By Iliyasu Gadu
Ilgad2009@gmail.com, 08035355706 (Texts only)
A frightening new dimension to the scourge of insecurity that had gripped Nigeria for almost two decades now occurred about two weeks ago with the kidnapping of school kids and their teachers in a school in Oyo state by yet to be identified bandits.
Gruesome and disheartening as the images of the youngsters lying sprawled in their captive surroundings as well the beheading of one the teachers were; what alarmed Nigerians is the fact that for probably the first time in a long time, such an event is occurring in the Southwestern part of the country which was considered relatively safe and immune from such happenings.
As such happenings are normally known to occur in the Northern part of the country almost on a daily basis, the questions that have flowed thick and fast following the Oyo incident have been why Oyo? Is it a fallout of the political no-love-lost relationship between Governor Seyi Makinde and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu? Or is it that a branch of the bandits that have laid siege in neighbouring Kwara state had decided to venture down south to establish their signature in the Pacesetter State? Now that such an incidence of this dimension has occurred in the Southwest which was hitherto thought to be safe what reaction can we expect from the citizens of the region and what steps will the various State governments as well the Federal Government take?
Beyond the dastardly images and the legion of questions being asked about the incident one clear observation is that between the North where such incidents have become frequent (and indeed normal sadly) and the Southern part of the country (southwest in particular), there are radically different approaches in dealing with this issue not just on the part of citizens, civil society groups, but also from State and Federal governments.
In the North where such issues which have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and disruption of lives and livelihoods non-stop for almost two decades now and in the process recording some of the most inhuman atrocities ever known committed on women, children and the aged, the attitude and approach had been largely one of acquiescing indifference and even criminal opportunism. Many have come to believe, with some justification, that in the North those who could join hands together to decisively tackle the scourge of insurgency ravaging the region would rather put up a façade of pretense that they are doing something about it, than genuinely and positively work towards ending it.
At the lower rung of society those who are the direct victims of the security prefer docility and fatalistic conviction that it is a matter brought on by fate and so one should accept the depravity often visited on them by bandits and kidnappers in that regard. And it must be said too that as over the years the banditry and kidnapping had become a matter of economic opportunism with billions of naira recorded as ransom payments, those involved at different levels and status in society have preferred not to put up a valiant fight against the scourge of insecurity.
Indeed, the voices in the North who had tried to bring the matter to the attention of in the public space through activism had found themselves being roundly ignored or in some cases met with hostility and even threats to life.
In contrast in the Southwest however, we have seen the storm of outrage from all levels of society loudly condemning the Oyo incident and strongly calling on state and federal government to immediately swing into action to rescue the kidnapped youngsters and apprehend the bandits.
Right across the Southwest region there have been genuine unequivocal outrage from teachers, parents, groups rejecting firmly the Oyo incident and asking for measures to halt the infiltration of the area by bandits and kidnappers.
In response President Tinubu had promptly constituted the highest level of security operatives in the country to visit assess the situation on ground. The President had also directed the security chiefs to comb the nooks and crannies of Oyo State and indeed the region to rescue the kidnapped school children. Among other immediate actions the President also directed the immediate recruitment of thousands of Forest Guards to patrol the forests and wooded areas of the Southwest in order to flush out suspected bandits hiding there.
From the North there have been audible complains that President Tinubu has shown partisanship in his approach to insecurity in the Southwest as against the North. The lamentation is that similar incidents have happened in States across the north repeatedly but the President had hardly shown serious concern to visit and show empathy and provide relief assistance to the victims. For good measure it is pointed out that when President Tinubu visited Plateau State following the Anguwan Rakuba incident, he elected to remain at Yakubu Gowon Airport rather than venture into Jos city to meet the victims of the violence that occurred.
It is true that President Tinubu may have shown partisanship in his handling of the insecurity issues in the north as against the Southwest. But the question to ask is have the Northern elites themselves shown a commensurate level of seriousness in facing up to fire burning their region? Have Northern Governors and elected public officers come together to genuinely devise ways of tackling the insecurity in the North just as the Southwest have done? Have the Northern clerics of both faiths and their followers taken steps to do the same things that their counterparts in the South have done?
Let us not forget that the scourge of insecurity started during the reign of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and morphed into what it has now become under late President Muhammadu Buhari. Why did the North allow insecurity to grow exponentially from what was initially confined to the North East to the entire north now?
The North needs a reality check on the insecurity ravaging the region. If the keeps living in denial and avoiding the necessary steps to tackle the issue through its own genuine initiatives, it should not expect any commensurate assistance from the Federal Government. And certainly, the North should not expect the government to bother about its lamentations on an issue that is right within its purview and capacity to tackle decisively.
For now, I extend my commiserations and condolences out to the parents, school and families of the deceased in this inhuman incident.
Iliyasu Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is also a columnist with Daily Trust