Nigeria’s insecurity landscape is currently witnessing an intensifying upsurge, despite the series of reported victories by security forces. No doubt, the security agencies are doing their best within limited resources and tools at their disposal to mitigate the activities of these hardened criminals and groups tormenting Nigeria from all sides, employing all manners of tricks and strategies that run foul of the least rule of engagement in their villainous and deadly acts.

It could be recalled just before the 2023 Presidential Election, there was a seeming lull in terrorism, kidnapping, and herdsmen banditry across the Nigerian territory. To me then, the situation was counterintuitive. The obviously strange and unusual ‘truce’ challenged my thinking faculty and the outcome was the emergence of three hypotheses which I reasoned played out:

First, I presumed that the political gladiators who probably are the sponsors or paymasters of these monsters and blood thirsty groups engaged them in political assignments such as thuggery, political disturbances, killings and maiming.

Second, I reasoned that the increased presence of security personnel deployed by government across the country for the maintenance of law and order and stability before, during, and after the elections contributed to the pyrrhic peace.

Lastly, the appointment of new heads of the security agencies in the country. These new heads would want to impress on the President that he had made the right choices by ensuring that their respective offices made noticeable differences in the management of the security challenges.
   
However, the relatively calm state of the security situation did not last for too long. Since January 2024 to date, the nation has been witnessing a resurgence in violent attacks across the nation from the North-west to North-east, increasing kidnappings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and South-west, and renewed unknown gunmen activities and kidnappings in the South-east, Edo, and Delta States.

In the North-west, states like Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Katsina have been tormented by banditry, violent attacks, and kidnappings. In the North-central, particularly Benue, Plateau, and Niger states continue to be plagued by violent attacks and kidnappings, while Benue and Plateau are being overrun by Fulani herdsmen resulting in several hundreds of deaths.

In the FCT, high-profile abductions and kidnappings are the order of the day in places like Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, and many other areas within the metropolis. These abductions and kidnappings attracted heavy ransom payments and sometimes outright killings of victims in cold blood even after the payment of ransoms.

In the South-east, there have been attacks on police stations, markets, and communities by unknown gunmen. The region also continues to experience kidnappings of high-profile individuals.
   
Unfortunately, the South-west, which was relatively calmer, has recently been experiencing an upscale in kidnappings, armed robbery, and farmland destruction by Fulani herdsmen. Ogun and Lagos States have added another dimension to insecurity through cult group violent attacks on rival cult groups.

All the southern states are experiencing the invasion of Fulani herdsmen carrying AK-47 rifles, tormenting, raping wives and daughters of farmers, and maiming residents of southern communities at will. They destroy farmlands and crops without resistance, chase farm owners out of their lands, and engage in murder with impunity. Recently, they visited The Lord’s Chosen Church in a village in the East and massacred tens of worshippers. What an insult on the government and people of the southern part of Nigeria.

I suspect they want to use the Lord’s Chosen Church killing to test-run their heinous and dastardly acts of maiming and killing in the South. They have been using this approach in Benue and Plateau without any significant repercussions.

The time has come now for the southern governments and the people to take a common and decisive action to evacuate and ban Fulani herdsmen from our forests.
 
On the Uromi killing of the controversial hunters from Kano State, the police must conduct a thorough investigation into the matter to ascertain who they really were.

What was found on them? What type of guns were found on them? How much was found on them? How long had they been hunting in southern forests? Were the communities where they were engaging in their hunting trade aware of them and their business? Who were their customers and where were they located? Many more questions should be asked to truly establish the true identities and activities of the unfortunate and dastardly mob killing at Uromi.

I wish to suggest that hunters carrying their dane guns across regions should collect police permits for transporting their tools, clearly ascertaining the exact type of guns they are transporting.

The communities should henceforth hand over unknown hunters to the police. In short, the state and local governments should request the hunters to register with their communities where they practice their hunting and their residential locations so as to enable the communities to monitor their activities.

In short, the Edo State government should be audacious enough to ask their counterpart from Kano many questions begging for answers, so as to establish who they were truly and to prevent future occurrences of the unwholesome incident.

To be continued tomorrow.

Enikanselu, formerly of the University of Lagos, is a Professor of Business Administration.