By Ahmed Adamu, PhD
President Buhari easily played
the security, economy and corruption cards in 2015, and won the election.
However, in 2019 elections, it will be difficult for him to play these cards and
win. Now, almost four years in power, Nigerians can judge how President Buhari
fared on these issues, and I will try to analyze each of these issues to see if
Nigerians should trust President Buhari’s further promises on these issues
again. I will be writing three series of articles to cover the security,
economy and corruption cards, starting with the security now.
In the area of security;
President Buhari came on the promise to deal with the Boko Haram crisis, he
even bragged by saying “What is Boko Haram?”, a statement made to give Nigerians
confidence that he can deal with the Boko Haram swiftly. Everyone thought Boko
Haram will cease to exist in the first year of Buhari’s administration. The
administration had once issued a 40 days ultimatum to capture the Boko Haram
leader, and yet, this has not been achieved. In fact, Boko Haram is growing
more dangerous and causing more casualties especially on the Nigerian soldiers.
Even on the Christmas Eve, Boko Haram attacked Nigerian troops in Kukareta
village, and beheaded a security aide of the Governor of Yobe state. This
happened just less than a month after Boko Haram militants killed dozens of
Nigerian soldiers in Metele town. In fact, one cannot keep count of the continuous
attacks on Nigerian villages and troops by the Boko Haram militants.
The Nigerian security personnel
have lost morale in the fight against Boko Haram, one of the soldiers videoed
himself lamenting inadequate weapons, and how they are being abandoned in the
desert. He was narrating how his colleagues were being killed brutally by the
Boko Haram. Similarly, some 190 Nigerian Police officers have absconded from
training at Special Forces School, Buni Yadi, in the Boko Haram crisis affected
Yobe State. The Nigerian soldiers worry that their families might not be taken
care of after their death, and this makes them not commit or risk their lives in
the fight against Boko Haram.
Despite the huge security budgets
and foreign loans and supports, the Buhari led administration cannot defeat
Boko Haram in four years. Being led by an ex-army General, we thought security
will be the least of our concern by now. Out of many optional choices for self-appointments,
President Buhari would have appointed himself the Minister of Defence, an area
he is well trained and experienced. Instead, President Buhari appointed himself
minister of Petroleum. At this time, Nigerians are more concerned about the
security of their lives more than anything.
Reuters reported that Boko Haram
still holds territory expanding over 100 miles in Yobe and Borno States. They reported that “The Boko Haram has not
been defeated”. It can be recalled that President Buhari once declared that Boko
Haram had been technically defeated, but soon after such proclamation, Boko
Haram launched deadly attacks on Nigerian villages and troops, causing hundreds
of deaths. Boko Haram has displaced more than 2.4 million people, some of them still
living terribly in IDP camps.
In May 2018, more than fifty
people were killed in a dual suicide bombing in a mosque in Mubi town of
Adamawa state. The attacker detonated a device inside a mosque, with a second
bomber setting off explosives as people fled. In fact, incidents of fatal Boko
Haram attacks in recent years is a daily occurrence, and may not all be
accounted here.
It was during this Buhari’s administration
that Boko Haram abducted 110 school girls in Dapchi town in Yobe state. Though
they were returned in a controversial circumstance, but still one of them
remains captive. There were several allegations against this administration for
paying Boko Haram some money in exchange for some of the abducted girls in
Chibock and Dapchi, which if happens to be true, will be a direct funding of
the terrorist group by the federal government. Similarly, despite the
atrocities committed by Boko Haram, the Buhari’s administration released 154
ex-Boko Haram members into society, and this threw fear in the minds of the
people who believe an ex-Boko Haram cannot be trusted or forgiven.
Going by the above, one can
conclude that President Buhari could not defeat Boko Haram in four years, a
failure in a key promise and hope upon which he was elected in 2015. The question
to ask now is, would a reasonable Nigerian still believe in Buhari’s further
promises in the fight against Boko Haram? Seeing the total failure in the fight
against Boko Haram, President Buhari’s further promises may not easily be trusted.
Moving away from Boko Haram
crisis, under President Buhari’s watch, Nigeria faces the worst security threat
in more than a decade. Security of lives and property are under threat in all
parts of the country. The United Kingdom has said that, there is a high threat
of kidnap throughout Nigeria. It also warned its nationals against travelling
to the North-Eastern part of Nigeria, saying that the security environment in
the region deteriorated in 2018. The UK cautioned its citizens against
travelling to Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Kano states, among others.
If a serious government like the
UK can advise against travelling to the above Nigerian states, what would the
people living in these states do to be safe, to flee? Of course they have
started fleeing. As we speak today, in Zamfara state alone, there are over 2000
internally displaced Persons, who are taking refuge in the neighboring Kankara
Local Government of Katsina State. This is without taking consideration of
other IDPs who take refuge in other states.
Most of the people that are being
killed daily in Zamfara state voted for the same President Buhari who promised
to protect their lives, but they ended up losing their lives under his watch.
In fact, there have been calls for declaring state of emergency in Zamfara
state. This is the worst insecurity the state has ever witnessed. Other states like
Benue, Kaduna, Jos and Adamawa face similar incidents of killings and general
unrest resulting from herdsmen crisis, ethnic and religious conflicts.
Kidnapping has become rampant and
one of the lucrative business under President Buhari’s watch, in fact, no one is
safe now. People at their farms or while on a journey or even at their homes
are being kidnapped, and huge ransoms being paid. Both the rich and the poor,
the politicians and the masses are being kidnapped. In some cases, poor people
have to contribute among relatives to raise money for the ransom or risk losing
their relatives. Many of the victims have been killed, because their relatives
could not raise the ransom money. In some cases, families have to resort to
public fund raising to rescue their relatives. The cases of Kidnapping I know personally
are numerous, and some of the victims were either killed or suffered in the
hands of the kidnappers. People no longer travel by road out of fear of
kidnapping, they rather use train or take flight, and all these happen under
President Buhari.
Nigeria is now ranked 148 out of
163 countries in the global peace index, which means Nigeria is the 16th
least peaceful country in the world. Nigeria is safer than only 15 countries in
the world, and 147 countries are safer to live in than in Nigeria.
Finally, based on the above
reasons, one can easily conclude that President Buhari performed poorly in the
area of security. Security is the key mandate and Promise of Buhari’s
Presidency, and this has not been fulfilled in four years, because the security
situation in the country has deteriorated under his watch. There is a fear that
if things continue this way, insecurity will get worst in the country.
Therefore, President Buhari should be cautious when playing the security card
this time around, because he has failed in terms of security, and Nigerians
should not trust any further promise of security from the administration that
failed to secure their lives and property in the last four years. If they
cannot do it in their first four years, they cannot do it in another four
years. We cannot risk losing more lives of innocent Nigerians.
Ahmed Adamu,
PhD
S.A. to
Atiku Abubakar on Youth and Strategy
