Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/Things fall apart;/ the centre cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,/ and everywhere/The ceremony of innocence is drowned;/The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity –Williams Butler Yeats.

In the lines written in 1919, against the backdrop of World War I, Yeats captures the spectacle of human misery and its cyclical nature. It seems to me Nigeria is locked in another cycle of misery after the civil war, 1967-1970, whose resolution might birth greater calamity unless it is handled without political correctness. Mr President, this piece addresses the complex security matters confronting the country.

I do not know whether the government is aware of the seriousness of the security situation. But my patriotic duty dictates that I offer my perspective, hoping it might prompt the managers of the Nigerian estate to take some concrete actions. The Nigerian security forces are bleeding in the hands of terrorists who have invaded Nigeria and the country is under siege with prevailing threats to lives and property of Nigerians everywhere. To call a spade a spade, Nigeria is at war. In this column, last Monday, I adduced some facts about the security situation in the country, urging Mr President to act without further delay.

Last Friday, June 20, and Saturday, June 21, 2025, respectively, innocent lives were lost in separate bomb attacks in Borno, Kano and Kebbi. Also, on June 24, about 20 soldiers were killed by the terrorists in their encampment in Mariga, Mariga LGA, Niger state. While we are yet to wean off grieving the lives lost, the Almighty U.S. gave another foreboding warning to its citizens to avoid military barracks and crowded areas in Abuja and its environs, etched within an omniscient deep state, you can only ignore the warning at our peril.

Some might interpret this development as a spillover from the Israel-Iran crisis. It is perhaps naive to think so. Those who believe that it is their birthright to rule this country in their image are at work. It seems the days ahead will be rough, and only those who are prepared will not be taken by surprise.

Mr President, the prevailing violence, now taking on new intensity with renewed spate of bombing is reminiscent of the ones that dogged the Goodluck Jonathan administration in the run-up to the 2015 general elections. Again the vultures and traducers of the nation are gathering ahead of the 2027 general election, and engendering insecurity has become part of the cards on the table to discredit the incumbent to acquire political power. The electoral-induced violence is a second order to the war situation in the country.

The immediate and clear danger is the bands of terrorists ravaging the country, killing innocent people, and carrying out audacious attacks on our security forces. One is bound to shudder when you behold the horrific picture of slain servicemen in the Mariga attacks.

If the servicemen can be so brutally murdered what about the “bloody civilians” who have already become daily victims of the terrorists often mislabelled herders or, bandits. Let me be clear, Nigeria is at war. Your service chiefs must come clean and face squarely, this challenge to our national survival.

The serial killings of our soldiers must stop and the ease and audacity with which military formations are being attacked underlined the strength of the fifth columnists within. What proof does anyone need to understand the depth of the entrenchment of the fifth columnists other than the recently leaked intelligence report of the Department of State Services on the killings that took place in Benue?

The DSS memo was actionable intelligence that gave a vivid report of the locations of the terrorists and their target communities. Why was the report ignored? The addressee of that intelligence message must be debriefed, if true, and made to face the music. Solving the activities of the fifth columnists is a more practical approach than the new clamour for a fence around the nation’s boundaries.

The idea of a boundary wall was floated by General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff, on the need to build a border wall to tackle insurgents’ egress into the country. To be sure, the CDS believes that a wall across about 4000 kilometres of Nigerian border with neigbouring countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger would be a bulwark against insurgent infiltration into the country.

The CDS has argued that the idea is popular among the rank and file in the military. The rationale for this proposal is for ease of “border management” as has worked for countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel among others. There is an indication that you do not quite buy into this “Silver bullet proposal”.

Truth be told, Mr President, the proposal is idealistic and not feasible at the moment, it is simply a white elephant project. If Nigeria had all the money, given the scale of corruption, it would be dead on arrival. Were we to proceed, it would take a century to perfect and consummate it.

The Nigerian army is more intelligent than this. There is red herring. The solution to our security problem lies in rooting out the Trojan horses in the security forces. This requires political will, a strong intelligence web, and the acquisition of new platforms. Mr President, this is my perspective and my counsel on the matter.
Professor Akhaine is with the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University.