Days ago, a former highly placed official in the presidency, on television said he raised and paid over one hundred and seventy five million 175 Naira in ransom to Fulani Terrorists for the release of his nephew who was held in captivity along with others for over 30 days. He is not the only one. There are countless stories of terror unleashed on poor defenseless citizens, children, women, men, churches, villages, places of worship, whole communities ravaged, classrooms and entire schools- students, pupils and teachers kidnapped, kept in terrible conditions and sometimes even when ransom are paid, they are killed, raped, abused, tortured, traumatized and left for dead.

Surprisingly, Nigeria is an elite society where the elite are untouchable overlords. Usually before any outcry is taken seriously, it must reflect the pain and fears and anxiety of the elite. Under Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president, four serving and retired army generals have been killed in various circumstances involving the Fulani Terrorists and their insurgent operations and kidnappings. Elites pay ransom and many times behind public glare. The public and very common people are now drawn into it, on the internet, social media platforms, private messages, in groups and in every way possible, victims, their relatives and friends are forced to go public to raise ransom money to save victims, who never ever come back the same. Even government on various occasion have been said to have paid ransom to secure release of victims to save face while showcasing bogus stories of rescue operations to the public.

The question therefore is, if many have come open to make statements referencing political actors as wholly or partially behind the massive scale of insurgence, kidnapping and these heinous crimes against humanity, do we really have a problem of real insecurity or is what we have political insecurity? And if this is the case, have the elite turned against themselves instead of their usual pawning of the poor? Or is the assumption right that the control of the monster has been lost and may well be on the road to consuming its creators? The sad danger is that the cost of the collateral damage is increasingly getting higher and heavier on the poor by the day. If generals, serving and retired, a part of the untouchable elite are now free meal, who then is safe?

Is insecurity a political card that politicians play to win elections and to keep themselves in office by using them to create fear and atmosphere of disorder?

The international ring of terror and violence targeting mineral rich countries in Africa and in this case Nigeria, with special design military jets landing supplies and terrorist in deserts and forests and evacuating stolen mineral wealth of nations, with choppers dropping supplies to armed terrorists and also dropping them in strategic forests and locations around the country, one wonders what level of international conspiracy involved. We have been at war that is gradually closing in on all without people being aware.

No matter the level of conspiracy, there is nothing that government intelligence is not aware of and the Nigerian government in more ways than one cannot claim ignorance. Recall that in 2015, this APC government with Bola Ahmed Tinubu as party national leader, along with others literally played insecurity as a political card against then president Goodluck Jonathan therefore it is difficult to clear APC of being complicit in the insecurity bedeviling the country presently.

Rex E. Odoemenam