“It is no longer news that the middlebelt region of our dear country has become a hotbed for gruesome,barbaric and incessant killings. Whole towns and villages in many cases have been completely wiped out or displaced.The brutality,barbarism and ruthlessness of these killings is as shocking as it is unimaginable. The tales of sorrow,tears and blood is the same from Benue to Plateau,from Kaduna to Taraba,and the modus operandi similar from one state to the other.”
“Only recently,the Kaduna State governor was reported to have admitted to having knowledge of those behind the killings in Southern Kaduna,their motives and sending a delegation to meet with them and even further admitted to paying compensation to some of them to stop the killings. There is no gain saying that the killings did not abate but instead continued and even escalated until recently were relative peace has returned even as cases of killings still persist,though on a lesser scale than it was in the recent past.
Today we are inundated with stories of killings in Miango, Plateau State were it is reported that over thirty persons were gruesomely murdered while they slept even as there existed a dusk till dawn curfew in the area.
This is coming after a similar incident in Southern Kaduna were people were attacked and killed while they slept even as a dusk till dawn curfew subsisted at the time in the area.”
“The various state governments have been more often than not reactionary in their approach to this pogrom as can be seen by the predictable protocol after each attack on the hapless citizens,were the government imposes a curfew that most times bring untold hardship and discomfort to the victims,like in the case of southern Kaduna or were security reinforcement is brought in that most often than not end up with little or no impact/effect on the security of the lives and property of the people.”
“The government of the affected states in the middlebelt region must work together to bring an end to these crisis. There must be coordination and synergy between the governors of the states in question,who are the chief security officers of their respective states,and the security agencies domiciled in the different states in the other hand.
The governors of the affected states,the state commissioners of police,state directors of the department for state security(DSS) and other security agencies within the states must meet regularly,perhaps once a month,to share information,intelligence and strategy towards achieving a permanent solution to this crisis.
The point being made here is the fact that these state governments must not wait for an attack to happen before they swing to action but must be seen to be always on top of the situation by regular security briefing and debriefing,information gathering,analysis and sharing,with tangible security apparatus on ground.
There should exist a joint middlebelt security council/taskforce chaired by the governors of the affected states with the state commissioners of police,directors of DSS and heads of other security agencies,including traditional and religious leaders as members,these council will be saddled with the responsibility of drawing a security roadmap to end the crisis within the region,with the active participation of the people,while regularly reviewing the strategies from time to time.
The security meetings like I mentioned earlier should be held regularly,monthly,even were there exists relative peace in the region. The state governments must also make financial commitments to compliment whatever funding the security agencies may be getting from the federal government to further boost the morale and operational capacity of the security agencies. It is achievable.”
“DREAM IT,THINK IT,BELIEVE IT,DO IT.”
Weynet Sidi
