President Buhari’s Security, Economy and Corruption Cards

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 16^th 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

ahmadadamu1@gmail.com