By Dr. Joel Ademisoye
On March 26, 2022, I saw a terrifying video clip on the social media, involving the Kaduna International Airport, where the Nigerian Army and other law enforcement officials were engaged in a gun battle against the many terrorists, who were preventing the take off, of an aircraft on the terminal (Source: “Breaking: Terrorists prevent the aircraft’s take off, kill one at Kaduna airport,” Our Heritage Reporters, March 26, 2022.). The incidence of the attack involved 200 terrorists as reported in the media, that took place on Saturday at the Kaduna International Airport in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State with the killing of one security official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency. This unexpected invasion of the Kaduna International Airport by 200 armed terrorists suggests the porosity of the Nigerian airports and their poor security conditions across the country. It is indeed a new phenomenon in the growth of terrorism in Nigeria. Where is the security team to protect and secure the international airport from the Boko Haram insurgency and other collaborating terrorists. I believe this huge army of 200 terrorists is capable of unleashing deadly havoc on and overrunning the activities, disrupting and paralyzing the orderly functions of the airport. What happens to intelligence gathering capacity and ability of the airport authority and the security apparatus to pre-empt the terrorists’ invasion of the airport? Is there Special Security Forces trained to. intervene and handle the case of airport terrorism in the country?
More importantly, the Kaduna International Airport terrorists’ incident opened a ‘can of worms’ in raising the questions about the adequate security and safety for the patrons or users of our airports by the domestic Nigerian travelers and foreign visitors to the country?
Do you know that Nigeria has 12 air strips, 20 local airports and 11 international airports (Source: Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)). Are 31 airports and 12 air strips sufficient to serve the Nigerian population of about 220 million people? Of course, we don’t know the needs/demands for the air services in Nigeria. So, it is difficult to determine or to establish the airports threshold in terms of the number of airports for the country’s huge population. But, the relevant question here is, whether the current number of airports in Nigeria are adequately secured and protected against the invasion of terrorists?
I need to reveal an interesting, but unrelated political event - a digression so to speak, that took place over the weekend in the nation’s capital, Abuja, where the ruling political party ‘Big Wigs’ in APC, with the President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo we’re in attendance, held their ‘political jamboree’ in selecting the members of the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC). While the APC Convention was underway in Abuja to nominate and select the principal officers of the party- the chairman, vice chairman, general secretary, etc., (won by the many defrocked former PDP members), the 200 terrorists were busy attacking the Kaduna International Airport, an incident that led to a death toll. Think about it, the terrorists attack on the airplane could have been more devastating or it might have resulted in the loss of the entire lives of the passengers on board the aircraft. Considering the terrorists violent attack at the Kaduna International Airport and its implications for a negative publicity worldwide, President Buhari and his fellow members of the APC Political Party played ignorance and failed to show any appreciative sensitivity, empathy and concern for the issue of terrorism and victims of insecurity in the country. For instance, President Buhari didn’t address the Nigerian people and the press on the terrorists incident via the Television set to clam the citizens down and allayed their fears of terrorism in the country. Such a Television address to the nation has a clamming effects on the nerves of the Nigerian people, who have been subjected to and inundated with the prolonged exposure and stress due to the fears of terrorism, especially as associated with the Boko Haram insurgency in the country. Currently, these fears engulfed the public space and are even compounded by the criminal activities involving kidnappings, banditry and other nefarious crimes - human ritualists, cultists, that are committed frequently across the land.
