For law-abiding citizens of the country, it is consoling that, according to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, the Nigeria Police Force has moved in to arrest about 53 persons it suspects to be involved in the heinous act of terrorism in Benue and Plateau States. However, truth be told, it does no credit to the Force that it took the direct challenge – some would term it query – by President Bola Tinubu for the country’s first line of defence to rise to its constitutional duty ‘to fight crimes, criminality and ensure the maintenance of law-and-order vis-a-vis peaceful co-existence in the society.’
The President, on an assessment visit to Benue State, where at least 200 persons were murdered, demanded from the IGP Egbetokun: “How come no one has been arrested for committing this heinous crime in Yelwata.
Inspector-General of Police, where are the arrests?’ adding that “criminals must be arrested immediately.” Other branches of the security forces were called out, albeit in a less scathing manner, to “keep [their] ears to the ground… retool… information channels and… have tangible intelligence so that this will not occur again.”
Tinubu may be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but it is not his duty to micromanage the duties and functions of those under him. He has too much on his plate to do that. It is up to the professionals to think up strategies and tactics that deliver results, but on condition that they receive the resources to do so.
Having been established and empowered by law to maintain peace and security in the polity, it should not at all require a presidential marching order for the Police to do their duty. Section 4 of the Police Act provides that, ‘‘The Police shall be employed for the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged.’’
Now that Nigerians have been informed of some ‘moving of its feet’ by the Police, it can only be hoped, given past experiences, that the arrest will translate to clear, concrete, and just application of the law upon the genuinely culpable. This must not be a knee-jerk response that puts innocent people at risk just to show that something is being done. After all, in January 2024, when, despite the presence of ‘Operation Safe Haven’, coordinated attacks on 23 villages in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State left over 150 dead and many others injured, no arrests were ever reported made – perhaps because there was no direct order from above to that effect.
There are good reasons for scepticism at different levels. First, successive governments have not demonstrated the political will to confront terrorism and stop it. They either speak on it from both sides of the mouth, or are woolly-mouthed in their condemnation of this evil.
Second, following the terror attack that took the lives of 40 worshippers of the Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State in June 2022, the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt. General Lucky Irabor announced the following August that five persons involved in the attack had been arrested. He would not present them to the public because the investigation was still on. To date, nothing has been heard about the case that was officially declared to be the handiwork of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
Third, in March 2024, the federal government released a list of 15 persons that it considered financiers of terrorism. The extant Terrorism (Prevention) Act is clear on the punishment, upon conviction, of such persons. Nigerians would want to know the latest development on this matter.
Fourth, and even worse, murderers who are said to be repentant and surrender are not made to face the full weight of the law for their crime. Instead, they are accepted into a so-called ‘Operation Safe Corridor’ where they enjoy a four-step treatment termed disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Defence Headquarters reportedly said 800 former terrorists were in this programme.
Fifth and most disturbing is that successive governments have one way or the other hinted at their helplessness –again, some would say unwillingness – to act decisively against the terrorists. President Goodluck Jonathan once admitted the presence of Boko Haram sympathisers in his government. He did nothing about it.
Terrorists are not spirits as evidentially proven by the fact that they move in large numbers on Nigerian highways, attack military camps and seize hardware, even occupy communities and collect, unchallenged, protection levies. No reasonable person will believe that they are not traceable with modern technology.
Kaduna and Katsina State authorities negotiated with and monetarily ‘settled’ them, only to be sorely disappointed. Smarting from this, the five governors of the Northwest geopolitical region agreed not to negotiate with terrorists and to assiduously fight the menace. Alas, for a sixth reason, this commitment may be difficult to fulfil. There are too many reports of fifth columnists within the besieged communities and, most shocking, the Nigerian security apparatus. This has been stated by the Plateau State governor, and more recently, the Borno State governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, who said directly, “We have informants and collaborators within the Nigerian armed forces, within the politicians, and within the communities. Persons with a military background have also lent credence to this, including the current CDS, Christopher Musa, who suspected ‘insider’ collusion in ‘the pattern of killings and slaughtering.’ Tor Tiv V, James Ayatse, rightly put it clear that the killings reflect ‘a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion…’ against his people. Pope Leo IV described the incident as ‘a terrible massacre.’
The ‘rehabilitation and reintegration’ programme carries a lot of doubt because many of the recipients have returned to their bad old ways that pay far more than whatever the government can offer. Others have constituted a menace in their respective communities. That much was the reported complaint in April 2024 of 59 district heads in Borno State at a peace and development workshop.
Reports from civil society organisations indicated that 2,423 persons were killed and 1,872 kidnapped in the first eight months of the Tinubu-led administration. Since then, with 150 in Plateau, 200 in Benue, and other killings in various states, the casualties can only be thousands more.
The threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria is frightfully real, but it does not seem to appear so stark to managers of the country’s affairs. Against the backdrop of the copious commitments on security made in the very first pages of his ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto, the least that Mr Tinubu-led government can do right now is to quickly and meticulously identify, try, and visit, under the extant anti-terrorism law, condign punishment, upon the criminals that carried out the dastardly act at Yelwata and elsewhere. That may, just may, send a strong deterrent message to terrorists and their ilk. It will also assure Nigerians that this government is not perpetrating the disastrous performance of previous administrations on national security.
