Of Nigeria’s insecurity and birth of numerous security ‘operations’

All through the North, East, West and South, these regions have all had their bitter share of horrendous tales on insecurity, insurgency and plethora of challenges owing to the nefarious activities perpetrated by bandits, kidnappers, Boko haram, herdsmen, assassins and others.

It is such horrifying that many lives are lost daily even beyond counts and sadly we seem to have accepted this as part of our lives as Nigerians. For how long are we going to continue grappling with security crises across the country? Terror are being unleashed on innocent civilians including women and children every day.

It is crystal clear that the pattern of criminal activities in Nigeria has been regionalised — insurgency and herdsmen crisis in the North; kidnappings and militancy in the eastern and Southern part of the country; ritual killings, assassination and kidnappings in the West. The upsurge in criminal activities across the country is quite frightening. The general insecurity is indeed worrisome.

If we are given the opportunity to choose how we all want to die, certainly, none of us will choose to die ‘hot-death’ — where people are hacked and burnt to death while asleep or even awake. Down to the Southwest region, the rising spate of insecurity in region birthed the “Operation Amotekun” and so far it has received widespread commendations from many and few backlash from those who brought in sentimental views.

It, therefore, appears that this complementary security outfit which has fought its way through for survival upon the unveiling by the Southwest governors, is set to replicate itself in other regions of the country and now the nation is set to witness an avalanche of “Operations” across the nation — Operation Obunigwe in the East, Operation Amotekun in the West and Operation Shege Ka Fasa in the North — all these are directed towards tackling insecurity.

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Before the emergence and the popularisation of “Operation Amotekun”, we have series of “Operations” still standing the test of time, with all targeted towards protecting and securing lives and properties of Nigerians. We’ve many of the Operations under the control of the Nigerian army such as Operation sting, Operation Positive Identification, Operation Python dance, Operation crocodile smile, Operation Ayem Akpatuma, Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Harbin Kunama and many more, and yet the nation is still suffering from the hands of criminals.

While these series of operations to tackle different threats to the nation’s security are still ongoing nationwide, there is need more actions and fewer explanations. it is also understandable that no country in the world is an alien to insecurity, hence there is need for a firm and critical re-evaluation of the performance of security agencies in handling the current situation in Nigeria.

These threats posed by separatist groups, religious extremists, ethnic militias, bandits and other criminals which deferred efforts of the Nigerian Police who solely responsible for internal security shows there is the need for collective and synergized security arrangement by the federal, state and local governments in Nigeria rather than trading blames and politicizing matters of “security”.

Alao Abiodun is a journalist, He can be reached via alaojoshua200@gmail.com.