The latest figure of casualties, as I write, regarding the attacks on Plateau communities during the yuletide, is 164. Total number of affected communities is put at 23. But the communities, by another account, are 64 based on a tally of the entire communities attacked similarly since the so-called bandits set their gaze on the Plateau, beginning from the wasted years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The reality is that these attacks are not products of happenstance. They’re deliberate and well-organised. The latest episode, according to reports, was carried out by men in military uniforms armed with sophisticated weapons.
President Tinubu should beware of Plateau! It’s a test case of his strength. Unless he does something drastic to match this madness with commensurate madness, it will continue. Not only in the Plateau. It will be aggravated in Benue, Taraba, Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Sokoto states, among others.
The pattern is similar. Exact maximum casualties and destruction as to render whole communities desolate, swelling already bulging refugee camps, and birthing new ones.
Sooner than later, the terrorists will move in with their kith and kin into the mostly luscious green communities rendered desolate. It’s the denouement of a land-grab terrorist campaign.
These attacks will intensify to rubbish the Tinubu Administration, unless the president rises up to the occasion fast.
To save his name and mission from going into the dustbin of history like Buhari, President Tinubu must ensure the terrorists reap no reward from their dastardly acts.
Towards this end, the president should engage the governments of affected states for a full inventory of besieged and occupied communities with a view to asking the security agencies to arrest and flush out the illegal occupants of those communities. That will lead to deterrence – the fact that there will be no gain from any future displacement.
Furthermore, the displaced people in refugee camps should be assisted to return to their communities. Their homesteads should be rebuilt with schools and health centers, among other basic amenities. And they should be given funds to return to their farms and other vocations.
This time around, 24-hour security watch and protection should be accorded each of such communities.
To support our overstretched armed forces, Volunteer Guards (VGs) should be raised from each of such vulnerable communities. The VGs should be trained by the nearest military formation and equipped with the right grade of weaponry. This is not novel. A parallel exists in the form of Civilian JTF in Borno state.
Unless those vulnerable communities being systematically wiped out by the unrelenting terrorists, are mobilised to defend themselves, we ain’t seen nothing yet!
And, unless President Tinubu acts right and fast on this nagging security breaches, the failure that will be recorded against his name and era on all fronts, will make the woefulness of the Buhari years a child’s play. It’s a case of “fail in security, fail in all”!
Prof. Olufunmilade is Director, Buratai Center for Contemporary Security Affairs, Igbinedion University Okada, Edo State, Nigeria.
Email: femiology@gmail.com
