By Clifford Ndujihe
TEARS flowed heavily on Friday, August 25, 2023, as 22 military personnel including a Major, two NAF helicopter pilots, and 19 soldiers, airmen and ratings were given a ceremonial national burial at the Military Cemetery, Abuja.
The deceased were among 25 officers and soldiers killed in an ambush as they were moving towards Zungeru, Niger State, to counter bandits and terrorists who were attacking communities in the area. A NAF helicopter evacuating soldiers wounded in action also crashed at Wushishi, Niger State, killing the injured security men.
Speaking at the teary occasion, Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Gwabin Musa, vowed to avenge the death of the soldiers, saying that none of those responsible for their deaths would go scot-free.
He swore: “They would be hunted down by all means. Those that did this and those that have continued to attack, kill our men, wherever they are; we will get them out, we will smoke them out, and we will ensure that they never have any other opportunity to kill any other person, that I assure you.”
Indeed, the security agencies must avenge the death of the soldiers and other victims of insecurity across the country.
Although there appears to be an improvement in the war against insecurity since President Bola Tinubu took over on May 29, 2023, it is not yet Uhuru.
Many parts of Nigeria are still killing fields as bandits, terrorists, gunmen, armed herders, criminals and insurgents unleash terror and mayhem on hapless citizens killing and kidnapping for ransom and rituals.
As of August 29, no fewer than 1,406 Nigerians had been killed. These include 94 deaths recorded between May 29 and 31, 690 (June), 415 (July) and 207 (as of August 28).
The 1,406 deaths between May and August 2023 are fewer than the 2,897 recorded between June and August 2015 during the first 100 days of immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The figures are based on reported cases and data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, NST, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa programme.
The deaths arose from terrorism, banditry, Herders/farmers clashes, communal crises, cult clashes, and extra-judicial killings among others.
The 1,406 death toll is conservative because only reported cases from multiple sources were included. And many cases are under-reported or not reported at all.
Security as a top priority
In his inauguration speech, President Tinubu said he would make security a top priority because development could not take place without it.
“Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence. To effectively tackle this menace, we shall reform both our security doctrine and its architecture.
“We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide better training, equipment, pay and firepower,” he said.
Tinubu’s efforts
To push through his promise, President Tinubu, on June 1, ordered Service Chiefs and heads of security and intelligence agencies to crush criminals and anyone involved in oil theft, saying that his administration would not tolerate criminality.
Tinubu stated this in his maiden official meeting with Security and intelligence heads led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Among those at the meeting were the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao; and Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba; Director-General of the Department of State Service, DSS, Yusuf Bichi; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
Before he took over, insecurity had claimed 98,112 lives in 12 years; 27,311 persons in former President Buhari’s first term; and 35,900 persons between 2019 and May 29, 2023, according to the NST.
To reverse this trend, Tinubu said he was going to embark on a lot of reforms in terms of our security architecture, and mandated the security agencies to come up with a blueprint, and redouble their efforts because, as far as he is concerned “this country should not be on its knees struggling while other countries are working and achieving greater heights.”
Tinubu sacks service chiefs
Despite the order, the killing spree continued forcing President Tinubu to sack the service chiefs on June 19 when he appointed pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as the 10th National Security Adviser, NSA.
The new service chiefs, who were appointed on the same day as Ribadu were Major-General C.G Musa, Chief of Defence Staff, CDS; Major-General T. A. Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff, CoAS; Rear Admiral E. An Ogalla, Chief of Naval Staff, CNS; AVM H.B Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff, CAS; Kayode Egbetokun, Acting Inspector-General of Police, IGP; and Major-General EPA Undiandeye, Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI.
On August 21, Tinubu swore in Mohammed Badaru as Defence minister and Bello Matawalle as Minister of State Defence alongside 43 other ministers, charging them that their highest obligation is to restore public faith in government so that people can once again believe that the right hands in government can perform.
Tasks before security agencies, defence ministers
As it is, the security chiefs and defence ministers have their hands full. They must help the president deliver on his promises by securing the country.
Currently, Nigeria (8.065) is the 8th most terrorised country among 163 nations in the world, according to the Global Terrorism Index, GTI. Even Myanmar (7.977) and the Niger Republic (7.616) fared better than Nigeria in the GTI.
Nigeria was better than Afghanistan (8.822), Burkina Faso (8.564), Somalia (8.463), Mali (8.412), Syria (8.161), Pakistan (8.16) and Iraq (8.139).
GTI is a composite measurement made up of four indicators: incidents, fatalities, injuries and hostages. To measure the impact of terrorism, a five-year weighted average is applied.
The GTI is a comprehensive study analysing the impact of terrorism on 163 countries covering 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.
The GTI report is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, IEP, using data from Terrorism Tracker and other sources. The GTI produces a composite score to provide an ordinal ranking of countries on the impact of terrorism. The GTI scores each country on a scale from 0 to 10; where 0 represents no impact from terrorism and 10 represents the highest measurable impact of terrorism.
QUOTE
The 1,406 deaths between May 29 and August 2023 are fewer than the 2,897 recorded between June and August 2015 during the first 100 days of immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
As it is, the security chiefs and defence ministers have their hands full. They must help the president deliver on his promises by securing the country.
SOURCE: Vanguard
