By Bisi Olominu

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The spate of killings and kidnapping in the country in the last six or seven months is becoming worrisome, alarming and frightening. Though there is a government in place with soldiers who in Africa are a force to be reckoned with, it seems that the entire security apparatus has been overwhelmed.
The barrage of reactions to the escalating insecurity across the polity point not just to the obvious heightened apprehension, but to a yearning for a pragmatic action from the president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Though the war against insurgency and banditry had raged for close to a decade, events of the last few months sparked fresh concerns as the spate of attacks reflected the spread and intensity across the country.
From the west, east, south and north, nobody is safe again. The country is battling at all fronts and expenditure on security is becoming astronomical with no concrete results.
Of the 2.3 million people displaced by the conflict since May 2013, at least 250,000 have left Nigeria and fled into Cameroon, Chad or Niger. Boko Haram killed over 6,600 people in 2014.
At least $18.34m was paid to kidnappers as ransom – mostly by families and the government – between June 2011 and March 2020, according to a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, a Lagos-based political risk analysis firm.
The targeting of schools became particularly attractive to bandit groups after unverified media reports alleged that the kidnappers of students from a boys’ school in Kankara (Katsina state) in December 2020 obtained a ransom of approximately NGN 30 million ($78,000 USD).
On 17th February 2021, about 27 children were kidnapped by armed men from a secondary school in Kagara Niger State. The abduction is the latest item on the growing list of school children abduction in Nigeria. In December 2020, hundreds of schoolboys were abducted from their school in Katsina state. Although the schoolboys have been released, the incident was the most brazen target on school children in Nigeria after the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents. There was also the kidnapping of nearly 110 Dapchi girls in the same Borno State by terrorists. However, the schoolgirls were later released
In Kaduna State, five innocent students that were kidnapped from Greenfield University were killed by their abductors. In Benue, an unspecified number of students have now been abducted from the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, over 200 people were killed while 44 others were kidnapped in separate incidents.
The recent upsurge in insecurity across the polity has therefore resulted in calls for the president’s resignation among other demands.
Senator Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressive Congress (APC), at one of the plenary sessions of the National Assembly, shed tears over the insecurity in Nigeria at the moment.
The senator in his presentation stated it’s about time they tell the truth to the president, Muhammadu Buhari, that he has totally failed the country and the people of Nigeria in every aspect of his governance.
He said the level of fear in Nigerians right now is so high that one is scared of traveling for about 50 kilometers by road, because of the constant kidnapping, crimes, killings etc happening in the country at the moment.
He stated the people are already suffering from the high cost of living, fuel prices going high, bad roads, lack of social amenities and on top of that security threats in the country.
He urged his fellow senators to stand up and fight for the citizens and tell the president the truth that the nation is really under a serious state of security threat.
Senator Adeyemi stated that President Buhari should consider seeking for help from foreign countries to fight these crimes by bandits, as it is proven the situation is way bigger than the Nigerian security forces.
” It has gotten to a situation that we cannot sleep with our two eyes closed. Our security system has collapsed and because it has failed we need to look for foreign support. The President must know that this is a bad time for our nation. Let us shut down this National Assembly if we cannot save this country.”
Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Robert Clarke, SAN, has warned that Nigeria may not survive the next six months.
Speaking on a television programme, the senior lawyer said, “Many things are happening and I swear by my father’s grave, if care is not taken Nigeria will collapse in six months time.”
Clark lamented the spate of insecurity in Nigeria while reacting to the recent warning issued by the Department of State Services, DSS, to come after elements causing disunity in the country.
He said, “You see, the problem with Nigeria is that those who should know don’t want to know and they do not know.
“The security session is talking and talking and talking. What are they doing? The security in this country is so bad today that I, Robert Clark, cannot guarantee Nigeria staying another six months.
“The problems are overwhelming and have been created by these same politicians since 1999 Constitution came into being and this crop of politicians who were swimming in Abacha’s loot and trying to form as many political parties as possible for him (Abacha) got into money and came into politics. Nigeria has never been the same.
Adding venom to the scary insecurity in Nigeria was the fiery Catholic cleric, Ejike Mbaka who supported Buhari in his first and second term elections calling for Buhari’s impeachment.
Expectedly, the agitations were met with resistance from the villa and its sympathisers. In a strong retort to calls for the president’s resignation, the APC leadership said no one should doubt the capacity of the president to end the security crisis facing the country.
Responding to the PDP, APC in a statement by the National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator James Akpanudoedehe, said “We urge stakeholders and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians to avoid politicising or being simplistic about the security situation. At a time like this, our duty to our nation as good citizens should outweigh political party colorations.”
He added: “While high-level investigations are ongoing to fish out sponsors and perpetrators of the security incidents, President Buhari has already given marching orders to our security services to check the security incidents. We pray the investigations should not reveal conspiracies by the opposition to weaken the government in furtherance of their desperate 2023 aspirations.”
Meanwhile, as the call for resignation of President Mohammad Buhari is ticking, the military has pledged that it would not be part of those that would overthrow the government of Buhari
The military, in a statement issued by Acting Director, Defence Information, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, said it has no intention of taking over power again in Nigeria. This, it said, is because it believes that despite tough times, democracy is the way to go and militarism is no longer fashionable. The army also warned politicians nursing ambition of ruling Nigeria outside the ballot box, saying it would continue to defend the country’s democracy.
“We shall continue to remain apolitical, subordinate to the Civil Authority, firmly loyal to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the 1999 Constitution as Amended. We shall continue to discharge our constitutional responsibilities professionally, especially in protecting the country’s democracy, defence of the territorial integrity of the country, as well as protection of lives and properties of citizens,” the statement said in part.
While the mystery over the sponsors of terrorism remains a mystery, the call for the president’s resignation comes after agitations for the former service chiefs to step aside in light of the unabating security crisis. But even after their resignation, the spate of security attacks have yet to stop.
The President had assured that those behind terrorism in Nigeria would be technically defeated, but almost six years of his administration, nobody can move freely in the country. People are being killed in the country and the questions remain, ” Who will stop this tide? Who are those after President Muhammadu Buhari’s impeachment? Will they succeed?