On Monday, March 28, 2022, another terrorists attack, but this time occurred on the train tracks between the nation’s capital, Abuja and Kaduna City in Kaduna State in the Northeast Region of the country. Within a three days in a week, the pendulum of terrorism swung within the Kaduna State. Is it by accident? Or it is by a deliberate attempt to send a strong message to President Muhammadu Buhari as a reminder of the weak state of security and the vulnerability of the Nigerian population to the acts of terrorists and bandits attacks. The Monday’s bandits bombing of the train tracks with a train with 970 passengers on board. It could have led to a more deadly attack. This was a terrorist attack on an important infrastructure- the railway transportation needed by many Nigerians to move from one place to another destination or to travel between the nation’s capital of Abuja and a state capital of Kaduna. Imagine the bandits’ bombing of the train tracks could have ended in a tragedy or resulted in many fatalities in the loss of the innocent Nigerian lives! Presently, it appears the Nigerian terrorists and bandits are shifting their strategy and tactics, focus and getting to be more audacious in picking their target away from the ‘center of gravity’ from the Boko Haram Geography in the Northeast to the northwest region to come closer to the nation’s capital of Abuja. This site of terrorists operations is just about 210. 9 kilometers or about 2hr : 54 minutes travel time from the nation’s capital, Abuja. I think the banditry groups are shifting their focus and modalities of their crime operations to the attacks on the country’s ‘soft targets’ (that is, a person, thing or location that is easily accessible to the general public and relatively unprotected, making it vulnerable to military or terrorist attacks)-such as the infrastructure, particularly the mass transit system-airports, trains, roads, bridges, schools, etc.
There are two serious, conspicuous terrorists and banditry attacks within 3 days in the Kaduna State. Why the focus on the Kaduna State?
Against the backdrop of the above insecurity incidents within 3 days, the Buhari administration, political leaders, politicians and Nigerians should be cognizant and be seriously concerned about the deteriorating insecurity situations in the country and its potential consequences for the upcoming 2023 presidential elections in the country? The Buhari Government needs to take the ‘bull by the horn’ in a boldly fashion to providing a workable plan and implement an effective military strategy to eliminate the growing incidence of terrorists and banditry in the Northeast and Northwest Regions of the country, which have the potentials of rapidly spreading to the Southwest and Southeastern areas of Nigeria, before the conduct of the elections on Saturday, February 18, 2023.
Today’s Nigeria is, characterized by a profound phobia among its citizens owing to the prevailing serious conditions of insecurity as reflected by the recent high profile terrorists attack at the Kaduna International Airport and the bandits’ bombing of the train tracks in Kaduna State. Many Nigerians are less optimistic about the Buhari administration’s capability and ability of performing or delivering its last ‘magic’ to adequately secure the Nigerian citizens and to ensure the safety of their property across the length and breadth of Nigeria. In the past 6 years, the records of the military performance against the Boko Haram terrorists in the war fronts aren’t spectacular, but at best they are mediocre or subpar.
Realistically speaking, Nigerians believe that the time element might be the worst enemy of the Buhari administration in the race to attain the security goal or to meet the expectations of the many citizens, in reversing the current trends of insecurity and poor safety in the nation, before the tenure ends in May 2023. But, contrary to the less optimistic views of many Nigerians, the Presidency is of the opinion that 17 months, is sufficient for the Buhari administration to liquidate the terrorism facing the country, which began in 2009 (Source: Femi Adesina, “17 months enough to end insecurity before Buhari leaves office - Presidency,” Vanguard, December 29, 2021.). To the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, I ask the question whether this is a realistic timeframe for the Buhari administration to get rid off of insecurity in Nigeria? Nigerians may recall the history of Boko Haram in the country and the concerted military efforts by the Federal Government to fight and terminate the terrorists war in Nigeria. 13 years later, the Boko Haram is still raging and many different Nigerian Governments under various heads of state - primarily by President Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari, who have given the lip service to end the most enduring insurgency in the country. A vivid Reminder that nearly 350,000 Nigerians have lost their lives and estimated 3 million people have been categorized as Displaced Nigerians in their own country of Nigeria owing to the Boko Haram conflict in the Northeast (CFR, Global Conflict Tracker, “Boko Haram in Nigeria,” But, today, the Boko Haram war is still with us. In fact, the war has grown and taken many twists and turns with a new international participating and collaborating terrorist groups- such as Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Islamic Jihad Movement, Islamic State, etc, joining the war. So, there is a ‘Jumbo of collaborating terrorists’ with the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, which is hardening and prolonging the longevity of the war.
