-By Victoria Opeyemi
In recent weeks, terrorists have not just successfully breached security of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), there are reported clashes around Abuja. Is the siege by the terrorists in Abuja a failure of security leadership or that of political leadership? There must be a stitch in time in order to save time.
When terrorists bombed the United Nations house and the police headquarters in Abuja, Nigerians were alarmed. The terrorists had held two states, Borno and Yobe hostage. The situation means that the basis of which the then government was charged inactive has continued. Since the inauguration of the Buhari administration, insecurity has moved from holding territory to holding down everyday lives activities.
In many more communities across the country, as the cases of kidnapping, sacking of communities, breaching of security and sensitive national institutions, such as Nigerian defence Academy and train service between Abuja and Kaduna, the authorities are playing the ostrich, because Abuja, the seat of power remained untouched.
However, the invasion of the Kuje Correctional Center changed the narrative.
Recently, military men with joint task force are moving across the capital and there is tension in FCT.
The successful invasion of Kuje Correctional Center by terrorists in an operation that lasted over two hours, did not take a number of both insiders and outsiders by surprise.
The Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Bello had in 2021 after Boko Haram took over many communities in his state suggested that Abuja was no longer safe.
Today, there are technologies that will pinpoint and give accuracy wherever anybody is, but unfortunately, is the country ready to acquire such technology however expensive they maybe to boost security of lives and property?
Plateau, Nassarawa, Niger and Kaduna states, all of which have been experiencing terror attacks are close to Abuja. Report had indicated that terrorists had set up sleeper cells in different parts of the FCT. The situation has created considerable apprehension among Abuja residents.
Residents are worried that about four hundred hardened criminals may have been released into the system after the jail break. This is tantamount to about one hundred lions released into Abuja and they are hiding all over the place.
The intelligence report was preceded by telltale signs in 2021 when over one hundred armed herders brazenly rode on motorcycles through Bwari Area Council at a time when kidnapping were rampant in the area.
On Sunday, July 24, 2022 members of the elite Presidential Guard Brigade were attacked in the same Bwari axis followed quickly by another attack on army base along Zuba Road another entry into the federal territory. In the attack of 2021 and 2022, the authority of FCT, hurriedly closed down educational institutions. Many Abuja residents now feel that the worse maybe in the offing. Some residents lamented that the situation is worrisome because they do not have anywhere to go.
Communities in Karachi and Kobe suburbs of FCT are now reporting seeing strange faces and movements in two communities. The communities sharing boundaries with Kaduna state and Abuja, these strange faces are in the midst of residents sighting security presence they would mingled among the people. There are serious issues of which residents demand government intervention.
In 2021, some people in Abuja were kidnapped and N1.5 million were paid as ransom by their families before they were released. While some terrorists and bandits were reported to have hideouts within Abuja which calls for security surveillance and protection.
Although, security has been tight in strategic locations in FCT, but not in areas such as Karachi, residents and business owners say if there is any breach, there will be far reaching consequences hence the federal government need to take proactive measures.
The terrorists seem to be daring Nigerian authority. They released a video recently threatening to kidnap both President Muhammadu Buhari and the Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El Rufai. The seemingly inactions of the Nigerian authority to the height of insecurity is making a number of political leaders including the Benue state Governor, Samuel Orthom, to demand arming of citizens.
The insecurity in Abuja, which is escalating and has claimed a number of lives raises fundamental question if Nigeria is safe. Its limitation must not be lost in Nigeria because diplomatic missions, international organizations have critical national institutions located in Abuja, threat to them is a threat to the Nigerian nation.
This is a concern for everyone not only Abuja residents.
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