Enterprise Issues
With Siaka Momoh
Enterprise Issues is host to Shuaibu Idris today. Shuaibu Idris, an indigene of Kaduna State, argues ‘These bandits are generally not Nigerians. Anyone familiar with our accent and culture will know that the people currently being tagged Killer Herdsmen are NOT Nigerians. Yet those who will not allow peace to reign accuse northern leaders of complicity in the banditry being perpetuated! Nothing can be further away from the truth!’ Recent developments in Nigeria have made several people have differing viewpoints on challenges of insecurity in various parts of the country. The media; social and mainstream, are awash with salacious publications just to attract readers, provoke sentiments and heat up the body polity with reckless abandon. Journalism has become a profession that is an all comers affair. Ethics, morale and standards are thrown in to the dustbin all in an effort to report stories that are seldom researched, investigated or even confirmed. It is so sad and worrisome to read newspaper articles containing stories or interviews fit for the gutters all because of ethnicity or religious bigotry. We have left substance and are chasing shadows or foam! The West Coast of Africa has been challenged with internal issues such as civil strife for many years. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal to mention but a few. Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Mauritania also had more than a fair share of civil unrest and armed resistance. Libya has literally collapsed. The consequences of some of these problems are collateral damage that neighbours may have to contend with. Herein lays the genesis of the challenges of small and light arms Nigeria is facing. Bandits from most parts of Africa move freely across the sub region with weapons concealed in sacks, trucks and some even ferried through our sea ports! Needless to say that our boarders are porous and serve as routes not only for smuggling, but also for movements by bandits with their arms and ammunitions. Given the size of the Nigerian economy, the somewhat tolerant level of Nigerians and the absence of patriotism, bandits come in to the country in droves, first, attack herdsmen, dispossessing them of their cattle, hence we had challenges of cattle rustling and then attack farmers and engage subsequently in kidnapping for ransom. These bandits are generally not Nigerians. Anyone familiar with our accent and culture will know that the people currently being tagged Killer Herdsmen are NOT Nigerians. Yet those who will not allow peace to reign accuse northern leaders of complicity in the banditry being perpetuated! Nothing can be further away from the truth! Government has not helped matters, when this issue started, the somewhat levity with which government handled the matter leaves much to be desired. As we all know corruption is rather so endemic in our system that even the security agencies have their men and women compromised in the fight against bandits. The insecurity challenge has become a big business now in Nigeria! One cannot and should not forget the fact that Western Powers did not help matters. Successive government’s efforts to buy arms and ammunitions good enough to fight these bandits were not acceded to! Indeed, any little effort to destroy the camps of these bandits is labelled as genocide against humanity and Amnesty International would cry foul! UN may then come in with noise and blames! The bandits are left to roam our country because of the absence of coordination, common agenda and front as well as centralized fighting command. Governors as Chief Security Officers of their states are disagreeing on modalities to fight common criminals. What a shame. Religious leaders are engaged in a subject matter they are not adequately equipped to handle. Opinions are being peddled on the pages of newspapers without fear or shame! What a country what a people! It is important that as human beings we should realise that irrespective of our religious beliefs and tribes we are all servants of God created by Him for a purpose. Parochial, ethnic jingoism and championing of sectional interest will never augur well for us. |
