My Binoculars: June 12, The Fragile Security of Nigeria and This Unending Damnation Called Ransom for Commercial Banditry

My Binoculars: June 12, The Fragile Security of Nigeria and This Unending Damnation Called Ransom for Commercial Banditry

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Most residents in Nigeria are so used to the old ways of doing things that they think that mere agitation for the release of one set of captive will be the end of this lingering sing-song that has been let loose in the land by theses scare cat criminals called bandits. Release our students has become a mere social album released intermittently because even the political leaders are busy trying to solve this damnation from the head instead of from the root. The interagency corporation in terms of intelligence sharing has equally become so weak that the policy itself has deteriorated to a mere chorus either in a staccato or crescendo format to suit the ears of foreign watchers like the Americans who seem to care. We also know that the disparity between the vocal range of the department of State Service (DSS) and the military is so wide that it will take the grace of God for them to continue to sing in harmony as was preached by General Chris Musa before he was dropped as Chief of Defense staff. Until they all find their bearings harmoniously, these criminals extorting Nigerians in the savannah will continue to have their say with impunity. Abductions and kidnappings will surely linger for a long time until this government swallows its pride and requests for massive help from willing friends or mercinaries to take out these criminals in the bush once and for all.

Very few State actors within the general security network bother about taking these criminals out of their hide outs as long as their loved ones have been freed from their grips. These urchins can continue to stay in the savannah and now some parts of the rain forests in the South West of the country carrying out their criminality on vulnerable people to make them cry. Some of the residents they have humiliated include political, military and traditional rulers and they don’t care a hoot about our common humanity. Yet the Federal government in the last eleven years continue to treat their known sponsors like sacred cows who should not be touched.

For some of these reasons, I don’t believe that the release of captives this weekend will ever stop another set of residents from being captured in two weeks time. This is because these criminals will always get more vulnerable people to monitor especially in our largely unmanned forest terrain and pick them up like hawks clutching their preys in their claws. Poor residents, desperate to free their loved ones empower these criminals with “anything they want” under the sun besides humongous amounts of cash making them richer by the days.
It’s a very sad reality that any layman can see the lacuna in our communities for easy capture of our people because of the way our security architecture is designed. Off course the bottom line of all this hide and seek game is the demand for more money because the whole phenomenon has become an industry for the criminals who keep prospering while fighting for a “known cause” against the rest of us. From Boko Haram to Lakurawa, Biafran and even Islamic State of West African Province (iswap) fighters, they all have fixated known causes not hidden to keen observers in the country.

How to stop these criminals from prospering

Security managers have to stop doing things the same way they are used to doing them after the civil war and move to the next known level of sophistry. The key intelligence people must move from manual to the highest form of digital sophistication and collaborate with the big players in the world to get results. The military intelligence and the cyber tech squad must increase their romance.

By this I also mean that, trainers in the Nigerian Defense Academyy (NDA) for instance should go beyond the conventional ways they are used to doing things and incorporate asymmetric formations into their curriculum the way institutions like West Point and Sandhurst have done even before the commencement of the rebellion against organized governments by extremists in many parts of the world. The earlier the better for our security network which is heavily appropriated in trillions of naira yet grossly underfunded each fiscal year. This gives rise to the inability of defense managers most times to being unable to buy the basic and advanced Intel equipment for utilization to fight back. Even when the British and American troops on ground have been enabling our personnel with some of these rare equipment within the last decade, the effect in terms of optics is minimal compared to a situation where our men will own and operate theirs. For us residents who live and work in the “Hadin Kai” theatre, we know that the British have been doing their best with theses Intel supports but it has never been enough to cover even 10 percent of the vast forests which stretches up to the Tumbus islands of the lake Chad or way beyond the Mandara mountains down to the central African region. Most commanders in the Frontline have operated under a trial and error basis when it comes to descerning critical Intel. But thank God, the collaboration with the Americans have started yielding tangible fruits beyond some reasonable doubts.

Key intelligence agencies have to start acting in real time to save more lives if they are supported with these expensive equipment to respond to assist the ten agencies now dishing out intels. This is because responding in real time is key to stop these criminals from their lingering operations in the country. Consequently, it is only the right intelligence that can take out the estimated 30,000 criminals the Americans alerted the nation about and not necessarily brute force known to the military.

Our dedicated operatives also have to stop clamoring for half bread by ensuring that our political servants in government and service Chiefs go after and take out all 30,000 of the criminals as has been revealed by those who have the right equipment to see the bandits as they roam about our bushes with impunity. Mark my words if the security operatives do not move to the next level in terms of Intel sharing and management, many more will have to be abducted. Hundreds more will suffer in the process and die before the next June 12 democracy day. And please don’t ever ask me why. Nigeria has a lot of fixing to do in the security sector for residents to sleep with both eyes closed.

Bodunrin Kayode wrote in from Maiduguri.

My Binoculars: June 12, The Fragile Security of Nigeria and This Unending Damnation Called Ransom for Commercial Banditry