Coming as the federal government struggles with pressure to assure the United States and the international community of its seriousness to repel terrorism and stop unnecessary carnage in the land, the series of terrorist attacks in parts of the country over the past week is a clear testimony that time is running out for the government and Nigerians.

The latest attacks include the abduction of 303 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri in Angwarra Local Government Area of Niger State; the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi state, followed quickly by the attack and abduction of people in a Church in Eruku, Kwara State; as well as many unreported similar onslaughts on defenceless Nigerians.

As in past attacks over the past 15 years, innocent Nigerians were killed, hundreds captured like little animals, houses were razed, communities were ravaged, livelihoods were destroyed, and thousands of people were driven into refugee camps right in their homeland, while their ancestral land was taken over by the ravaging criminals. It is clear also that every day, Nigeria loses a huge part of its territory to terrorists at the expense of human, Nigerian lives. The Nigerian territorial space is shrinking!

Despite repeated assurances, successive governments, including the incumbent one led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have not deployed the appropriate counter-offensive to bring the over 15-year-old insurgency to a close. The government has not summoned the political will to smoke out the terrorists and their sponsors. There has been no official admission on why the Nigerian military, with all its appurtenances and huge capital outlay, has been unable to successfully challenge terrorists who come from all over West Africa and beyond to annex the country. Instead, the outlaws have become deadlier and more daring.

As Nigerians share their sovereignty with terrorists, the relevant question the government must answer now is whether it has the capacity to turn the tide against the terrorists, or whether those at the helm of affairs will accept their limitation and incapacity, and therefore yield governing space for capable hands and/or seek international assistance.

So far, for 15 years, the government has been supposedly fighting terrorism with the same routine, ineffective methods. It is not surprising that the results have remained the same, and this is disastrous for the country. Has the government realised that its failure to safeguard Nigerians’ lives and property is a reason for the people’s excitement about America’s threat to storm the country with ‘guns a blazing’?

The verdict out there, even among ardent supporters of the government, is that President Tinubu should either perform or resign. The alternative to that option is to watch, barefacedly, the total disintegration of Nigeria. Those who are already drawing analogies between Nigeria and Afghanistan are no longer mere pessimists; they are simply reading the handwriting on the wall, which is what the government is refusing to acknowledge, preferring instead to live in denial, again, uncaring about the huge toll on the innocent lives of hapless Nigerians.

The reported capture and killing of a Brigade Commander by terrorists of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), along the Damboa-Biu section in Borno State, in a coordinated ambush, is a reminder that the government is losing the battle, if not the war. The capture, humiliation and execution of a senior military officer in the hands of insurgents that the government regularly refer to as rag-tag, is a sign of poor coordination, strategy and lack of political will.  That miscalculation is another grim episode that should enrage the government.

Similarly, last Monday’s abduction of 25 female students at Maga Comprehensive Girls Secondary School, Kebbi State, is a case of failure to prioritise intelligence in the battle against insurgency. Governor Mohammed Nasir of Kebbi State is saddened that credible intelligence on the invasion was not taken seriously, just as it was in Chibok 11 years ago. He alleged sabotage, confirming that credible intelligence from the Department of State Services (DSS) was not put to use. There was no follow-up. Is that negligence or complicity? Whatever it may be, is there any repercussion, or is it business as usual?

It is sad that since the abduction of more than 250 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, the government has merely paid lip service to safeguarding schools. After Chibok, terrorists have carried out mass abductions of about 1,548 schoolchildren in 11 separate incidents spread across Yobe, Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kebbi states. Apart from going to schools, the terrorists have now carved territories for themselves, levying taxes on communities and running a parallel administration where the government is absent.

What then is the essence of government? What is the significance of public officials swearing to uphold and to defend the Nigerian Constitution if the only thing they do in fact is to desecrate the supreme law by disregarding its prime provisions? This cannot continue.
As the incumbent, President Tinubu should take action to secure the lives and properties of citizens. He was pragmatic in cancelling his official visit to South Africa and Angola in the wake of the Kebbi abduction and the Kwara Church attack. He was also acting appropriately when he ordered all military personnel to join the struggle against terrorists.

Nigerians recognise these gestures as portraying his seriousness to eradicate terror. However, they will not understand or forgive him if these efforts do not halt the country’s current state of disarray. Nigerians will blame him for the country’s failure because he fought gallantly to get to the presidency, fully aware of the country’s multifaceted challenges. No excuse from him will be tenable if, at the end of it all, he fails to rescue the country. That is the reason there is a government, and that responsibility cannot be ceded to terrorists.