Honouring Nigeria’s Real Heroes -By Ike Willie-Nwobu

In 2009, as the country surged to the end of the first decade of the new millennium, there was a mammoth shift in Nigeria’s security dynamics and apparatus. Suddenly, Nigeria found itself in places it was not ordinarily used to being, fighting enemies it was not used to. This seismic shift in Nigeria’s security considerations was in no little measure all thanks to the terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

There are many theories about how the group evolved and resolved into arguably the most formidable enemy of the Nigerian state. Many Nigerians believe it was a carefully crafted invention of Nigeria’s hidden enemies who needed an offensive against the Nigerian state for their aims from a group malleable to them. If this was the plot initially, they soon lost the plot as Boko Haram veered out of control.

The audacious attacks of the group which has been involved in some of the most atrocious assaults against the Nigerian state over the years has weakened Nigeria’s security architecture and enabled the proliferation of terrorist groups in a country where the main challengers used to be small-time criminals.

What is clear from Boko Haram’s history is that the terrorist group which balks at Western civilization amply benefitted from the many loopholes in Nigeria’s security architecture, and the weak political will that has more often than not marked government in Nigeria.

As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has tried to lay a glove on Nigeria’s myriad problems, security is one aspect his government has thrived in. Since his inauguration in 2023, activities have ceased in many of Nigeria’s killing fields, with the government doing a considerable lot to guarantee security for citizens. However, the war is far from over.

On Friday, January 24, 2025, terrorists attacked the Nigerian Army base in Malam-Fatori, Borno State. While more than 70 terrorists were neutralized, about twenty-two soldiers paid the ultimate prize. To be a soldier is to die many times over on the job. It is to put one’s life on the line for others and die many times over, even if it happens that breath will cease just once. Despite the grim reality of being a soldier, especially in a full-fledged theater of war that Nigeria is, young Nigerians brimming with promise and overflowing with potentials and patriotism continue to join the armed forces, putting themselves in the line of fire to defend Nigeria from ruthless none state actors.
These men and women are the true heroes of Nigeria and Nigerian democracy. They are the ones who consistently put everything on the line to defend Nigeria.

For many reasons, but especially to honor the sacrifices, they have made in defense of the country, Nigeria must commit more to the war against terror, than it is currently doing. Most especially, it must commit to prosecute it to its logical conclusion.

Unfortunately, the war against terrorism now appears like a war without end with many years and resources going into it with no end in sight.

However, the fact that no country can develop with terrorists lurking in the corner is enough motivation to keep going.

Nigeria must honour the sacrifices that soldiers, civilians, and entire communities have made in the war against terror.

No honour will beat a comprehensive defeat of the terrorists in the shortest time possible.

Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com