Out of the context of political affiliations, religious extractions and tribal sentiments, the atmosphere was tensed as constant chants of unfitting remarks greeted the safe haven. Chaos from the disorderly opposition members; series of protests from religious leaders; and wails and cries from bereaved Nigerians were the order of those days against the wall of the previous administration as regards the level of insecurity strolling from every corner of society.

The nation is steadily navigating its way into filthy and precarious waters. The supposed lord commanders are wandering from nation to nation with their pretentious acts of what is ransacking and ravaging in their own backyard. In the midst of these terrible and sardonic events, they rather choose to stay in another man’s land, crying and lamenting about the security situation in Libya. Who says that? Human? Man-made? Oh, this is rarely seen.

Long before now, the country has seen and experienced flurries of ugly and barbaric happenings championed within the hemisphere of her porous corridors. But what we haven’t seen nor experienced in a saner clime of ours is the saga of romance with insurgency emanating from the privy of the upper-room, which are not limited to the trophies of deaths, murders, abductions and destroyed properties being displayed without recourse, on national screen.

The government often does nothing to bring to justice the perpetrators of these acts perpetrated in broad daylight. Rather, they churned out undemocratic and not-in-line utterances with no leadership saying: “Most of the victims of Boko Haram is Muslim.” Those at the helm of affairs continue to stand by as extremists disseminating various forms of hateful ideology across the draw-board that encourages violence and discrimination against one another. They pretend to realise that the siege mentality that cut across ethnic and religious divides must be challenged with review notions that pitched us against the other.

Yes, we have a Protector of the Realm who is a retired General. He knows how to fight wars, because he was trained to do so. As a warlord, he appointed folks of high-ranked military officers collectively known as service chiefs, who whenever they claim they have technically defeated the malaise of insurgency parading the nation, the terrorists will in no time launch full-blown attacks to demonstrate their consistency in terrorising, and still what follows are condolence messages condemning the reprisal attacks. What a lie! At least, the once-regarded no-nonsense President is human who is in a better position to know whether those service chiefs are long overdue, out of think-tank security ideas, or not, and whether there is a need to replace them with new minds. Of course, that is a part and parcel of national discourse upon which that is pronounced here and there.

There is a deficiency of law and procedures guiding the activities of the nation’s security architecture. In their myopic minds, they are only answerable and accountable to their supposed master, with clear evidence of rather sending in their accountants to represent their filthy shadows in the edifice of the green chambers at the course of urgent security matters. There is partly no effective and existent synergy inducing lack of efficiency in the system, hence the constant accusations and counter-accusations about the removal of those blokes.

The recent rhetoric has translated to real-world implications. Beyond political lines, security is a matter of concern for all and should be protected by all. The world is watching, the truth is hidden to make informed decisions. There is a need to uphold the first amendment to its fullest extent. The malaise of insurgents and their guts are unquenchable. The sects, through their blood-lusting and the bloodthirsty monster of a leader, could do a public video boastfully sending a dose of warnings and threats to the Protector of the Realm, after his condolence visit to Maiduguri, even if the real disaster happened in Auno Village of Borno State. Please, wait-o-o! There are questions. Why didn’t the President go to Auno Village? Why did he choose to go to Maiduguri, the capital of the state? Is he fully aware of something filthy? Or is he trying to retreat himself of a forthcoming disaster? Of course not, he is the commander-in-chief, connoting his fearless attributes. Power!

Fellow Nigerians, the release of those who continue to pillage, murder, slaughter, butcher and wreak havoc here and thereby maiming soldiers and terrorising the people day and night over the years is disheartening and soulless, especially given that this is done by those parading themselves as occupants of the upper-room. Their acts and utterances are not in touch with reality. They say “the protection of Nigerians is theirs,” but we continue to be entrapped in the exact opposite. We got locked horns at the security fronts when they uttered “cooperate with the government or suffer the consequences.” The understanding of such, I don’t know.

Like a cat will have for a sandpiper, political jobbers parading themselves as our leaders have no compassion for the people. Some even see to the actualisation of these heinous acts of security insurgency, with a dubious target at inflating their security votes.

The death of 16 members of the same family and four others who were herded into a room and roasted alive in Kaduna State by insurgents is worrisome, and calls for an exigent need to curb such dastardly act. If such sporadic allegations are true under the guise of de-radicalisation scheme, the release of Boko Haram fighters from prison after capturing with the claim that they are reformed is weakening. What have we done? Who and what do we appease? People continue to be wiped out in a blink, yet those at the helm of affairs celebrate terrorism by reintegration of insurgents, hence their unquenchable guts to never cease to strike.

Threats, attacks, government oppression, the accusation of fake news and a growing mistrust of the media all threaten Freedom to Information laws, thus taming the skewed face of concerned and patriotic Nigerians. Journalists today face unprecedented chase-to-wall hardships for simply pursuing the truth. Yet, they proclaimed Freedom of press and speech are nothing but the cornerstone to any democracy, and when that is threatened, so is freedom.

The “Protector of the Realm” in his words – had promised not to let Nigerians down in providing effective leadership and result-oriented leadership that will safeguard and ensures a better life for citizens, assuring that he is conscious of the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, and he will keep working to deliver an improved life to Nigerians. Huh, I hope it is actualising, for the film of promise is unending.

Without feigning ignorance of the constant protestations of imploring punitive measures and not palliative ones, the government’s failure to address this violence through prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment is the real reason for headlining this piece: Nigeria, a country of particular concern.

God bless Nigeria

•Meduoye Adeyinka writes from Lagos and can be reached via yinkopet@gmail.com

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