- Aso Rock Presidential Villa – one of the fortresses that could still hold out against terrorists, bandits and kidnappers, but not so lucky are the average citizens on the streets, farms, roads and other places of engagement at the risk of being taken for ransom or even killed
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked President Bola Tinubu and the service chiefs to look inwards for solution to the resurgence banditry and terrorism in the country.
Worried at the Federal Government’s continued concealment of the identities of key sponsors, and alleging that heads of military have accepted inability to uproot internal moles and saboteurs working actively with terrorism masterminds, HURIWA asked Tinubu to give citizens Ak-49 since he cannot protect lives and property.
“The president is lackadaisical about the insecurity and frightening dimensions that terrorists have carved a franchise, sophisticated and well-organised criminal networks of kidnappings, and have infiltrated the Federal Capital Territory,” the body said in a statement.
HURIWA claimed that this is happening as the president, his cabinet and National Assembly members are protected round the clock at public cost by brigades of guards and some of the elite and vastly trained, equipped and motivated fighting forces within the military and police.
In view of “the perceived invincibility of these political elite within the corridors of power, the security and well-being of everyone else known as commoners does not count as interest to Mr. President, hence the seeming overrunning of Abuja by terrorists masquerading as kidnappers for ransom.
“Mr. President needs to feel the apprehension, the pains and pangs and the unending anxieties (of the masses) and then do the needful because if this heightened state of insecurity continues, the political office holders will lose legitimacy.”
Consequently, “chaos and anarchy would be let loose and the entire country will be like a wasteland as everyone looks for his or her own security, because the government has lost the monopoly of organised, legitimised violence.”
Citing the former communications minister, Isa Pantami, that kidnappers were operating unhindered because security chiefs have refused to probe phone users’ National Identification Numbers, which have been synchronised with their banking transactions, the body wondered why Nigeria spent so much public funds on the infrastructure.
“It is either these kidnappers have internal moles at the highest echelons of the security institutions and are sharing pro rata the revenues from this evil franchise or the Federal Government’s refusal to disclose the identities of the sponsors of terrorists in Nigeria is symptomatic of its sympathetic outlook towards terrorists,” it said.
“There are no other ways of looking at it since the government has accepted to tolerate the sheer incompetence of all the heads of security institutions who have so far failed spectacularly to rein in terrorists but are feasting in media propaganda to hoodwink Nigerians to believe that they are winning the war on terror.”
Recalling that the current administration has said it would not name and shame identified financiers of terrorism in the country, the rights group reiterated its call for the liberalisation of military-grade weapon licences for civilians to enable them defend themselves.
It further called for a uniform death penalty for these acts of terrorism, while urging the president to act fast and decisively before kidnappers and terrorists start going from house to house or even introduce a monthly “Freedom from Kidnap Tax” on citizens.
