The recent horrendous massacre of more than 200 innocent citizens on the eve of Christmas in Plateau State has further exposed the vulnerability and dysfunctionality of Nigeria’s policing architecture.
The latest incident in the days preceding 2023 Christmas saw unknown gunmen overrunning about 23 local communities in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas, leaving a death toll that authorities estimate to be over 200, with more than 10,000 displaced.
At a time that residents of these communities ought to be celebrating, families and the nation were thrown into mourning by these marauders who, for all intent and purposes, kill for fun.
There is something fundamentally wrong with the humanity of anyone not outraged at these unprovoked killings.
More killings have followed by criminals capitalising on state weakness and compromise. In the eight years to June 2023, figures from diverse sources indicate that 63,111 persons were killed by non-state actors.
The killers range from Islamist terrorists like Boko Haram and its spin-offs, Fulani herders/militants, bandits, ethnic and sectarian fanatics, armed robbers, separatist gunmen/terrorists, criminal gangs, cultists, and rogue security personnel.
All these groups also engage in kidnapping for ransom. Everywhere is unsafe, including the Federal Capital Territory, military and police garrisons, schools, the farms, communities, and the highways.
The Nigeria Security Tracker reported that 1,228 persons were killed, and 844 others kidnapped in the first four months of 2023.
The latest killings in Plateau State are undoubtedly the worst since the massacre in May 2023.
In May 2023, more than 100 persons were brutally murdered with villages razed down by these killers during an attack on communities in Mangu local government area of Plateau State.
Killings on the Plateau, which have been raging for over a decade, have continued to assume a worrying dimension.
Between April 17 and July 10, 2023, no fewer than 346 persons were killed in eight Local Government Areas of the state.
In April 2022, over 100 persons were killed across 10 villages of Kukawa, Gyambawu, Dungur, Kyaram, Yelwa, Dadda, Wanka, Shuwaka, Gwammadaji, and Dadin Kowa communities in Kanam and Wase Local Government Areas of the state.
It is alarming that in what seems to be the new normal, terrorists have continued to raid communities, killing and maiming scores in Plateau State and other parts of the country, almost on a daily basis.
How come Plateau, like Zamfara and other states in the North West, has continued to witness recurring killings by terror elements that rarely get caught, let alone face prosecution?
Significantly, the latest attacks on Plateau communities underscore the need for a re-examination of response mechanisms put in place by our security operatives.
For over a decade since the outbreak of the crisis on the Plateau in 2001, security operatives have been stationed at trouble spots in the state.
“With the spate of killings going on in different parts of the country, it would be right to assume that the nation is at war because it is doubtful if it could be this bad even during a war situation”
How come it was possible for these killers to beat the men of Operation Safe Haven and operate almost unhindered in this manner?
Attacking about 20 communities in two local government areas, no matter the numerical strength of these killers, requires time. Were there no distress calls on the security operatives? What was the response? How come there is no intelligence and even a report on the movement of these killers? How come the police, DSS and other security agencies in the state are cut unaware in spite of their presence in every local government area?
Clearly, it is essential to have an entirely new approach to curtailing these mind-boggling massacres which are gradually turning the renowned Home of Peace and Tourism into a killing field.
We cannot be doing the same thing and expect different results.
The fact that the government needs to adopt an entirely new strategy, including revisiting and ensuring full-scale implementation of the report of previous commissions of inquiry, cannot be over-emphasized.
Perhaps it is fitting to remind both Plateau State and the Federal Governments that the primary purpose of government is the protection of lives and properties.
The current harvest of deaths in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi LGA must be treated with the utmost urgency it deserves, including bringing the perpetrators to book without delay.
Victims of these killings and similar ones in different parts of the country are sick and tired of the government’s mere condemnation and distribution of relief materials.
The killers must be apprehended and prosecuted. Only that can end this cycle of killings.
The latest and most aptly, ruthless massacre on the Plateau, like those before it, with no exception to the ones in other parts of the country, is inexcusable, devoid of reason and tints our shared humanity.
This heinous crime must be put to a halt with immediate rapidity.
With the spate of killings going on in different parts of the country, it would be right to assume that the nation is at war because it is doubtful if it could be this bad even during a war situation.
The intensity and indeed frequency with which these killings occur make one to wonder if human life has not completely lost its cherished value.
We strongly believe that the government has what it takes to confront this monster and put an end to these patently endless killings, kidnapping for ransom and other high-profile criminal activities that have continued to force Nigerians into living in constant fear.
As a nation, we cannot afford to witness a steep descent into a stage where victims of these killings would resort to self-help. That will translate to total anarchy. Nigerians cannot continue to live and die under the dictates of killers whose activities have deprived the citizens of their inalienable rights to life and peaceful living.
These horrendous killings must stop.
