Recently, more often than before, Nigeria has been trending on both local and international media over ceaseless kidnappings, banditry, robbery and other criminalities threatening the fabric of our social existence in the country.
It is no a longer news that terrible and horrific things are happening day in day out in almost every part of the Country. While it is horribly compounded, it is aching that such a mess is happening in a country that has government on which security of lives and property is shouldered.
In Nigeria today, people no longer travel in peace. Travelling by road, being the means of transportion by which the poor and the average man affords, is now becoming a safe heaven for criminals.
What knocks your mind first is not even ‘Accident’ but rather the fear of being robbed or kidnapped. If you take the Abuja-Kaduna road, you get kidnapped. Travel from Borno to Yobe, you get kidnapped! Too numerous to mention. This clearly symbolises that the slide to anarchy is inevitable, unless drastic measures are taken.
The question to ask is who are these kidnappers, bandits and killer herdsmen?
They are the ever avenging and unforgiving cows in human clothing, they do not have human feelings at all, people are suffering in the hands of bandits who ravage our local communities, kill and destroy property.
These kidnappers demand for ransom after abduction. In the process, thousands of lives are being lost simply because their abductees or kidnapped families can not afford to pay ransom.
It is shocking how these bandits invade schools and kidnap students. It is even more shocking and terrible how they now break walls into peoples’ and kidnap them while in their sleep. Recently, we experienced schools abductions in Kagara, Niger State, Kankara in Katsina State, Jangebe in Zamfara, where over 300 female students were abducted though, later released! As if that’s not enough! Boom! The abduction of over 100 students of the Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna, with the bandits now asking for millions of money and other food items so they can feed the students, according to them (bandits). It is only in Nigeria!
The rate of insecurity in Nigeria is really alarming. It is sad and unfortunate to the extent that a Second Class Emir in kaduna State was kidnapped along side 12 other family members including women and children from his home in Kajuru Local Government Area of the State, in the early hours of Sunday, 11th July, 2021. This kept me asking myself; if an Emir can be kidnapped amidst security, who else is safe? Shehu Sani said and i quote “The kidnapping of the Emir of Kajuru and his family members is tragic and unfortunate. If an Emir is not safe no one else is safe.
I call on Government and all security agencies to rise up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property of its citizens as enthroned. Though, President, Muhammadu Buhari on his part, has given series of orders to our troops to crush all bandits, looking at the recent killings and attacks by these bandits and other criminals in Kaduna State, Zamfara State and other regions in the Northern part of Nigeria.
Our Security Forces on their part are doing well, and can do even better! Government should provide them with the necessary ammunition more suphisticated than these bandits have, so that they can confidently and gallantly go into the forests, and ‘crush them’. The Country is sinking! but hope is not lost! Nigeria will be great again!
Government needs to put more effort by deploying more gallant and well armed security personnels to secure our roads in order for travellers and other road users to move with free mind.
Mary Bawa, writes from Kubwa Abuja, Nigeria. And can be reached via;
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