Two things are responsible for the current fiasco in the security management of Nigeria.
The first is the obvious lack of understanding of what constitutes the security challenges and the second, borne out of the aforementioned, is the regrettable approach adopted towards curbing insecurity.
As commander in chief of a security challenged nation, the first remit of the president should have prioritized the issue security where extra efforts should have gone into sourcing for competent hands to manage the situation.
Until Badaru was removed, the appointment of the minister of defence, minister of state for defence and National Security Adviser, NSA, were not based on merit but due to political considerations. This shouldn’t have been so
Political associates of the President can be rewarded with any fringe appointment but not ones that have to do with the security of citizens.
The most irksome is the appointment of the NSA where the prevailing criteria was based purely on political chumminess.
What makes it worse is that no consideration was given to the prevailing situation in the country where people are abducted at will, huge ransoms collected, communities sacked, people killed, women raped and nothing is done about it.
These crimes are perpetrated by criminals who have taken up arms against the Nigerian state within apology who have remained unrepentant and hardened.
At a time like this, one had expected that the best person to man the position of an NSA should have been someone with training in not just internal security but territorial defence, weapons upgrade and warfare techniques.
A retired policeman coming with training only in investigation, crime bursting and maintenance of law and order is the least expected to hold such a position at such a time.
Why the Shagari government and others were able to succeed with NSAs with police backgrounds was because there were more of internal strifes but no insurgency and terrorism threatening the country’s sovereignty.
What is besetting Nigeria today is akin to war and cannot be handled by negotiations with the agent provocateurs and societal irritants. But because the NSA does not know better, or probably because they’re made up of members of a particular ethnic group, he misdiagnosed the situation and applied the wrong medication.
Non-kinetic approaches are usually adopted in communal clashes where two or more sides are in conflict so as to bring them to a round table and negotiate terms for peace to thrive.
But the current situation in Nigeria where people have without provocation, taken up arms against the state, killing, stealing and sexually assaulting citizens in a relentless bid to bring both the country and the government down is far from a communal clash.
Hence, cajoling, sweet talking, pampering and giving them money would only embolden and equip them to further hold the nation by the balls as we have seen lately.
The adoption of same measures by many states and local governments councils in the North has also not only empowered the criminals but given them space to reintegrate into the society and spend their loot with contempt.
That is why rather than abate, the attacks have escalated to new areas not covered by the peace deals such as Kano and Kebbi expanding the scope of the negotiations for more so called peace deals for money to be harvested.
Why the current NSA should be removed
Apart from professional lapses owing to lack of understanding of the situation, the current NSA is more interested in building a political career which is either to become the governor of Adamawa state or to succeed President Tinubu any time soon.
Half educated underachievers like Matawalle Manning sensitive positions as minister of state for defence is also an aberration.
The lives of people lost on a daily basis do not matter as ambitions have been placed above every other consideration.
What Nigeria needs now is a combat intelligence officer with experience in warfare who can talk to the bandits in the only language they understand.
When Chad, a smaller country was confronted with a similar situation, its president personally led a crackdown on the terrorists holding his country to ransom and in one operation sacked over 1,000 of them to flee.
The best time Nigeria witnessed improvement since the insurgency started was the six weeks period President Goodluck Jonathan took to extend the 2015 elections.
That time the government became serious, sourced for arms and employed mercenaries who went into the fortresses of the insurgents and immediate results were seen.
The government of Buhari which came with the same mentality being exhibited by the current NSA thought that because the perpetrators were of similar backgrounds with him that they would cease fire and begin to cooperate with it.
Unfortunately, the insurgents did not see it that way and rather escalated the matter.
When the government saw that they were not susceptible to reason, it took a stiffer measure and things began to change.
Unfortunately, the battle of supremacy between the then NSA, Babagana Monguno and the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai at that time, crept in and Nigeria began to lose the battle.
When the criminal elements in the Northwest read the mood of the then President that he is won’t to be soft on his kith and kin, they also copied the hooliganism of the Northeast and went into the bushes.Where they failed to recruit large numbers in Nigeria, they imported their relations from other countries.
They read the mood right when the people who were their victims began defending or pretending that nothing like that was happening in order not to embarrass the government of the day.
The same administration on the other hand had no kid gloves for the insurgency in the Southeast and went full force cracking down on them with many military operations and exercises like python dance etc.
Now we are back full cycle.
The same mistake made by the Buhari administration. Ribadu thinks he can get through by appealing to the sentiments of the insurgents.
This is the same template Sheik Gumi is using and trying to sell to the public.
Currently, the criminals are getting more more money from the business and have attracted many to register more of such platforms to ply their trade with names such as Lakurawa, Mahmuda, Wulowulo etc in addition to existing ones like Boko Haram, ISWAP and bandits
As long as the government continues in that line of appeasement, nothing would change.
Ribadu is too suffused in politics to take any action. He is the only NSA to come into office with an open political agenda.
What is needed is someone who is totally apolitical with the right coordinates to fight the insurgency. Someone who will take the battle to the insurgents and not be blackmailed by sentiments of political considerations.
Yes they will try initially to blackmail any appointee by escalating the attacks but a sustained effort through information gathering and counter insurgency strategies, there would be positive results rather than this puerile approach to security matters.
