The Travails Of Nigeria’s Security Personnel -By Kene Obiezu

Nigeria continues to battle terrorism on  many  fronts. The battle which has raged for years now has been defined by the slow disintegration of Nigeria`s security architecture and the devastation communities and families have had to endure.

 In Nigeria`s North-east and North-west regions where it was recently revealed that over a hundred borders were left frighteningly unguarded, foreign and homebred terrorists have left children, their families and  communities hanging by a thread.

 All manner of atrocities have been committed in the places where these terrorists hold sway.   Extortionate taxes have been imposed and laws have been made to regulate daily life and defy lawful authorities. These are in addition to the mindless slaughter of rural citizens and other forms of unspeakable atrocities.

 Nigeria`s security forces have battled valiantly.  They also have had to count the cost of a war that has taken a great toll on the country. Breadwinners of families have had to pay the supreme price in the blink of an eye.  =Great lights of hopeful and expectant families have been extinguished in seconds all in a war that should never have arisen in the first place were the Giant of Africa proactive about its security. Instead, what the country has on its hands is a war even more frightening that the Nigerian Civil War.

  It was obviously in the light of this that the wives of some police officers serving in Kaduna State recently gathered to pray to God to protect their husbands from bandits.  In Nigeria, realization has long dawned on many that no matter the sacrifices made for the country, the moment a breadwinner is felled in the line of duty, the family is most often left to weather the biting cold  of life on their own.

  Gallantry in captivity

 For police officers in a country where rising crime and civilian suspicion have brewed unmatched toxicity, life is as difficult as it can get.  That in a breath, life could be in mortal danger, makes things worse.

 On  June 27, 2022, while driving to report to duty at the Police Division in Birnin Gwari town, the headquarters of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of   Kaduna State, CSP Mohammed Gyadi-Gyadi was kidnapped. He was said to have been abducted on his way to Buruku, a village appointed as a rendezvous for him to be received by his men who had come from Birnin Gwari to give him security cover through the dangerous Buruku- Birnin Gwari Road.

  Now, more two months later, he remains in captivity. It is not clear that serious efforts have been made to rescue him. Even if they have, the fact that he remains in captivity means that the efforts made to rescue him have fallen just short.

  His fate in the hands of his abductors who have been known to deal ruthlessly with security personnel is better imagined than experienced.

 But more than anything, it shows the danger confronting the men who defend Nigeria from murderous terrorists. It is not like they have nine lives. Neither is it like they do their work under ideal conditions. Life is routinely snuffed out of them and in most cases, their families are left stranded in a system that that has struggled for as long as anyone can remember.

 There was a time it was inconceivable that Nigerians would be snatched from any part of the country and made to spend days in the hands of their abductors. These days, it has become routine.

It is not just every day Nigerians that are snatched. security personnel have become prime targets too.

 While the government looks on, stuffed as it is with people openly declared as targets by terrorists, even security personnel who should guard Nigerians are picked off.

 Kene Obiezu,

 Twitter: @kenobiezu