By Vitalis Unachukwu
Only a fool would be tricked and manipulated again and again, when he’s beseeched by kinsmen, who have already decided to sell him into slavery or use him as ransom for their own safety .
Only non Nigerians would be fooled into believing that, Nigeria is the safest country to visit and be resident today , when we know that we are completely under siege, after being invaded and overran by foreign terrorists, criminal bandits and kidnappers, who now overpower and overthrow our own security forces, dictating terms on how much they want as monetary ransom, while our government and the security forces continue to scratch their heads and delight in going after law abiding citizens, for expressing their disgusts and concerns about abysmal failures of the present government in refusing and neglecting to address the basic needs of the people .
Joke apart, the threats to our collective security is real and it’s only a zombie government will not take threats as matters of life and death national emergency .
This is only a tip of the iceberg, until the impending doom staring and facing us in the face , degenerates to kidnapping and holding our President, Governors and other top functionaries of government hostage for megabucks ransom .
That the Zamfara State Terrorist Leader , Bello Turji , confiscated 2 heavy armored vehicles, on the last day of August, as recently reported, is a national disgrace and shame to our nation’s military authorities and managers of Nigeria’s security services and intelligence , who have never met the standards of meeting current security requirement challenges nor proven their mettle in tackling Nigeria’s insecurity and security challenges head-on .
What recently happened in Sokoto State , where a traditional ruler was kidnapped and brutally murdered, along with 260 others, when outrageous ransom for his release was not met , is heading our way, unless those charged with our National Security and keeping us safe , rise to the occasion now , put national security above self and the protection of powerful public officials and politicians in government, and begin immediately to deal with our collective insecurity as a National Emergency Problem .
What’s going on today in Nigeria on insecurity is not a fluke .
Make no mistake about it and let’s not pretend : the security threats posed by non state actors posing and parading freely throughout Nigeria unchecked and unchallenged, are too real and are better imaged than experienced.
Flushing out all foreign terrorists, bandits and criminal minds , who exploited the porosity of our national borders , to infiltrate almost every corner of our nation , unleashing terror, fear , misery and inflicting traumatic pain on our hapless citizens, should be the most political responsibility, challenge and primary concern of the present government, that’s if at all they know and appreciate what’s about to befall them .
They and their families as well as loved ones and political cronies, are not even safe and immune from kidnapping, banditry and incessant terrorism in our soil .
Insecurity is the root cause of other national problems facing our people and it sounds berserk that Tinubu and his Team are too dumb and doing nothing currently about it , until this country experiences its own Nigerian Spring, where Nigerians will defy death , threats to arrests and threats to their lives , military showmanship , political toughness, and the usual Nigerian indifference to hardships .
Recall how recently, the people of Venezuela imploded , exploded and rose against their President, Maduro , who since 2013 , he came into office after the sudden death of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez , had effectively used the nation’s military to protect himself and his woeful regime in power, as Buhari did and as Tinubu is doing at the moment .
Maduro willed this year’s presidential election victory to himself as against the will of the people, who rejected his criminal plan.
When he appealed to the Military for help as he used to, the nation’s top military brass turned down his demands and political escapades, siding the people and staying neutral in obedience to the country’s Constitution, which the Nigerian Military should have done from the onset , than compromising their legal obligations and roles to the Sovereignty of our nation, made in favor of one individual and group of selfish individuals .
Let’s keep faith in God and do our part in taking our destiny into our own hands and strive to protect ourselves in the face of government woeful failures , irresponsibility and lack of political will to act and run the affairs of government as a serious business .
Certainly, it may not take long for Nigerians to exhibit what they have learnt from their counterparts around the world, who fearlessly stood for political and democratic freedoms, regardless of what their nation’s political rulers think or not , when what matters is their own will to prevail in all democratic experiments and effecting true and enduring democratic leadership change for the good of the country .
May those who claimed to be all and all in the politics of Nigeria, have the common sense to do what’s right and not what’s easy for our country , and allow our people to delight in the joy of participating in their nation’s government, without let or hindrance .