Terrorism may succeed in colonizing some areas of the Nigerian State as Prophet Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State professed, but it will surely not conquer the entire Nigerian space because when a finger has whitlow, the pain destabilizes the whole system. With time, the body owner will seek radical cures and interventions, including surgical operations.
Using this analogy, I do not see terrorism defeating Nigeria as a country. In contrast, I see states becoming more hasty and daring in fortifying their local armies to confront the behemoth facing each state. Unfortunately, the adopted strategies are mainly uncoordinated and, in some areas, crude.
In the future, these uncoordinated follow-up strategies will come with significant collateral damages, and I foresee so many innocent citizens across the divide lost to counter-terrorism operations.
The Federal Government should please wake up. If a former General in the saddle as the Commander-In-Chief confronted Boko Haram in the North-East, technically defeated it but leaving to the next administration the remnants of mutated Boko Haram and ISWAP to fester all over the forests of Nigeria, I wonder if other parties would still be blamed after 2023 elections. Why do I say this?
The, administration of Goodluck, Ebele Jonathan, a civilian President had more than two hundred Chibok girls Kidnapped but unable to rescue them till it left office. The opposition latched on this state of heightened insecurity and corruption to remove GEJ from Aso Rock.
Nigerians jubilated and heaved sighs of relief, that a master strategist, in the person of President Muhammad Buhari, a former military General had arrived to bring his experience to bear.
I listened to his campaign promises where he paid glowing tributes to himself for driving some radical sects from Nigeria into the desert during his time as a military man. He said he did it before and would do it again. Who wouldn’t be happy at such milestones?
For whatever reason, under PMB’s administration, more than one thousand children have been abducted with over six hundred still with their captives.
The good news, however, is that this administration still has more than eight months to crush the bandits and terrorists across Nigeria. It could, therefore, still free all the abducted children and rid our forests of bandits milking the economy dry.
Whichever state PMB leaves Nigeria, the marks he left on the sands of time have positive and negative sides, which shall count for him at the appropriate time.
On this journey, I pray for our gallant military officers and men, who sacrifice their lives to fight and to protect this country that their efforts will not be in vain. Ultimately, I shall be happy to see a bandit-free Nigeria by June 12, 2023. Goodluck PMB.
Grace and peace!!!
