That is why their interlocutors artfully manipulate and sometimes induce the media into painting them with a cleaner brush.

All the manifestations of terrorism are written all over their activities. Yet, Vice President Kashim Shettima for example, keeps telling Middlebeltans to “live peaceably with their neighbours.” What other region in Nigeria is more peaceable, sometimes to the point of recklessness, than the Middlebelt? Even if we pretend not to know, hasn’t Nigeria’s experience shown that the only way to live peaceably with terrorists is to put them six feet under? What else does the Federal Government need to see before it treats what is happening in the Middlebelt as terrorism?

Nigerians raise your voices; these senseless killings have gone beyond the Middlebelt. It’s already happening in the South-East, South-South and the South-West. I’m afraid that these terrorists may have camped and captured a forest near your village from where they will, in the fullness of time, undoubtedly lunch attacks against sleepy communities. Nobody should pretend even for a minute that what is happening in the Middlebelt will stay in the Middlebelt. A particular region may be facing the full brunt now, but other regions may have just as well dug their shallow graves. Only waiting for it to be filled.

Even if we say that this is futuristic, have we not also seen the direct correlation between the attacks in Nigeria’s food basket and the cost of living? Is it when a tuber of yam starts selling at five thousand Naira that Nigerians will appreciate the need to insist that farming communities be offered all the protection they need to stay in their own land and carry out their legitimate enterprises?

Part of our immediate response as responsible citizens is to call on the Attorney General of the Federation to immediately invoke Section 48 of Nigeria’s Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022 by designating these killers as terrorists. Afterwards, force the Federal Government to ruthlessly go after them. What many people don’t know is the weight of the proposed designation.

For instance, until that designation happens, Nigeria’s public policy and security hierarchy will be forced to keep dealing with these killings as “two-fighting.” As such, their roles remain only conciliatory. When the government is forced to draw that line on the sand, people will no longer kill on a Friday evening and “peacefully” withdraw their monies over the counter of Nigerian banks on Monday. The night keeps getting darker, yet Africa’s morning is at hand.

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