There is palpable tension in the seats of power across the nation following the upsurge in insurgency with the attacks on Saint Mary Catholic School, Kagara, Niger State, where 303 pupils and 12 staff, were abducted, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Eruku community, Ekiti Local Government Area, Kwara State and Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State, where bandits ferried 25 pupils away.
This was even as President Donald Trump of the United States of America again made another threat on Friday night of withdrawing aid to Nigeria as a result of the seeming inability of the Federal Government to stop the bandits and the insurgents from their heinous crimes.
The Executive Secretary of Pan African Strategic Policy and Research Group (PANASTRAG), Major–General Ishola Williams (rtd), in an interview, said that unless the Federal Government showed true commitment by going after the terrorists, nothing new would come out of it.
He said: “Are we saying that we have no brains? The same problems for the past 15 years, and we are not tackling the problem? Something is wrong with us. It appears that all the previous governments, right from 1999, have not been able to solve this problem.
“Now, we have a situation where the NSA is a Northerner from Adamawa, Bagudu is from the North, the Minister of State of Defence too, is a Northerner, and they cannot solve the problem. Are we idiots? They sleep every day, no problem, they go to bed and sleep.
What is new that they want to do because of this Trump threat that they have not done before? And many things that they refused to do. Proposals and suggestions are there that they have refused to take. The president himself has refused to give the authorisation for the reorganisation.
He said he supported the State Police, which he has refused to do. “In the tendency to work with the National Assembly, you hear nothing about it; it means some people do not want it to happen. That is why it appears there is a conspiracy at the political level and the government level.
Minister Dele Alake said that his life is being threatened because he has revoked some mining licenses. We have been calling for resource control. What is the business of the Federal Government with mines in Zamfara? When Matawwale was the governor, he went and showed Buhari a gold bar.
Buhari was surprised. He did not tell him that they were smuggling the gold to Gulf countries. Why are there so many Chinese in our mines? How did they come in? Who gave them a Visa? Who gave them a work permit? They are in the South West too.
Whom are they working with – Traditional rulers, politrikians and co. Are we serious people? He queried. Also weighing in, a security expert and retired senior police officer, said that it smacks more of politics, especially when an election is around the corner.
