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WHEN, in previous editorials, we accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of running “a government of herdsmen, by Nigerians, and for herdsmen,” we were not being cynical. Rather, we were only restating well-documented facts of Buhari’s horrendously provincial, ethnically insensitive and criminally negligent approach to governance. Sadly, events since the administration’s stout defence of killer herders that the Ondo State governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), asked to vacate the state’s forest reserves have confirmed our worst fears about the reign of terror unleashed by the sacred cows across the country, including the ongoing attacks on travellers plying Nigeria’s busiest road, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. It is galling that the highways in the South-West, and indeed in other parts of the country, have become routes to anguish even as the Federal Government which enjoys the monopoly of the repressive apparatuses of the state continues to falter and dither, rolling out a salad of excuses to an exasperated populace, resisting calls for the decentralisation of the country’s security architecture, and refusing to address the sub-text of ethnic provocations.
As is their wont, terrorists dressed in military camouflage attacked commuters travelling on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Tuesday. And, sadly, no one knows when they will stage the next attack, playing roulette with the lives of hapless citizens. The terrorists stormed the road from the bush before the Sagamu Interchange and started shooting at motorists in an 18-passenger inter-state bus. Said one of the survivors: “We (passengers) were only lucky to escape the gunmen but many of us have been injured by the bullets and our bus has been badly damaged too.” Another video showed a man who survived bullet wounds saying “I thought I was dead.” Last Friday, the same band of killers had abducted scores of travellers on the highway. The incident, which occurred around KM 24, near Dominion University, caused total chaos as motorists made a U-turn and sped away in desperation, jettisoning all safety rules in the face of the possibility of certain death.
The kidnappers, who were sighted coming out of the bush when they launched the attack, have staged murderous attacks on different parts of the country without let. They are merchants of death who have made the South-West forests their habitat. Reports suggested the payment of ransoms to secure the release of some of last week’s victims while those whose relatives and friends could not raise the required ransoms were left at the mercy of the kidnappers. Those released have told tales of summary killing and harsh treatment of victims. The security forces were unable to prevent the herding of the victims into the bush and indeed lost one of their members. Personnel of the police and the ill-equipped Amotekun in Oyo State were simply idle as relatives of victims kept making arrangements to pay ransom to the kidnappers in the bush on the expressway to secure their release.
There is no need to beat about the bush: the killers are part of the same gang of rogues about whom the ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Lt-General Theophilus Danjuma (retd), recently warned Nigerians to find means of defending themselves against or risk total annihilation. The accounts by survivors are sufficiently clear and unambiguous, and there is no need to play the ostrich. For over a week now, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has become a virtual theatre of war thanks to the terrorists that the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has precluded subnational governments from effectively taking on, undercutting efforts to tackle their genocidal onslaughts by describing them as ethnic profiling.
Travellers heading to Ibadan from Ekiti State were kidnapped recently, and Nigerians travelling on other highways across the country do not have a better story to tell, yet the Buhari-led Federal Government keeps saying there is no cause for alarm. On their part, the security agencies have also been giving false assurances. The situation definitely speaks to the inability of governments at various levels to combat the kidnapping frenzy. The criminals would not be emboldened to keep herding people on the roads into the bush if not for the success of their ventures. It is difficult to imagine what other venture could be as profitable as kidnapping in Nigeria today. How could the government continue to justify its existence and functionality where citizens are left at the mercy of criminals? This situation vindicates the action of the United States and other western countries in asking their citizens to exit Nigeria on account of intelligence reports of impending terrorist acts. Evidently, the foreign governments do not leave the security of their citizens to the ineffective Nigerian government. No sensible country can place reliance on governments that are only so in name. This definitely is not a situation that can go on for long if the various governments in Nigeria want to still command the respect and loyalty of their now increasingly traumatised citizens.
In this regard, we restate our call for state policing and governance responsibility. With respect to the South-West, we are once again calling for the proper equipment of Amotekun with sophisticated arms and ammunition. The South-West governors, who appear to be bogged down by politics while criminals have a free reign in their jurisdictions, must stop toying with the lives of their people. If the governors are serious about state policing, let them show it. The time to effectively arrest the orgy of kidnappings is now.
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