Security is, and ought to be, everybody’s business because the converse, insecurity, and terrorism, imperils life, and poses an existential threat to societal order, and wellbeing. It is upon that incontestable ideological and practical foundation, that all nations have armed forces, police constabularies, intelligence agencies, state security apparatchiks, intelligence agencies, customs, immigration, state troopers, immigration enforcement etc.

Directly or indirectly therefore, these law enforcement agencies, in every country, irrespective of whether the political architecture is characterised by an autocratic, democratic, feudalistic, monarchic, theocratic dispensation, or hybrids thereof, are empowered to ensure the security of individuals, and the security of the state.

The implication is that these authorities, do their utmost to safeguard lives, property and societal order in the normal course of events. The opposite is anarchy, social dislocation, terror, unrest and war.

No society thrives under those pertinacious climes. That is precisely why, for good or ill, the buck stops with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces who, invariably, is the elected or unelected president or leader of each country.

Whilst national leaders have a vast apparatus of security outfits and those in operational control, including defence chiefs, police chiefs, directors-general of state security services and intelligence, civil defence bosses, and the huge operational personnel; charged with facilitating, and executing, natural security and defence; there is no getting away from the germane constitutional law doctrine: delegatus non potest delegare. That is, there can be no further delegation of powers to whom such power has already been squarely delegated.

It eloquently establishes the point that the Commander-in Chief bears ultimate responsibility for the safety and well-being of all citizens and his country. This is of course not in absolutist terms, because a C-i-C’s responsibility here, by no means obviates the necessity for an individual’s responsibility for his/her own well-being.

The Commander in-Chief’s enormous responsibility for the security and welfare of citizens within his/her realm is examined from the prism of the Nigerian context and well-grounded in constitutional provisions. Accordingly, section 5(1) (a) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (the “Constitution”), (as amended), provides that: “the executive powers of the Federation shall be vested in the President…”. Section 14 (2) b of the Constitution establishes that: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Whilst section 218 (1) of the same statute establishes that “the powers of the President as the Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation shall include power to determine the operational use of the armed forces of the Federation”

Now then, these constitutional provisions vis-a-vis Presidential powers, and the effective deployment of credible, and actionable intelligence, ditto the kinetic, and non-kinetic capacity, to anticipate, disrupt and defeat terrorist insurgency and lingering insecurity nationwide, are two different things.

To put this into some perspective, on January 7, 2024, terrorists invaded Sagwari Layout Estate, Federal Capital Territory, capturing 10 residents. The Financial Times of London also reports that at least 160 people were killed in Christmas Eve 2023, attacks by terrorists across 20 communities in the Bokkos and Barkin Ladi areas of Plateau State in Central Nigeria.

According to Associated Press, no group took responsibility for the heinous attacks, though “blame fell on herders from the Fulani tribe, who have been accused of carrying out such mass killings across the north west and central regions where the decades long conflict over access to land and water, has further worsened the sectarian division between Christians and Muslims in Africa’s most populous nation.”

In two separate Boko Haram terrorist attacks in October 2023, within the Gurokeyaya precinct, of Yobe State, 37 people were killed and a further seven persons were injured. In August 2023, no less than 36 personnel of the Nigerian armed forces were killed by terrorists within the Zungeru-Tegina and Shiroro axis of Niger State, central Nigeria. Amnesty International further confirms that between June 9 and June 11, 2023, 59 persons were killed in the Katarko, Kusherki regions of North Central Nigeria, in terrorist attacks.

Throughout May 2023, at least 100 people were killed in various communities of Benue State. Between May15-17, 2023, more than 100 people were killed in the Mangu region of Plateau state. And in southern Kaduna, over 100 people were killed by gunmen between December 2022 and April 2023.

Back on Pentecost Sunday, June 5, 2022, one of Christianity’s holiest days, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria, was attacked by terrorists. The heinous assault resulted in the deaths and injury of more than 50 persons, including young children.

