By Ejikeme Omenazu
Dr. Aminu Tambuwal, the Sokoto State governor, is not known for cheap talks. Whenever he speaks, there is something serious he wants to point out. This is exactly what he did on Tuesday July 10, 2018, through an open statement.
Tambuwal, in the statement, attributed the recurring killings in most parts of the country to the failure of leadership. In what could be regarded as an indictment of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration under President Muhammadu Buhari administration, he lamented that the harvests of deaths were not what Nigerians voted for in 2015.
His statement came against the backdrop of killings of hundreds of Nigerians in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and several other states by herdsmen who also sack communities, rape women and destroy properties, leaving behind them trails of blood and sorrow.
In the recent attack in Plateau State communities, over 200 were felled by the herdsmen as there was no help from the police and other security agencies until after seven hours. Till date, the killings have not stopped in the nation’s North Central geo-political zone.
Also, several security operatives had been killed by the arms men in the course of their duties, thus leaving the sad impression that nowhere and no one was safe.
Tambuwal, the Speaker of the Seventh House of Representatives, canvassed a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s security architecture, which he said had not been working.
Tambuwal stressed: “The growing spate of mindless shedding of innocent blood, especially of policemen and other security personnel on their lawful duty posts, has brought a new dimension to the reprehensible state of insecurity in the country.”
The governor, who commiserated with families of citizens who lost their lives in the killings, said with the killing of security agents on their duty posts, “the question from every law abiding citizen today is: Who will protect us, when even those constitutionally charged with the responsibility of protecting our lives and property have, themselves, become vulnerable targets of criminals?
“Where shall we run to for protection, when the institutions of state put in place to protect us are being progressively dismantled by opportunistic criminality and the trained personnel are also on the run?”
Tambuwal continued: “Last May, three policemen were shot dead in Sokoto State by kidnappers, who abducted a Syrian national they were escorting. A few days later, four police officers were ambushed and killed in Benue State.
“Last week seven policemen were reportedly gunned down in cold blood in Abuja, and their arms and ammunition were taken, by unknown persons. This is happening amidst repeatedly reported cases of attacks on police stations and other security facilities in various parts of the country…
“It bears repeating for me to state here that Nigeria’s security architecture and the strategies currently adopted and deployed for national security, if any, need a comprehensive overhaul. It is not working.
“The needless waste of life everywhere, both those of trained security personnel and ordinary citizens, is a drain on the nation’s resources and an unacceptable diminution of our valuable human capital.
“Every policeman or military personnel is someone’s father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt or friend. The number and frequency of deaths are undermining our humanity, making us less sensitive to the gravity of the situation we are in today and also creating a new generation of Nigerians, who may get accustomed to inhuman acts as the norm.
“The worst part of all this is that these deaths are avoidable and the killings preventable. It boils down, at the end of the day, to the failure of leadership. Nigeria cannot progress and be part of a 21st Century forward-looking world by creating new batches of mourners every other day.
“This is not the way to go. That is not what Nigerians voted for in 2015. That is not what will build a virile, united, united, politically stable and economically prosperous African Giant.”
Tambuwal had also on July 1 spoken out on the issue of insecurity in the nation, even as he tasked the President Buhari administration on what should be done to end insecurity and killings.
The Sokoto State governor, who spoke at the Sultan Maccido Institute for Quranic and General Studies while declaring open the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), proffered what he termed the best solution to the incessant killings and insecurity in the country.
Tambuwal called on relevant authorities in charge of nations’ security to stop what he termed the blame game, stressing that the time had to ensure the establishment of State Police had come.
He warned that everything was wrong with Nigeria at the moment, hence the reason for state police. According to him, “Nigeria is not secured as expected. Everything is wrong with Nigeria today. Therefore, we must not continue to sit down, fold our hands and presume it will be solved without playing our part.
“The Federal Government should genuinely wake up from the blame game and take responsibility.” Tambuwal further advised President Buhari to heed the calls of Nigerians and re-jig the nation’s security apparatus.
He stressed: “President Muhammadu Buhari should do the needful. We must re-jig our security architecture. And with the recent unabated degree of killings across the country, there is, therefore, the justification for State Police today, as there is no synergy in the nations’ security.
“The situation at the moment calls for caution. We should reconsider certain primordial perception that over cloud our reasons for the greater Nigeria.”
Faced with the incidences of killings across the country, several Nigerians had been calling on President Buhari to do something about the nation’s security, even as they fault the appointment of the security chiefs from a section of the country.
Only recently, former Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen Theophillus Danjuma (rtd) cried out over the spate of killings in the land, especially in the Middle Belt Region, accusing security agencies of a sell-out, stressing that they look at the other side while people were being mowed down by the herdsmen without protecting the lives and properties of citizens.
Danjuma then called on the people to be ready to do anything to protect themselves as they had been abandoned to their fate by the Federal Government and security agencies.
With the continued killings across the land by the rampaging herdsmen as well as increasing rate of kidnapping for ransom, armed robberies, cult killings and ritual murder, and against the backdrop of warnings by Nigerians, including Danjuma and Tambuwal, it is hoped the Federal Government would take the issue of insecurity more seriously as it is its constitutional duty to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.