This Boko Haram war since its genesis, it has been influenced and shaped mostly by the Jonathan and Buhari administrations under the different military leadership/policies, funding capacities and war strategies, etc. Thus, there is inconsistencies and differences in the war approaches, plan and military outcomes over the years, in the government’s efforts to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency. However, it needs to be mentioned that the federal government of Nigeria is receiving military assistance from the neighboring countries- Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Also, about a year ago, President Buhari sent a SOS to the United States President Joe Biden for a military assistance to end the Boko Haram war (Source: Ruth Olurounbi, “Politics: Nigerian President Asks for U. S. Support to Tackle Insecurity,” Bloomberg, April 27, 2021.). In this message, also President Buhari suggested the relocating of headquarters of the U. S. Africa Command from its present location in Stuttgart, Germany to the African continent to better support the fight against the rising insecurity. So, this Buhari request from the United States suggests an element of urgency in need for a military assistance to fight the Boko Haram insurgency. Moreover, the message revealed that President Buhari recognizes the rising state of insecurity in Nigeria (in the year 2021).
Also, corruption has contributed to among other factors that are hindering the successive governments from defeating the stubborn, brutal Boko Haram terrorists, who is notorious for kidnapping the children from the secondary schools.
Moreover, you may recall the military corruption which rocked the country, famously referred to as the ‘Dasukigate’ involving the former National Security Adviser to Presidents Goodluck Jonathan/Buhari, retired Col Sambo Dasuki, who was allegedly engaged in a $2billion arms deal that was embezzled through the office of the country’s National Security (Source: Sambo- Wikipedia). With this huge amount of $2billion missing from the procurement funds of the Nigerian military, how can it acquire the sophisticated military aircrafts, weapons and materials to support the war theater efforts against the Boko Haram, this stealing speaks volumes about the pervasive nature of the in-depth graft, which aided the prolonged Boko Haram war in Nigeria. Consequently, corruption practices in the Nigerian military, poses a danger, threat and a serious barrier or obstacle to the effective prosecution of the Boko Haram war (Source: BBC NEWS, “Nigeria’s Sambo Dasuki charged over ‘$68m in fraud,” 14 December 2015.). I see a corruption as leading to a leakage in the military funds that are allocated for the acquisition of military weapons and equipments to fight the war. In addition to corruption, there is internal sabotage by the few members of the Nigerian military, who are providing a military supplies and food to the enemy-Boko Haram terrorists in exchange for a monetary rewards (Source: Felix Onuah, “Nigerian officers face court martial over Boko Haram,” Reuters, January 20, 2015.).
Now, the presidency is telling the Nigerians that the timeframe of 17 months is enough to end the war. Many Nigerians doubt this timeline, because it appears to be too short, to uproot the well established terrorists and insecurity in the country. The insecurity challenges facing Nigeria and its citizens that President Buhari was unable to eliminate in the past 6 years plus, now he plans to finish the job in just 17 months. How? It portends to be a Herculean tasks! For this writer, Chief Adesina’s timeframe and assertion, is therefore, arguably, unrealistic, contentious and unreliable. Does the presidency plans to hire foreign merchant mercenaries in order to eliminate the terrorists within the next 17 months? I want to remind the Nigerians that in April 2021, President Buhari sent an urgent request to President Biden of the United States for a military assistance in his efforts at ending the Boko Haram conflicts. How do we reconcile this President Buhari’s SOS to President Biden with his Media Adviser, Chief Adesina’s assertion that 17 months is, enough to end the insecurity in the country?
At best, let the Nigerians be hopeful and keep their fingers crossed and be watching President Buhari perform his ‘miracles’ in the liquidation of terrorism and insecurity in Nigeria. After all, Nigeria is a country, where many of its citizens believe in and subscribe to the religious power of miracles, which might in this case, work for President Buhari in ending the perennial and endemic problems of terrorism and insecurity in the ‘Giant of Africa’-Nigeria.
