An Analysis of President Buhari’s Reply to Insurgent Attacks -By Segun Ogunlade

President Buhari rode to office on the back of integrity and the potential to quell the rising level of insecurity in the country at the time. Judging by his experience in the military, he was believed by many to be the David that the country needed against the Goliath of insurgency. Many had thought that Boko Haram would have been completely wiped out midway through his first tenure. But for some reasons, that has not happened yet. Instead, the level of insecurity has risen to the highest in the last ten years. Apart from Boko Haram, different violent groups have now emerged in the country and they kill people with no regard for their life almost on a daily basis. Bandits and Fulani herdsmen have joined Boko Haram as the trio of violent groups the country has to deal with. Things have indeed fallen apart in the nation’s security system.

But in the midst of all these killings and vandalism, what is surprising is the expression of shock coming from President Muhammadu Buhari anytime any of the group strike. The recent onslaught on Gubio Local Government of Borno state where 81 people were killed including women and children is not the first time people have been killed by insurgents this year.

Villages are attacked almost on daily basis in northern Nigeria. During the attacks, people are killed and properties are destroyed. Cattles are rustled and people are kidnapped. The President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the federation cannot say he is oblivious of these attacks prior to the one on Gubio. As a matter of fact, he is privy to many intelligence reports that we are not. But why he is shocked that Boko Haram killed 81 people beats my imagination. Yet, when one checks his reply to some of these attacks, they follow almost the pattern that begins with him expressing his shock.

As he was shocked at the Gubio attack, so was he every time. His message often starts with something like “the president is shocked about the report on recent attacks on XYZ Village in so and so state” This shock seem to never go away. Maybe it is because the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had once said that Boko Haram insurgents have been technically defeated but they still come out of the defeat to kill people. Or maybe he is shocked because contrary to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant Tukur Buratai that the insurgents have been largely decimated, it doesn’t appear so. Or he could be that the Nigerian Army dealt a blow on the insurgents some days and now they have already sprung up again to launch an attack, not on men of the Nigerian Army, but on innocent men, women, and children. Whatever the reason for his shock, I don’t think it is justified. The insurgents have neither been technically defeated nor have they been largely decimated as recent reports from their area of operation have shown. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the nation’s Armed Forces and every security reports would somehow find its way to his table.

After his expression of shock comes his commiseration. As was expected of him as the president, he sends his condolences to families of the victims of the insurgent attacks. These days, the President seems pretty quick in responding to reports of insurgents attack by sending a message through his media aides. That is a good improvement on what used to be. For example, in 2016 when over 300 people were killed and over 7,000 others were displaced in Agatu, Benue state, following an attack by Fulani herdsmen, he was silent about the attack for weeks, much to public chagrin. His media aides did not release any statement condemning the attack and when the President was expected to visit the village as his predecessor would have done, he did not.

With his message of commiseration comes the condemnation of the attack. Again, that is expected. Taking another person’s life without remorse is a condemnable act and should not be appreciated by any well-meaning human being. But what is not expected is that while the President was very quick to label, condemn and proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra as a terrorist group, he has not done so with the Fulani herdsmen many of whom have been on killing and rampaging for several months and their unlawful killings is superseded only by that of Boko Haram insurgents. Despite their killing people in their villages and running of their cows over people’s farm, they are not worthy of being called terrorists yet as far as the President is concerned. Herders that usually go about with only their wooden staff in the past have grown so much confidence under this regime that they now accompany that with assault rifles with which they attack any farmer that stand in their way. Yet, their attack is still being thought of by the president to be a mere case of farmers/herders clash.
But that is not surprising. President Buhari has a way of protecting his own. In the face of all the financial atrocities and larceny committed by late Major General Sani Abacha, President Buhari is one of the few persons in the country that still believe the former was not corrupt. Even when Abacha’s stolen funds are being repatriated by countries such as Luxembourg, Switzerland, the U.K., President Buhari still believe the man that appointed him as the Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) was not corrupt as charged. Add this to many of the major appointments that have been made under his presidency, you will see that President Buhari has a high opinion of his people.

Usually, his message ends with an order for the military to step up their operation so as to forestall future attacks. That order has been given many times and with the recent turnout of event, it would continue to be given. If the word of the Minister of Defence that the Nigerian military is understaffed and underequipped is true, we might be hearing more sad tales from the battlefield in the coming days. That would be worrisome seeing especially that a large chunk of the nation’s budget has gone to security in recent years. Despite that, the battle against insecurity and insurgency is far from being won. One could begin to question how all the money allocated to the security agency have been spent because the money run into billions in dollars.

But beyond all these, when the fact that you put your life in line to secure the life of people that include the ones that syphon the money allocated to make your job easy, it is depressing. That depression has a demoralising effect on the soldiers. Add that to the fact that when many of them die, it’s as if they die for nothing, their memories are forgotten, their families are left to mourn their loss and the country moves on as if nothing happened. I am not sure if any of those soldiers has life insurance that their families could benefit from.

So, instead of the president always expressing his shock every time the insurgents attacked a village, sending condolence messages to the families of those that are victims of the attacks, condemning and ordering a reprisal on the insurgents, the president needs to be to be told that security in Nigeria is frail. All these incessant acts of violence are evidences that the Nigerian state is indeed going down and the government needs to do something quickly before it totally collapse. Indeed, the activities of Boko Haram insurgents, Fulani herdsmen, and the bandits are telling us that the government has failed in its primary responsibility of protecting the citizens within its border. If foreigners could enter the country to kill innocent citizens and Boko Haram could decimate the men of the Nigerian Army, it shows the level of failure of political administration in the country. The more the cases of violent killings are increasing, the more it becomes clear that the country’s security system has failed and it shows the country as one that needs saving from violence.

President Buhari also need reminding that more should be done towards making the job of the military easy by supporting and providing them with modern sophisticated weapons of war that could aid their duty of protecting all of us. They should know that when they die it wasn’t just for nothing. More importantly, he should be reminded that Boko Haram is not the only security threat that the country now face. The attack by Fulani herdsmen and bandits on villages should be met with the same military repulsion as it is with the Boko Haram insurgents.

The lives of people in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Zamfara, Katsina, and other places where human lives no longer matter needs protecting.

Written By Segun Ogunlade