By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
Since 2007, the security situation in Nigeria has gone from bad to worse. The first time I heard about kidnapping was in Port Harcourt and the victim was a white person. It was orchestrated by the South-South youth who were fighting for the crude oil derivation allowance. Some people were happy because it was an expatriate who had come to work with an oil company that was seen as public enemy number one.
Two years later there was news about the kidnapping incident in the South-East, Anambra and Imo precisely. At the time, people could still move around at night. I drove around Nigeria in 7 days from Awa to Kano, to Abuja, to Lagos, to Port Harcourt, and back to Awa. I did not think that I was meat for the kidnappers. In 2010 the terrors of Boko Haram were full blown.
The kidnapping industry had become a lucrative business. People from all walks of life were being kidnapped. Rich men, market women, parents of soccer stars, parents of political bigwigs, and the men of God. All the 36 states of the federation were the center of insecurity. There was no safe harbor for anybody. Some state governors were developing different tactics to checkmate the menace of kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, and criminals. Even the 2015 presidential campaign was solely on security.
The then-presidential candidate Buhari said that with his experience as a general in the Army, he would defeat Boko Haram in six months. The incumbent president Ebele Goodluck Jonathan was seen as weak and inexperienced when it came to the security situation of Nigeria. Buhari won the election in 2015 and poured an enormous amount of money into the military to beef up the abysmal security situation of the country. There was little or no gain in Buhari’s eight years as president of Nigeria.
It has been alleged that the security situation got worse under Buhari; to wit, a moving train was hijacked, some passengers lost their lives, and many were taken hostage, and government was said to have paid billions of Naira to secure the release of some of the victims, and pregnant women were giving birth in the terrorist camp.Today kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, and criminality are no longer big news.
The political situation and those aforementioned vices are struggling with progression. The politicians are robbing us mercilessly. Armed robbers are terrorizing citizens every day. Some state governors are making giant strides to see that their citizens are safe. I remember when Governor William Obiano tackled the security situation in Anambra State and the clichéd saying among the citizens of Anambra State was that you can keep one million along Upper Iweka Road and nothing will happen to it.
I remember him saying that he was helping the rest of the governors of South-East to tackle the kidnapping menace. What really happened to the security success of Governor Willy? Did he go away with it? Anambra as of today is degenerating into the old “Home for All” that brought in all the thieves in Nigeria.
I received the new security challenges along the Onitsha-Awka expressway. Where the bad boys would hang around the bad spot of the road waiting for a motorist to slow down to navigate the bad spot and they would attack the unsuspecting victim.
Why can’t the government of Anambra state use red soil (laterite) to repair that spot? It is now a crime to drive around 33 after 7 PM. Recently, nightlife has become a thing of the past since sitting around a table in the evening is a call for assassination. If you are driving along the Abatete-Ojoto road after 7 PM your family would be carrying their hearts in their hands until you get back home. And your father and mother will warn you sternly not to try that again. How do we know that we have a government whose primary function is to secure the life and property of its people? The federal government has failed in this regard, the state government has kept a blind eye, and the local government is not in existence security-wise.
I can say that some village vigilante groups have helped us tremendously but because of their limitations, there was very little they could do when challenged with superior firearms. I praise the governor for his effort to build good roads and good schools, but it is only the living who would use the good road and go to the beautiful school. First things first, security is the primary responsibility of the government.
My brothers and sisters, please be very careful where you are going after 6 PM. Do not leave your house before 6:30 AM. When you are driving along the Onitsha-Awka Express make sure to inquire when to change from lane A to lane B for your safety (Maka ndu gi).
I remember the war advice which should have been a thing of the past but no, it is very relevant now. It states Onye ndi ilo gbara gbulu gbulu na eche ndu ya nche mgbe dum (He who is surrounded by an enemy is always conscious of his life). If you are living along Ojoto, Alor, or Abatete, do not overstay in Onitsha before going home. If you are living around Umunze, Ifite, Ogbunka, or Obina-etiti, please stay home after 6 PM. Do not overstay in Ekwuluobia. These are known hot places for the kidnappers.
I do not forget Nnewi and Umuchu because our people recommended that the orphan should pay attention when the parents of the other kids are advising their children (ana adu nwa nne na nna ya di ndu odu, nke enwero nne na nna ana egenti). It is also close to Christmas time. Do not give the devil opportunity (Ayan saa). Since the village vigilante is the only hope, I suggest that the rich men in our different villages would support them financially and otherwise.
If these criminal elements are within, they can be fished out before they strike. If they are enemies from afar, we can dictate to them when they sneak into our village. No thief goes into a strange territory because he needs to know the escape route. No thief wants to second-guess his safety. Therefore, we need enough informants, and the non-informant if you see something, please say something.
Report strange faces in your neighborhood. Call the attention of your vigilante. It doesn’t matter if the suspect later turns out to your village person who came back for Christmas. It is better to be safe in intrepid than to perish in trepidation (Oka mma na idi mma na nkwcha kalia na idalu na ujo).
