Ahmed Ilallah
In making history, the current administration appointed the senior and state ministers of defense from the same political zone and the most crisis zone in the country. None of them has security skills or experience, other than being the chief security officer of their states as governors.
Their administration is facing challenges and shortcomings that can diminish their administrative image and capacity in the eyes of Nigerians.
2024 has come with an indication of accelerated insecurity, Nigerians have to be ready to live with the insecurity that has been increasing since 2015, especially in the northwest region.
From February to March of this year, several abductions by armed groups have taken place, it looks like the armed groups are also increasing and the situation is challenging the security system in the country.
The kidnapping of innocent Nigerians is the latest indication of the incapacity and shortcomings of security management and the spiraling security crises.
The abductions of 287 schoolchildren, mostly from northwest Nigeria the hometowns of the two defense ministers, who were the former governors in their states.
On 7 March 2024 bandits kidnapped 287 students, including many girls at government secondary school Kuriga in Kaduna State.
Two days later, on 9th March 2024, the armed gangs again broke into a Boarding School and kidnapped 15 students in Gidan Bakusa of Sokoto State.
At the end of February, an armed gang suspected to be Boko Haram kidnapped about 200 internally displaced people, many of them children in the Ngala Area of Borno State.
On 18 March 2024, another armed gang kidnapped over 87 people in Kajuru area of Kaduna State. These are the most sequence attacks by armed gangs.
The bandits and armed gangs are enjoying their business in this area and they have exposed the shortcomings of this administration to match with their atrocities.
However, the government security agencies are saying they are working to retrieve the abducted people.
These are the usual words of the security agencies, since the starting of insurgency in this region from the past administration to the current administration.
While there is huge anticipation that, the administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu would come up with different policies and strategies to end the crises, the approach and the defense administration have no difference from the past, it is even worse considering the current mental leadership of the defense.
The funny thing is that the Kidnappers of Kaduna schoolchildren are demanding N1B as a ransom to release the victims, they are speaking confidently and some people like Sheikh Ahmad Gumi are wishing to intermediate between the government and the bandits.
This has signified the danger ahead for all of us living in the region. But, the president has reiterated that no ransom will be paid.
I qualm with the sincerity of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in bringing an end to the insurgency and insecurity in the northern region, the gang arms have been increasing in numbers since the coming of this administration.
The incidents are occurring in a trigger, ranging from the military errors that engulf many lives in a part of Nasarawa and Kaduna to the current daily abduction.
The appointment of the former Jigawa State Governor Badaru Abubakar and former Zamfara State Governor, Matawallen Gusau puts more questions on the PBAT administration of handling the defence ministry.
The expectation was for the president to line up capacitated and experienced persons to handle the defense of the country which was already in a sympathetic circle.
These happenings have shown these people and the leadership of Tinubu has a long way to go to bring back the north to its former status. The current ministers are not the real people needed to handle the situation.
Like Badaru Abubakar, a professional accountant and business mogul whose expertise in accountability and transparency in governance, and Matawalle a professional administrator and politician, they will be better in other ministries of their professions rather than the defense, if the government is willing to save the situation.
The defense management is currently in need of capable hands if the government is willing to change the situation.
