IN a raid that signposted the unending reign of outlaws in the country, Boko Haram terrorists unleashed a bloodbath in Mafa village, Yobe State, this week, cutting down at least 34 persons in cold blood. The victims were given a mass burial at Babangida, the headquarters of the Tarmuwa Local Government of the state, on Tuesday. Though villagers said over 100 persons were killed, the state government put the casualty figure at 34. The corpses were recovered during a search-and-rescue operation led by the Nigerian Army and supported by local vigilantes. Responding to the tragedy, president Bola Tinubu gave the usual platitudes. Commiserating with the government and the people of Yobe over the tragic loss of lives, he assured that the perpetrators would be punished. Saying that the killings were an atrocious and cowardly act of terror by a degraded group of criminals, he said the people of Yobe State that the perpetrators of the sinister act would have an inevitable encounter with justice.

Actually, the situation in the country is dicey. Only last week, the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) led by the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar, raised the alarm over the spate of killings across the country. NIREC decried the rate at which banditry, abductions and killings were increasing across the country, describing it as beyond alarming. It said: “Recently, we received reports of 13 farmers killed in Shiroro Local Government Area of Katsina of Niger State, 150 persons abducted in Gobir District in Sokoto State; the District Head of Gatawa in Sokoto State gruesomely murdered, a foiled bandits’ attack in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State, and many other incidents. This spate of attacks within the span of one week is very disheartening and of great concern. NIREC therefore calls on the government and security agencies to intensify their efforts to eradicate these menaces in our society so that citizens can go about their daily lives without fear or apprehension.”

The killings are gettingg out of hand: it is almost as if the entire country has been overrun by criminals. The story of the District Head of Gobir, Isa Mohammad Bawa, who was captured in a video pleading for his life, tortured and dehumanised to no end, speaks to the absence of real governance in the country. An accurate picture of the sad security situation in the country is also provided by Imo State, where the killing of security agents has become a daily affair. From policemen to soldiers, uniformed men die gruesome deaths at the hands of outlaws. Indeed, some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) abducted on their way to camp last year spent a full year in captivity, and the agency had to give them discharge certificates upon their release from their captors, an applaudable decision which nevertheless signposts the terror that has enveloped the country. In many cases, there have been angry responses from increasingly irate citizens jolted by the daring of the outlaws. In Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, some youths had to literally tame kidnappers in the face of state failure, while in Sokoto State, thousands of residents of Gobir stormed the forest to confront bandits and rescue their abducted relations, citing the continuous failure of the security agencies. Their mission was to rescue their 150 kidnapped compatriots and retrieve the remains of their slain district head. The situation in the country is so bad that terrorists even did a TikTok video recently, mocking President Tinubu and the Nigerian State.

Sadly, some security agents have been implicated in the orgy of bloodletting perpetrated by criminals across the country. Only recently, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja granted the request by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) to detain an Assistant Superintendent of Police and 19 others for 30 days over their alleged involvement in banditry, kidnapping and terrorism. Besides, illegal arms and ammunition are finding their way into the hands of outlaws, as the recent arrest of a woman transporting bullets hidden in kegs of palm oil illustrates. Again, following the discovery of multiple illicit shipments, including arms and pharmaceuticals at the Onne Port in Rivers State, recently, the government said it had initiated strict emergency protocols. According to the Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi, the government is Implementing these measures to curb the frequent importation of dangerous cargo. Speaking at a press conference while unveiling several recent seizures by the Nigeria Customs Service, Area 2 Command, Onne, Rivers State, Adeniyi expressed concern over the increasing threat posed by the repeated importation of arms and other dangerous items into the country through the port. With illicit arms everywhere, Nigerians of different classes, from medical doctors to students and artisans, are regularly kidnapped and treated worse than animals.

If prominent religious and traditional leaders having to call out the government on the worsening insecurity in the country is saddening, it is even more dispiriting that in spite of the evidence of gory killings across the country, the government is conducting its affairs in a flippant manner and with careless disregard for the horrendous situation. Pray, which serious government can continue to carry on as if everything is in order when kidnappers have virtually taken over the land and citizens are subjected to harrowing deaths? We have repeatedly insisted, in light of its embarrassing failure at every level, that the current security architecture in the country is spectacularly incapable of providing security and guaranteeing peace and safety. We urge the government to address the security situation in the country more frontally, as no development can be contemplated in an atmosphere of deep insecurity. (Nigerian Tribune Editorial)

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