Terrorists are closing in on Abuja, causing chaos – See details

By Adeleye Kunle

Terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) upped the ante this week by attacking troops from the 7 Guards Brigade, which protects the Presidential Villa and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The ambush, which occurred in the late hours of Monday while troops were patrolling along the Kubwa-Bwari Road in Abuja, caused palpable fear among many Abuja residents, including federal lawmakers.

As a result, members of the Senate and House of Representatives reacted by threatening to impeach the President if the situation did not improve within six weeks.

To them, the fact that the violence and mayhem engulfing the entire country are getting closer to the country’s seat of power is a concerning reality.

When terrorists openly confronted the Presidential Guards in an attempt to overrun them, the finest part of the nation’s military strength, all claims that the country is safe and secure were demolished as the reality of the attack punctured them.

More troubling is the fact that the attack killed two officers and six soldiers, as well as many others.

According to security experts and public affairs analysts, the terrorists’ audacious militancy exemplifies the breakdown of Nigeria’s security architecture.

Under the condition of anonymity, a serving army captain described the ambush against the presidential guards brigade as sad, adding that it could have been avoided if the military high command had woken up to the reality of a country and executed better operational planning.

“The recent attack on the 102 guards troops was heartbreaking. It could, however, have been avoided. “The unfortunate incident simply demonstrated a lack of operational planning at all levels (of the security structure),” he explained.

Despite admitting operational failure, the top brass of the nation’s Armed Forces assured President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday that a new strategy to deal with terrorists and bandits wreaking havoc across the country would be implemented.

Meanwhile, the army captain blamed the recent uptick in audacious terrorism, banditry, and kidnappings in the Federal Capital Territory on corruption in government and the military high command.

According to him, “the recent acceleration of terrorist attacks is due to a lack of political will to combat the threat, as well as a lack of commitment from the military high command.” In Nigeria, insecurity has become big business.

“We cannot deny that the nation has not overcome the challenge of mismanagement of massive budgetary allocations for security.” The majority of the funds end up in private pockets.”

According to the source, the Federal Government should allow the military to fight terrorists, emphasizing that security agencies should be allowed to flush terrorists out of Nigeria’s forests and border territories.

He believes that a state must have complete control over its own territory.

“The government negotiates with the terrorists, sending delegates to discuss with them,” he said, frustrated by the situation (in the forests). The most vexing aspect is granting them amnesty without requiring them to disarm. Soldiers in some places are told not to attack them (terrorists).”

The military, on the other hand, killed over 30 terrorists the next day after being embarrassed by the attack on the presidential guards brigade as they were returning from the Nigerian Law School in Bwari Area Council.

The military operation, led by troops from the 7 Guards Battalion and the 167 Special Forces Battalion, was successful in clearing Kawu and Ido villages, neutralizing the terrorists and destroying their enclave and hideout.

During mop-up, they also recovered six motorcycles, two AK47 rifles, and one fully loaded LMG magazine, among other things.

Nonetheless, the announcement of the successful operation on Thursday coincided with another bloody clash between the military and terrorists who attempted to breach security near the Zuma Rock checkpoint on the Kaduna-Abuja highway as it wound its way around the country.

Early Friday morning, threats of terrorist attacks on FCT residents began to circulate via WhatsApp, prompting the police to release the Police District Contacts in all Abuja districts to the public via the same platform.

“No stop and search,” one of these threats reads. Attention!!! Remember what we said. D-Day is tomorrow, Friday.”

In retrospect, some civil society organizations believe the Buhari administration set itself up for failure by failing to respond quickly to events.

Terrorism, insurgency, and banditry, they claim, did not begin under Buhari’s watch, but it is to his eternal shame that they have escalated almost beyond control on his watch.

According to civil society organizations, the major and consistent posture of Presidency officials has been to live in denial and to blame his predecessors.

They accuse him of avoiding accountability and failing to provide strong leadership to his team, security agencies, or Nigerians.

President Buhari appoints a series of unimpressive defense ministers and security chiefs for them, emphasizing that if some fail, he refuses to replace them promptly in accordance with global standards.

They also accuse him of rarely empathizing physically with bereaved communities, as every other head of government does; his visits to bereaved communities are few, with aides issuing unemotional statements on his behalf.

“Unfortunately, in all of this, President Buhari has continued to appear calm and aloof from the reality of the dangerous storms that have made landfall on our shores,” Ariyo Dare Atoye, Executive Director, Adopt A Goal Initiative, said in an interview with Saturday Vanguard.

“The security situation in the nation’s capital territory has deteriorated to an embarrassing level, but this is not beyond the knowledge of the ruling government, which has refused to use the full extent of our law enforcement powers.”

“It is becoming clear to Nigerians that terrorists and their supporters have infiltrated our security architecture, rendering intelligence gathering a shambles.”

“The threat of terror attacks in the FCT sends the wrong signal to the entire country and the international community, creating a climate of fear among the people.”

“It is now difficult to dismiss suggestions that there is an underlying plot to allow insecurity to fester in order to sabotage the 2023 elections by declaring a state of emergency.”

The FCT Administration appears to be aware of the people’s fear that Abuja is under siege, as it quickly ordered the immediate closure of all schools in the nation’s capital this week, citing increased security threats from bandits in Abuja and its environs.

However, royal fathers and religious leaders believe that all stakeholders in the Nigerian project must avoid the blame game and unite to avoid a total descent into anarchy.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said at the valedictory/welcome dinner for the new/old presidents of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja on Thursday night: “Just yesterday (Wednesday), 20 innocent souls drowned in Sokoto while fleeing terrorist attacks.”

“The fact that we have been discussing insecurity should be enough for us to wake up, come together, and face our challenges, because it will consume all of us if we fail or sit down and blame one another.”

“The blame game never helps anyone. The sooner we learn the truth about this issue of insecurity, the better for all of us.”

“I think the issue of unemployment across the country is a ticking time bomb,” he said, recommending a practical solution. So many hungry young people are loitering and doing nothing. We all know that a hungry brain is an angry brain. So we must find a way to eliminate unemployment from our lives.

“I want to assure you that we have a lot to do together and that we will do our best with all honesty, sincerity, and fear of Almighty God.”

Nonetheless, President Buhari must replace key security chiefs and hire competent personnel because the anti-insurgency campaign will fail unless there is a coordinator and a realistic, intelligence-led strategy.

To defeat criminality and terrorism, a strategy should be developed that brings together all policing, intelligence, military, and political resources.

Prof. Chris Imumolen, the Accord Party’s presidential candidate for 2023, believes that the government’s war should be intelligence-led and technology-driven, noting that the domestic intelligence service has failed and should be reformed.

“If we are to defeat insecurity, we must address economic hardship, unmanned porous borders, and we must begin to use technology, particularly artificial intelligence, to combat insecurity,” Imomulen told Our Correspondent.

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