Securing Nigerians.- Part 1
What a nobody would do if he had the power.
When the incidents of kidnapping, hostage taking, community destruction, and raiding became prevalent in 1999, I shared my opinions with friends on how the crisis should be addressed decisively by nobody if he or she had the power. I am not a security expert. The experts have said a lot and done a lot too.
You are probably wondering what I mean by ‘‘nobody’’in the subtitle. The use of the word ‘‘nobody’’ would not be strange to Nigerians at home and abroad. For the sake of my foreign audience, in Nigeria, the Nigerian society and Nigerians, by design of the government appointees, politicians,and some very wealthy Nigerians, have been divided into ‘’nobody’’ and ‘’somebody’’.
A ‘‘nobody’’ is left to take care of and provide for himself and clinches on to hope, fasting, and prayer for everything. While the government appointees, politicians and some wealthy Nigerians are considered ‘’somebody’’. Such that they are perceived to own Nigeria and are almost separated in many ways from the common Nigerians, who are ‘‘nobody’’.
A ‘‘somebody’’ in Nigeria in times of security has either policemen, soldiers, or other armed forces attached to their homes, offices, and themselves to follow them everywhere to protect them and use to oppress and harass a ‘‘nobody’’. Do not forget that they also have CCTV in their homes and offices. Such that they are very unlikely to be victims of kidnapping and others. Mostly, an attack on a "somebody’’ is usually backed by the government or someone who is a ‘‘somebody’’.
The largely ‘‘nobody’’ in Nigerian society and the neighbourhood they live in can't afford maiguard. I may have had some of the privileges of somebody at various times, but I have always been a nobody as I grew up and lived in a neighbourhood where residents had to contribute to have a maiguard and parley with the Nigerian Police Force on security.
With these opinions on what should be done or what I would have done to secure the lives and properties of Nigerians, if I had the power, I may be speaking the minds of many Nigerians.
The truth is that Nigerians are facing a lot of crime-related crises. How do you describe a situation where nowhere is safe in a nation and the crimes are in many dimensions? I know that these criminals are not more than Nigerians. They are just a few who are well-armed and choose to turn their fellow Nigerians into their victims. Well, in a normal society, there will be criminals. But when they become overwhelming, they need to be dealt with decisively as enemies on a war front.
There are some facts we need to come to terms with in order to understand my propositions. The present security structures have failed and cannot overrun these criminals decisively. These criminals are not more than the rest of Nigeria. They are just well-armed and determined to be criminals and commit crimes. These criminals are humans. Not ghosts. They live and eat in homes and on our streets. Have families and colleagues at work. They do everything a human being would do.
Once these facts are well settled with you, then you would not have any trivial considerations about this piece or the ideas.
I remembered during a criminal trial at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos State before the amnesty granted to the Niger Delta Militants by the Federal Government. I listened; at first I was eardropping, but later I moved closer as they seemed undisturbed about whoever was listening. They lamented jokingly that their friend has been missing out on his share of the cash paid from the funny tagname operations they do.They kidnap oil expatriates and commit pipeline vandalism.
These young men, I confirmed, and many others work in banks and corporate offices in Lagos. When there is to be the funny tagname operation, they are sent SMS ordering them to return and converge on the greek in east They showed us some of these messages on their phones.
They argued that their struggle was genuine and was for their people. Many Nigerians shared this sentiment too. Well, I do not share their sentiment. Also, I disagree with their methods of driving their demands home. No village or town in Nigeria does not have a reason for their youths to take up arms against the Federal Government, kidnap, and take hostages. The government's dysfunctions are widespread and similar in form.
They claimed to be representing and fighting for their people. Yet there are filthy rich Nigerians, politicians, and government contractors from their states who cannot account for how they came about their wealth. Those are the people they need to kidnap, drag publicly, and make immediate demands of them.
Secondly, they are paid for the release of hostages, which goes to their personal accounts and personal use. They were not collecting that money to revamp their communities, the people, or their misfortune. The primary reasons for engaging in kidnapping, hostage-taking, etc.
They were simply leveraging the crises and pains of the people for personal gains. Perhaps they only got the attention of the world to the situations on the ground in their towns and villages while they cashed out, committing crimes in the name of agitation.
Thus, the amnesty and other similar exercises were the institutionalisation of kidnapping, hostage taking, community destruction, and raiding by the Nigerian government and, by extension, their tolerance by Nigerians.
