Insecurity

Nigerians have expressed visible worries over the activities of criminals operating in commercial motorcycles, vehicles with tinted glasses, vehicles with foreign plate numbers, and vehicles without number plates.

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They argue that most crimes in different parts of the country are committed through these motorcycles and vehicles and express surprise over the way the criminals beat the scrutiny of law enforcement agents along the road.

Innocent citizens who reside in Lagos, Ibadan, Benin City, Port Harcourt, Warri, Onitsha, Aba, Kaduna, Kano, and Abuja, among others, have continued to recount their tales of woe to whoever cared to listen.

Sadly, the law enforcement agents, saddled with the responsibility of ensuring law and order and the adherence to the road safety rules and regulations, have for long adopted a conspiratorial attitude, mainly because of the benefits that would accrue from aiding and abetting criminals.

Nigerians are now of the opinion that the laws of the land are either no longer functional or  those in charge and the law enforcement agencies are deliberately sabotaging the enforcement of the laws for their self-centered motives. 

A victim of the worrisome state of insecurity in Ibadan, Nigeria, who spoke incognito, reveals his experience.

‘’There is a beer parlor opposite the Iyanganku Magistrate; it is among the several shops that share the same fence with the police barracks. A door inside the beer parlor leads into the barracks. Visit the beer parlor and observe those who patronize the beer parlor, and you will agree that those who break the law have the blessing of the persons whose statutory functions include the protection of lives and property, he stated.

The general feeling is that some criminally minded law enforcement agents make use of criminals as proxies in carrying out their statutory functions, which has resulted in the harassment, intimidation, and arrest of unsuspecting citizens.

Of worry is the adopted official status of lawlessness, indiscipline, and criminality in different parts of the country.

Indeed, illiteracy and ignorance have also contributed significantly to the scheme of things as presently constituted.

The mental psyche of millions of Nigerians has been dehumanized and degraded; this has resulted in unthinkable occurrences.

These occurrences have consumed a sizable chunk of those in charge.

The widespread, uninhibited prevalence of  lawless acts, to millions of Nigerians, is an indication that there is already a failure in leadership; with no visible remedy in sight for now.

Adolf Hitler labeled the extermination of the Jews in Europe,''the Final Solution'', while the military dictatorship in Argentina, which embarked on an unprecedented killing of its citizens, code named the same ''The Process of National Reorganization''.

The activities of bandits, insurgents and herdsmen in Nigeria which have claimed thousands of lives are similar to the above-mentioned.

Between 1976 and 1983, millions of citizens lost their lives in Argentina.

Death squads operating under secret circumstances and under the cover of the state, murdered about 11,000 people, which is now described as ''The Disappeared''.

Two million people escaped persecution, while hundreds of babies born to ''The Disappeared'' were either sold, bartered or murdered.

Indeed, happenings in different states of Nigeria, including, Borno, Benue, Taraba and Plateau and Zamfafra states, among several others, indicate the Government's adequate knowledge of the situation, while unabated killings go on.

The relocation of the Inspector General of Police to Benue state, one of the troubled spots then, did not reverse the status quo.

On March 23, 1976, General Jourge Videla, Head of the Argentine Army, overthrew the Government of Isabelita Peron, a former nightclub dancer. In this country, no civilian government has completed its tenure, except for Juan Peron, who spent only one tenure in office.

However, in Nigeria, a two term governor of Lagos state, is in charge, even though the country still experiences symptoms of economic hunger, poverty, mass unemployment, corruption and a high level of insecurity.

The Ejercito Revolucionario de Pueblo and the Montoneros, leftists, took to kidnapping and killings to express their displeasure over bad governance in Argentina. In Nigeria, kidnappings and killings have gone on unabated. Political watchers put the blame at the doorstep of government.

Presently, Nigerians are worried over the government's inaction, as the country gradually slides into anarchy.

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Sadly, the open stealing of  smart phones has become bibg business in Ibadan, Oyo state and other states of the federation

Accusing fingers are being pointed at political office holders who have failed to deliver the dividends of democracy.

Interestingly, the body language of the National Assembly, is an indication that the lawmakers are yet to realize the need for the entrenchment of the rule of law and due process in the polity, just as impunity is now the order of the day

In 2009, the Defense Minister of Madagascar, Cecile Manorohanta, resigned her appointment on the grounds that she would not be part of a government that kills its citizens.

Also, the people of Madagascar vigorously opposed the attempts by President Marc Ravalomanana to lease one million acres of their land to a Korean firm, Daewoo, for intensive farming. 

The people have deep ties with their land and, as a result, view the President's action as a betrayal.

The same scenario is playing out in Nigeria.

The insecurity in the land has made foreign investment impossible, while the disenfranchised and poor majority look into the gloomy future for reprieve.

The Federal Government has been advised not to tinker with the present law enforcement structure in Nigeria.

This advice was given by the unit chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria(ASCSN) Federal Ministry of Labor, Oyo state unit, Comrade Paul Balogun.

''The issue of trying to use  decentralized police  to tackle the present insecurity in Nigeria will not take us anywhere. The problem on ground is local, the security challenges  presently is community based. So, therefore the solution on ground should also be locally or community based, Comrade Balogun stated.

The antidote to all forms of insecurity is a functional democracy run through high regards for fairness, justice and equity.
Any alteration to a functional justice system and equitable distribution of material resources  to the people without marginalization of any kind will ever hurt the polity.
The Holy Quran 30 : 41-42 refers, ''Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of the need that the hands of many have earned, that Allah may give them a taste of some of their deeds, in order that they may turn back from evil. Say : Travel along the earth and see what was the end of those before you. Most of them were idolaters(driving agents of indiscipline and corruption).
If the past is bad, sense and sensibilities demand that there must be damage control to correct today's anomalies. The failure to set up this appropriate measure in that respect will impede development.
Leaders of thought must proceed with sanity promotion exercise using the due process of the culture of integrity, education for civility and development, religion for discipline, moral regulation and control to be able to promote credible leadership, good governance for the wellness of the people in an orderly manner expected of every decent society.
To say the least, the arrest of offenders must proceed towards  the diligent prosecution of their cases. For example, murder should ordinarily attract the death penalty to curb and prevent  future murderous activities under any guise.
In Nigeria, for example, no culprit once apprehended must be transferred to Abuja, where often times they are never tried but released to embark again on their aborted missions.
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If arson, murder, kidnapping and other related crimes are committed in Yorubaland, there is no justified cause to transfer such suspects to Abuja, most especially when it involves indigenes of other states outside the states of the committed crimes. If there is a constitutional bottleneck on it, let it be resolved, restructured and amended immediately.
The judiciary in a democracy must  be made to be alive for the survival of this political philosophy already adopted to rule over the people.
The Holy Quran 5 : 8 refers,, ''O ye who believe! Stand out firmly to Allah as witnesses to fear thee, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just, that is next to piety : and fear Allah is well acquainted with all that you do. ''
Causative factors of insecurity, therefore, such as hunger and poverty have damaged the fabric of democracy for our leaders to go crazy, soaking their hands in indecent acts to promote the culture of timocracy, kelptocracy and ego-centeredness of the medieval times, making the people resort to bestial styles of lfie that has already threatened the glorious peaceful co-existence. There is therefore, a dire need for effective damage control based on doing things accordingly and rightly too, through the fear of Allah as the only antidote.
 

                                                                    Several lives have been lost in Sanga Local Government Area, Kaduna South, Kaduna state.                                                                                                                                           

Gen.Idris Alkali was murdered in Shen Du District of Jos                                                                South  Local Government Area of  Plateau state