“You do not measure the depth of a
river with both legs.” Ghanaian Proverb
Last
week, members of the House of Representations expressed deep concern over the
security situation in the country. While discussing a motion of urgent national
importance following the bombing of a church at Jaji Cantonment in Kaduna State
and the headquarters of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja, the
legislators urged security agencies to improve their intelligence gathering capacities
and technology. A member observed that the attacks should worry legislators,
because the national assembly complex itself could have been successfully
targeted. “I see these people coming to the National Assembly very soon,” one
of them was reported to have said.
Indeed, the legislators were right to have
raised their levels of concern at spreading insecurity in the country. The successful
deployment of persons and weaponry at the SARS headquarters could have been
mobilized against many of the key and vulnerable points in and around Abuja.
Similarly, the audacity of the attacks on a church at the Jaji military
cantonment must have been bolstered by some level of sophistication and
intelligence available to the attackers. The two attacks particularly underline
the fact that spectacular terror activities involving massive deployment of men
and materials is no longer confined to the Borno – Yobe axis. While
assassinations and attacks on security personnel have become daily occurrences
in many parts of the north east, bombings of churches and attacks such as those
at SARS in Abuja and Jaji cantonment appear to be organized after some
meticulous planning towards the achievement of strategic objectives, such as
discrediting the state’s capacity to defend itself, or triggering
inter-religious conflicts.
The attacks on multiple targets in Auchi in
Edo State a few days ago must also remind Nigerians of mass killings of
students in Mubi, and the massacre of villagers in Kaduna State by large gangs.
Daily revelations of discoveries of large stocks of arms and explosives
indicate a spread of violent groups or tendencies which will continue to
challenge the security of the Nigerian State. On Friday last week, a
cordon-and-search operation in Zaria was reported to have yielded a 60 year-old
man and the following: 17 remote controls devices, 11 primed suicide bomber
vests, 36 primed I.E.Ds in cans, two gallons of paint containing prepared
I.E.Ds, 7 rolls of wires and one bag containing sensors and 25 batteries. Many
of these types of “factories” have been discovered in other towns. The
military’s painstaking efforts to publicize these hauls appear to be aimed at
justifying the highly-unpopular cordon-and-search tactics and claiming some
successes, but they also raise general levels of concern over how deeply
organized violence has penetrated our lives.
The legislators’ concerns should go beyond
observing the need for improving intelligence gathering and technology.
Clearly, government and the security agencies have been doing something wrong
in view of the spread and success of terror. Or they have not been doing the
right things. At this stage, what is significant is that the nation should be
placed properly on notice that it has a very serious threat to its existence.
The President had a good opportunity to send positive signals to the security
agencies and citizens when he addressed the Chief of Army Staff Annual
Conference in Asaba which coincided with the Jaji bombing. But he used it to appeal
to the military to find solutions to the current security challenges facing the
nation. It is possible that President Jonathan’s appeal was intended for public
consumption only, but even this can be seriously questioned. The military is
the instrument available to the administration to deal with fundamental
breaches to our national security, but that is precisely what it is: an
instrument of the state. It has professional requirements for some operational
autonomy, but it is principally what the political leadership wants it to be.
Today the military is stretched and stressed almost beyond its capacities. It
is attempting to do its own work, and do those of the police and the
intelligence community. It is fighting a war against a difficult enemy that is
gaining confidence and competence, and has a supply line of support and
inspiration from many sources, including many parts of the Sahel and beyond. It
is also quite possibly fighting variants of the same enemy; rogue elements from
within institutions of the state; copy-cat criminals and a wide range of other
criminal gangs which exploit huge gaps in our security infrastructure.
The military is further challenged by poor
support from other security agencies; inadequate coordination; unhealthy
rivalry and weak political will. Worse, it is fighting a war with little or no
civilian or local support. Its attempts to build bridges with communities in
which the enemy lives and thrives are demolished by tactics which hurt the same
communities. It cannot win hearts and minds; and it cannot defeat the enemy
which exploits the grey areas in civil-military relations.
The alarm raised by the national assembly
should be followed by an informed engagement with President Jonathan and heads
of security agencies. The President needs to be encouraged to improve strategic
coordination of efforts of all security agencies. He needs to engage the top
echelons of the military, the police and intelligence services more directly in
discussing approaches to the many security challenges the nation faces, as well
as adopting flexible operational options. He needs to be nudged towards
exploring political options to the current military engagement. He needs to be
sensitized to the expanding threat of the insurgency which now has firm,
established linkages with external interests. He needs to block massive
loopholes which encourage the type of operations by criminals that take whole
communities hostage for hours on end, and end up taking many lives and exposing
the weaknesses of the state.
The bombings of the UN building and the
national headquarters of the Nigeria police in Abuja last year were
probably meant to send the message that the JASLIWAJ ( a.k.a Boko Haram)
insurgency could go to the heart of our nation and strike at will. A variant of
the insurgency now claims another spectacular attack in Abuja. The threat is
rising in intensity, and spreading its complexity. No Nigerian is safe from the
current levels of insecurity, and our legislators who worry that their complex
could be a target should do more than lament. They have a role to play in
nudging the President and our security agencies to explore options to our
current strategies, which clearly are not working.
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