From 2009, under the full administration of different democratically elected presidents, killings, kidnapping, burning of homes, schools and churches, mass displacements, closure of schools, bandits ruling in captured territories and loss of livelihoods, among a litany of other woes, have largely characterised the landscape of Nigeria, cutting across north, east, south, west and in between. No place is safe!
Thousands of lives have been lost. Properties worth billions have been ruined. Trillions worth of livelihood resources have been lost, wasted or outrightly abandoned in flight from danger and threat to life. Ransom payments to kidnappers amounting to trillions have become a lucrative business. Huge security spending amounting to trillions with no visible results have become a new platform for corruption.
Indeed, Boko Haram’s agenda has a deep religious undertone as it seeks to establish Islamic system of administration. This foundational ideology is compounded by illiteracy and mass poverty across the land. The fact that this movement has persisted for over 15 years in a country that crushed the Biafran war in just a few years, points to the fact that the Boko Haram ideology has powerful sympathisers in the political, military, government and Islamic religious sectors.
There are international financiers and suppliers of arms, ammunition and military hardware to the insurgents in Nigeria. How do those items get into the country and into the hands of the enemy? There are local suppliers who make food and fuel available to the bandits. There are officers in the military who share intelligence with Boko Haram to evade planned attacks or to lay siege for a planned military operation. One can rightly opine that Nigeria’s security challenges are orchestrated by some Nigerians for their selfish economic and religious expediencies. This is why the problem has intractably persisted and will continue to persist.
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Military operations under different names have been formed in different parts of the country with no significant change of situation. Nigeria critically remains in the ICU of insecurity. There is no political, military, economic and religious will to end the security challenges of Nigeria because they benefit some key players operating behind the scene. They have vowed in their hearts and in public statements to sustain the movement. An outward silence is an inner support. The recent appointment of new service chiefs will amount to nothing because the powers behind the insurgency are systemic and deeply ingrained. All efforts are sabotaged from within. The terrorists serve the interests of some powerful people in the country.
In the meantime, the majority of poor and powerless Nigerians continue to bear the brutal brunt of the deliberately instigated insecurity challenges. They are helpless and hopeless. They have a government that has reasonably proven it is incapable of defending and protecting her citizens. Different administrations come and go but the problem persists. People sleep with one eye open. They move around with their hearts in their hands, fearful of the unknown. Farmers have abandoned farming and are living in starvation and abject poverty. Economic activities are stifled, unemployment is heightened and poverty has escalated. The cost of terrorist activities in Nigeria is colossal in human and material terms. How much longer must poor Nigerians bear the brunt of this madness?
This is why the spirits of all those who have been killed since 2009 under the banner of Boko Haram and their affiliates turn in jubilation in their graves at the words of President Trump to help rescue Nigeria from her cancerous insecurity challenges. The suffering Nigerians welcome the intervention of the US military and threats of stopping aid to Nigeria. These suffering Nigerians have no platform to echo their resounding YES to Trump’s threat. We need the threat effected IMMEDIATELY. Beneficiaries of the violence in Nigeria will do everything to keep the US from interfering in the domestic affairs of the country but this is nothing but a ploy to save their faces and protect their selfish interests over and above the common good and wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians. Do not listen to their story, Sir!
Bola Tinubu’s administration will certainly state how well they have managed the situation since assuming power. They will push narratives that seek to make it look like it is a general security challenge that affects both Christians and Muslims alike. They will stress on the sovereignty of Nigeria against external intervention. They will insist on democratic ethos and constitutionalism upon which the Nigerian state exists and operates. Those are but fights to save the face of a failed and compromised administration. Fact-check their narratives against the worsening and persisting situation, Sir.
It is time for the dying giant of Africa to swallow her pride and seek help from the US government to put an ultimate end to the senseless killings, kidnappings and various shades of insurmountable insecurity challenges that have bedevilled and continue to frustrate the development of Nigeria and the freedom of Nigerians. It is time to be brutally honest to ourselves and to the world. We cannot help our situation. We need help from our international partners. Help save Nigeria from sinking further into the abyss of terrorism. Imagine how a destabilised Nigeria can destabilise the world.
We have tried in vain to contain this crisis for many years. There is nothing we have not tried, including negotiating with armed criminals and granting them amnesty. The government literally pays the criminals to tone down and the government allows them to import everything they need. If we don’t expose these underground truths, we will not open up to ask for or accept help from the United States. The bitter truth is that Nigeria cannot resolve her insecurity issues.
Dear President Trump, thank you for your expressed interest to rescue Nigeria from the grips of Islamic terrorists. Please send in your men as soon as possible. Do not listen to the empty rhetoric of Nigerian leaders.
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By Livinus Onogwu