I, Alaiyeluwa Oba Ebenezer Akintunde AKINYEMI, JP, FCIMN, The Eselu of Iselu Kingdom, a First Class Monarch in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State, write this Open Letter to His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed TINUBU, GCFR, The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria so as to express my thoughts on the incessant killings and blood-shedding going on in Plateau State and some Northern States in Nigeria.
Mr. President, it is disheartening to see that human lives are no longer valued in some parts of our country despite the frantic efforts your administration has been making to secure all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. This country that we all grew up to know to be a peaceful nation some decades ago has now become a country where bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and foreign Fulani herdsmen operate and cause calamities in communities and it is evident that these destiny killers are not ready to sheathe their swords.
The recent devastating happenings in Plateau and Benue States are so humongous that hundreds of human beings (old and young) were killed, slaughtered and displaced from their ancestral homes by the daredevil and marauding criminals who want to bring Nigeria on its knees. My condolences to the families of the innocent citizens who lost their lives in the dastardly acts perpetrated by the enemies of Nigeria.
In my opinion, Mr. President needs to take a very decisive action to end this madness because the insecurity we are experiencing in Nigeria has now created an industry for some practitioners who will want the madness, killings and maiming to go on till eternity. Despite investing in military equipment and recruiting Nigerians into the security forces, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes have constantly become emboldened. If Mr. President does not end this madness that started many years before he assumed office in May, 2023, the industry that the insecurity has created will:
i. continue to gulp a chunk of our national budget;
ii. continue to allow importers of military equipment and weapons to be in business;
iii. continue to encourage managers and contractors for internally displaced persons (IDP) camps to be in business;
iv. continue to make provisions of dividends of democracy difficult in view of the huge funds thatgovernment will be spending to secure the country;
v. continue to embolden opposition figures to use the insecurity as an avenue to change government, etc.
Sadly, insecurity has now become a weapon in the hands of politicians. This same insecurity was used to oust President Jonathan in 2015. The Buhari Government who succeeded him promised to end the insecurity in some months, but failed woefully. In fact, Buhari Government’s abysmal failure in office almost made it difficult for his party’s Presidential Candidate then (Asiwaju Bola Ahmend Tinubu) to win the 2023 election. Thank God that destiny paved the way for you and you are now the number one citizen of Nigeria. It is crystal clear now that the oppositions in the country are now planning to oust Your Excellency in 2027, using the same insecurity as campaign strategy. Must we allow this strategy to persist when the lives of innocent Nigerians are often taken in some northern states in our country.
To me, some actions that we have always taken as a country will continue to encourage the bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and foreign Fulani herdsmen to wreck havoc in our country. Lots of the recruitment we do into the armed forces in Nigeria do not follow Federal Character. The numbers of northerners in the Nigerian Army and other security agencies are so huge that majority of them will always find it difficult to kill some of the terrorists at war fronts because they see them (i.e criminals) as their kinsmen. We have watched many videos showing us where some security personnel fighting the terrorists, bandits, foreign Fulani herdsmen, etc complain of lack of motivation. The dogs that some people have in their homes are well fed even more than our security men. Can we really end insecurity with this approach? My answer is NO! All manners of sentiments are deployed whenever there are calls to wipe out the bloodsucking criminals.
As alleged, the complicity of many people in and outside government is also encouraging the madnessto persist. Insecurity has now become an everyday issue that we discuss and we have not come together to take a concrete position on how to bring it to a permanent end.
Mr. President, as a stakeholder in the Project “Nigeria” and as a patriotic citizen, I believe it is high time we changed the approach we are using to tackle the unending terrorism. Given this, I want to suggest that Mr. President should open a debate in the National Assembly on how to invite mercenaries into Nigeria for the purpose of wiping out of the terrorists. This measure will prevent our country men and women from taking sides with the perpetrators of the criminality whenever there are plans to get them killed at war fronts. It is evident that governments across the globe invest in importation of sophisticated weapons and vehicles to protect their countries and their managers, so there is nothing wrong bringing in professional mercenaries to come and assist us to wipe out the madness and bring peace back to our dear country, Nigeria. We cannot be complaining about the problems and also be complaining about the solutions. If our security agencies cannot stop this calamity for three administrations, there is no point putting fresh soup in the old pot.
Thank you, Sir.
HRM Oba (Dr.) Akintunde AKINYEMI, JP, FCIMN
The Eselu of Iselu Kingdo
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