In June 2019, the convoy of then Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (of blessed memory) was attacked by terrorists on the Akure/Ibadan Highway in Nigeria. Likewise, two officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, of the University of Ife (OAU), were kidnapped in the same precinct. Mrs Funke Olakunri, a Lagos-based lawyer was killed along Ondo-Ore route.

The combination of these horrific factors crystallized the visionary thinking of, and action by, Akeredolu, and powerful allies, against the neo-centralist Federal Government’s command-and-control of police powers (itself, revealing the constitutional dislocation of the all-powerful federalist model); in setting up the South Western regional security outfit; Amotekun.

It is far from perfect! Nevertheless, it not only evidently reinforces the point that nature abhors a vacuum, but it also demonstrates that genuinely concerned, honest, and forward thinking, leaders, and citizens, will urgently prioritise the security and welfare of citizens, by taking real action. Indeed, the Amotekun model, has been adopted as a precedent in other parts of Nigeria where terrorism, has, unfortunately, taken a foothold and claimed so many lives. Examples, include the Eastern Security Network, Benue State Community Volunteer Guards, Registered Vigilante Groups et al.

Data from the National Security Tracker (NST), an initiative of the Council of Foreign Relations, Africa Programme, establishes that before the incumbent Nigerian Commander in-Chief, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assumed office on May 29, 2023, terrorism had claimed 98,112 lives since 2011; 27, 311 between 2015 and 2019 under the preceding President Buhari’s first term; and, and 35,900 persons under the latter’s second term. In short, there is virtually no geopolitical region in Nigeria that is untouched by terrorism.

These are plainly horrific statistics which highlight the significant volatilities, uncertainties, complexities and challenges confronting national leaders in safeguarding human lives and property, whilst defending the realm. It is patently abnormal, unsustainable and, rather sadly, risks creating the conditions for war. Because people may well resort to self-help, if they experientially, witness the seemingly consistent inability, of the Federal Government, via its agencies, the army, air force, police, navy, civil defence, DSS and others to sustainably protect them.

In the final analysis, the status quo is unsustainable. The heroic efforts and gallantry of honest, loyal, and patriotic men and women of the Nigerian armed forces, and allied security forces, who have made the ultimate sacrifice; and those, who continue to risk their lives daily, confronting terrorists, in nooks and crannies of the country, in the quest to protect lives and property must never be forgotten. They are, indeed true heroes and their sacrifices must never be in vain.

In a similar vein, the case for the urgent devolution of police powers to states and regions is stronger now than ever before. A situation where Nigerians are being slaughtered and/or kidnapped by terrorists in their homes, villages, and farms, demands immediate, decisive and resolute action, not political correctness nor inertia.

And none of this is to underplay, practical constraints and challenges confronting the armed forces notably, scarce foreign exchange for the procurement of military hardware given Nigeria’s financial predicament; intelligence gaps; logistical challenges; sabotage; failure of strategy; poor execution of well-thought-out strategies and sub-optimal coordination.

This treatise therefore recommends urgent, innovative and value-added approaches to addressing rampant terrorism and insecurity across the country. These include: devolution of police powers to state and regional authorities; an alteration of the 1999 Constitution to ensure that state governors are, de facto and de jure, Chief Security Officers of their states; re-invigorate the West African Multi-National Joint Task Force whilst boosting the diplomatic charm offensive with Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea given recent tensions; calling outside help from NATO and the US Central Command for strategic assistance; draft in ex-senior military strategists to offer advice based on experiential knowledge.

At the moment, the latter resource, powerful as it is, is largely dissipated. That cannot be right! Alexander III of Macedon 356-323 BC, was on target in affirming: “there is nothing impossible to him who will try.”

Ojumu is the Principal Partner at Balliol Myers LP, a firm of legal practitioners and strategy consultants in Lagos, Nigeria, and the author of The Dynamic Intersections of Economics, Foreign Relations, Jurisprudence and National Development.