BY VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
 victoriangozii@gmail.com
08033077519

There is no doubt that Nigeria’s insecurity problems reached a new level recently with abduction of hundreds of secondary school students in northern Nigeria. What is more, the abductions in two schools happened in quick succession, leaving well meaning Nigerians somehow dumbfounded while wishing that our country overcome this trying times. Apparently perplexed too and not wanting to take any chance, the authorities have shut a number of  boarding schools in the north —-as a last resort; while some state governments having applied all intellectual methods without success are urging their citizens to turn their gaze upwards in prayer. 
 
In 2014 the nation was jolted  with horrendous kidnapping of students at the Chibok Girls Secondary school in Borno state considered then as epicentre of the terrorist, Boko Haram group. The sheer effrontery and operational scale of the abductors in ferrying hundreds of school girls into the forest with trucks confounded many. It was the first such large scale abduction since advent of the fourth Republic in 1999. And it birthed the (in)famous “Bring back our girls” movement. Although some of the girls escaped  on their own or  were found by the authorities, some of them are still missing to-date, despite the military’s best efforts in its search and rescue operation. Some ten years after, everyone connected to the girls whether directly or indirectly have resigned themselves to fate and seemingly forgotten the matter though the scars remain.
 
More horrific is killing in same year, of no less than 29 teenage boys of Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, Yobe state by bandits/terrorists that invaded and burnt their school.  Following these unprecedented attacks, the government devised some counter measures, one of which is the ‘safe school’ initiative. Another was deployment of security personnel to schools. Kidnappings of other kinds continued to occur and bandits/terrorists continued to prowl about the in north east and northwest regions,
 
   And now some 30 months into current administration’s tenure, the agents of darkness a.k.a bandits/terrorists have spread their tentacles to new areas. Take Kwara state for example. This is a state that had been somehow alien to banditry so to speak. However, over the past months reports began to filter in of bandits terrorizing some communities, forcing residents to flee their homes in fear. Matters deteriorated recently when terrorists invaded Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Eruku, whisking away 38 worshippers. This is a dangerous precedent because although Kwara state is situated in northern Nigeria, north central region to be precise, it nevertheless shares borders with western Nigeria. Heightening of insecurity there raises the spectre that bandits/terrorists are inching their way to the south west region which over time had been relatively peaceful. This is a warning signal for governments of this region to tighten up security in their states and take other preventive measures to guard against a spill over of events in Kwara. Prevention is better than cure, so goes an adage.
 
Also, perplexing is terrorists’ incursion into Sokoto state. A new terror group, Lakaruwa is now causing havoc there. I find this rather daring, for, who would have imagined that terrorists would be running amok in Sokoto, of all places, the seat of the Caliphate?  Does this signify that places like Kano, Abuja, Gombe, among others are not off limit to these agents of darkness cloaked as bandits, insurgents, terrorists whose goal is to inflict maximum harm and cause disharmony to our peaceful environments. 
 
When I first read reports of kidnapping of 25 students of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary, Kebbi state, memories of Chibok school girls abduction flashed through my mind. Not only is it depressing that these terrorists are targeting students, it is more worrisome that girls’ schools are their prime target; thereby, they seek to dent northern governments’ very commendable plan of promoting girl child education. Girls/women are the fulcrum of any society and girls need sound education to be able to contribute maximally to a nation’s development. As a saying goes, when you educate a girl (who eventually becomes a fully fledged woman) you invariably educate the nation. Abduction of hundreds of pupils of a catholic school in  Niger State, marks another new level in bandits’ activities, for it is the first time that these monstrous elements are targeting private school.  So, the recent surge in terrorist’ activities indicate that quite apart from north east and north west regions where they had been operating for several years, they are now getting a foothold in north central region and that they may infiltrate south west region if care is not taken. For government the challenge is to stop them on their tracks as well as uproot them from their current and other operating theatres. Security should/is everyone’s business and all of us irrespective of age or gender are enjoined to be security conscious as these agents of darkness  unfold their fangs,  prowling about our lands. President Bola Tinubu has now revealed that all 38 kidnapped worshippers of CAC Iruku, have been rescued while 51 of the abducted pupils of the Niger state catholic school have returned. Security agents are said to be on trail of the kidnappers whilst still continuing  their search for other victims.
 
   Nevertheless, the recent attacks raise a few questions. The abductions at the church and catholic school happened soon after the US raised issue of so-called “Christian genocide” in Nigeria. Are these attacks meant to justify this narrative? Secondly, the surge occurred just when the new service chiefs were still trying to find their feet following the recent change of guards. Could it be that the terrorists’ took advantage of the seeming lull caused by the wholesale changes in the armed forces and the fact that the new helmsmen are still familiarising themselves with their new duties, to strike? Thirdly could the new wave of banditry and terrorists’ activities be attributed to saboteurs, people who for a variety of reasons are at odds with the government and seek to sabotage its efforts and so cast it in a bad light? Whatever it is, we all should join hands, lend a hand in fighting this monster, for, we have no other country than Nigeria.