Saturday Southerner — Another View
Saturday, April 25, 2026
On April 9, 2026, another sad but regular news filtered from Borno state that, a military brigade task force was attacked and the brigade commandant, Brig. Gen. Oseni Omoh Braimah; the brigade Imam who was a Colonel and second in command; two other officers and several soldiers were killed. They were killed by terrorists somewhere inside Borno State while defending their fatherland.
Their deaths once again is a national tragedy. A very big shame and disgrace to the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, the President and Commander-in-Chief. But of course, the Presidential Villa I know, has done NOTHING while Nigeria moves on. That’s the irony of my country.
Again, on Monday, alleged terrorists attacked a military base in Kaiama council area of Kwara state, killing some soldiers and civilians, carted away military weapons including rifles, operational bikes and a gun truck. This they did without any serious challenge from the security agencies in Kwara state.
A GUO bus with passengers was attacked early this week along Ore – Benin highway. The driver of the vehicle, who tried to make a turn and run away from the attackers, according to reports, was shot dead and, all passengers abducted and taken into the bush. Till date, there is no report from the security agencies concerning the whereabout of the kidnapped victims.
Boko Haramists holding about 416 captured victims in Borno have issued a 72 hours ultimatum to the Federal and state government to either pay N5bn for the release of the captured victims or lose them.
Some days ago, the DSS sent a security alert to the Police warning of a possible kidnap of farmers in Kwara state any moment soon. These are the kind of stories people read about in Nigeria that encouraged the American government to advise their citizens to avoid our country.
In sane countries of the world, the recent killing of senior military officers, kidnap of loaded passenger bus along a highway, 416 citizens held captive in Borno, and others are enough for the government to take a final decision to wipe away terrorism from this country. In the light of these killings, the government would have applied urgent security measures in and around key infrastructures in the country. The government would have given every support needed by the military to achieve complete deleting of these criminal gangs from our territory.
The painful loss of our soldiers and the berserk operation of these Boko Haram elements is enough for the Federal government to have declared a state of emergency in Borno, North East and the entire country. The situation in Nigeria requires an overhauling of our security architecture. It demands improved security surveillance, vigilance and proactive security awareness by all security agencies. Let’s not be deceived, Nigeria is presently at war.
What we have presently in Nigeria is an armed invasion of our territory, a total declaration of war by Fulani Islamic extremists because they want to force their religion on the rest of all the citizens. They want to take over all regions, including the lands. These terrorists are not relenting as they are waxing stronger by the day in the bid to carry out their mission.
I am sure the Nigerian military is not lacking in bold and courageous men and women. The Nigerian military has well-trained, determined and strong hearted men that can withstand any external aggression. What the Nigerian military lacks is the presence of a sincere, caring, devoted and committed government. They lack a government that prioritizes the lives of her soldiers, people and country above politics. Our soldiers do not have a government that understands that wars are fought with moral, financial and material support.
Some years ago, the Nigerian military had respect in the world and highly feared in Africa but not anymore. The Nigerian military had performed creditably well to chase away dissidents in other countries especially in Africa.
The once highly rated strength of the country’s military is now in tatters and the centre can no longer hold. Ragtag and untrained militants are busy ravaging and chasing away people from their farmlands, markets, ancestral homes and killing our soldiers so cheaply. Is this Nigeria, a country we once prided as giant of Africa?
In the last 15 years that, these insurgents declared war on Nigeria, they have acquired sophisticated military weapons to attack our soldiers, kill and destroy our communities. They have strategically penetrated our military thereby having the upper hand against our military operations. There is no need to ask how they were able to do this, they are at war with Nigeria. Simple.
The Nigerian government has failed woefully in tackling the worsening insecurity that has terminated thousands of lives and worsened our economy. They have contributed immensely in undermining our military efforts at sending these terrorists gangs to the abyss.
Government after government, despite all promises, play politics with the growing insecurity in the land. President Tinubu does not need anyone to tell him that, the country has been captured and rendered ungovernable by the insurgents. The reason President Tinubu will stop at the airport while visiting a state ravaged by terrorists.
Billions of dollars have been pumped into tackling the insecurity in the country, yet there is no visible result to cheer about. But in the middle of this, the top hierarchy in the Presidency, Defence Ministry, NASS, Armed Forces have become stinkingly rich. How did they amass such wealth? Why should our anti-graft agencies not do a thorough auditing of these men? They rather track down Yahoo boys anywhere they are hiding. Why can’t the security agencies use same technology to track down the Boko Haramists wherever they are?
Soldiers have been trained in intelligence gathering, combat, shooting, new weapon handling, drone piloting, modern warfare techniques but the federal government, ty ministry of defence and the military high command seem to play politics with the buying of these weapons for our boys to nail these bad guys. The money budgetted for the acquisition of these weapons, paying of our soldiers often develop wings.
It has not heard that, other countries of the world absorb ‘repented’ terrorists into their military but Nigeria does that. Is this an accepted military tactics? This policy, defence experts have argued is not just a wrong strategy but unacceptable in the military. It is a wicked policy designed in bad faith and, will eventually ruin the military – Nigeria.
The military is trained to fight the enemy until they are finally deleted. Now the Nigerian military has turned into a rehabilitation home for ‘ex-terrorists’. It remains a baffling phenomenon.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari introduced religious sentiments into the battle against extremists. He signed for so called ‘repented’ terrorists to join our military in the name of rehabilitation. There’s a high degree of suspicion that, the so-called repented terrorists are the ones supplying sensitive information, intelligence reports, plans, movements, location and formation of troops. With these our military is prone to danger.
It is this evil recruitment exercise that has contributed to a war vehicle refusing to start, arms missing and arriving in the hands of these terrorists. In all this, there seems to be no move, no solution, no strategy from the Commander-in-Chief. This is the time for the C-i-C to have assembled all retired Generals and security experts in a meeting to profer solutions out of this logjam.
Nigeria is still blessed with the likes of Generals Ishola Williams, Olusegun Obasanjo, Theophilus Danjuma, Ike Nwachukwu, Ebitu Ukiwe, Buba Marwa, Abdulsalam Abubakar, Alabi Isama, Abubakar Umar, Air Vice Marshall Ajobena, Yakubu Gowon and others. This battle against terrorists can still be won clean and clear. We only require a determined, focused and sincere government.
When Generals of the military are easily ambushed and killed, it is just an easy way to over-run and capture our army and the entire country. A University without Professors and Ph.D holders in the classroom will render students of the institution a confused group.
The terrorists appear more strategic than our military. They think ahead. They go after Generals, making it easy for one of their own to emerge as replacement. If that is eventually achieved, then our military is dead, Nigeria is finished.
Is the government really thinking ahead? Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu interested in governing a one united Nigeria? He must realize that, he needs a united country to preside over. How could Mr President slumber when his house is on fire?
Few days ago, the US embassy closed its Abuja office and relocated some to Lagos and others back to America. The American government also issued a warning to its citizens to desist forthwith from travelling to Nigeria. They declared Nigeria an unsafe and dangerous place to be. That is highly indicting. So many things are really not adding up. The manner at which the Americans withdrew their citizens out of Nigeria should make any serious government to be disturbed.
Something is definitely wrong that the US government is not disclosing to the Nigerian government. But of course, it’s the responsibility of our government to figure it out.
The strength of any country lies in its military. But the Nigerian military presently is in disarray. For the Nigerian military to defend the country have become an uphill task. The President should be aware of the magnitude of destruction in the military.
As it is, the Nigerian military cannot withstand these terrorist gangs. They have already over-ran, overwhelmed, outgunned and disorganized our military.
For me, Mr. President should suspend every trip at the moment and, concentrate fully on tackling this insecurity head-on. He should launch a-round-the clock coordinated attack in the next six months to get these guys off Nigeria’s back. It is possible. It is do-able. It is achievable.
Mr. President cannot be globetrotting and dancing campaign tunes from Abuja to Lagos to Bayelsa like Nero fiddled when Rome was burnt. He must approach the situation with his two hands gripping the steering and his two legs standing firmly, his two eyes wide open, and save the citizens from these brutal killings in the country. That’s the meaning of a President and Commander-in-Chief.
In some countries, their Presidents have had to lead soldiers to recover their country from the hands of terrorists gangs. Ours doesn’t need to be at the war front but he has to take absolute control of the command. He needs to monitor the battlefields and ensure availability of enough materials to prosecute the war. Our Commander-in-Chief must see the physical presence of our defence chiefs issuing commands in the war front.
The President needs to buckle the state governors to action on their vigilante groups, gathering information on the hideouts of these insurgents in their states for onward transfer to the Presidency and Defence headquarters for immediate military actions. Nigeria must approach this war seriously. It is sad that, rather than Mr President hosting military/security strategic meetings on how to counter the Boko Haramists, he prefers to host his re-election campaign group – Renewed Hope Ambassadors. Very disappointing!
President Tinubu is more involved in his re-election campaign than caring for the blood on the streets, for the thousands of citizens that have been displaced and, the tears in the eyes of citizens. These people are human beings, they are Nigerians that require protection from the leadership of Nigeria.
I have nothing against President Tinubu’s political interest. It is his right to contest for any office of his choice. But I am more worried that, as the President and Commander-in-Chief, he is not roundly in control of the ugly security situation in Nigeria.
The Presidential Villa, Defence Headquarters and Ministry of Defence are too relaxed. Their reactions seem to suggest that, all is normal. But we are not in a normal situation in Nigeria. When citizens and soldiers are slaughtered easily by the Boko Haramists, then all is absolutely not normal.
