Nigeria’s Security System and The Unknown Gunmen By Sabiu Zaranda

One thing leads to another, the idea of unknown gunmen arise from the point when government and it security operatives define the perpetrators of Boko Haram insurgent as faceless group, thereby giving opportunities to group of criminals to commit their heinous crimes without  serious investigation by the security agencies, and suspect vanish into thin air. Those who are saddled with the responsibility to check mate it have for long identified the phenomenon as faceless.

Prior to the issue of granting amnesty to Boko Haram members, the President and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces said “the group of Boko Haram has successfully infiltrated the three arms of government at federal level. He explained that some members of the sect were in the executive, legislative and judiciary arm of government as well as the armed forces”. Likewise some prominent citizens and top government officials were not left behind in classifying the radical sect of Boko Haram into various categories ranging from Political Boko Haram, Jobless Boko Haram, Criminals Boko Haram and the real Boko Haram under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau.

Sudden u-turn was made from the time some groups started calling the attention of the presidency and security operatives to set up a committee that will seat down and dialogue with members the dreaded Boko Haram in a view to grant them amnesty, so that peace would reign again in the affected states and the country at large. With all that was said before about Boko Haram, the authorities denied knowing anything about them, instead they ask how can they have a dialogue with faceless people? The Government and the Security agencies said; they don’t know anything about Boko Haram sect. But how do they know where they are and even classified them into different categories if they are really faceless or unknown?

From the body language of those in the corridor of power, one can keep asking questions why this menace continues without being tackled, despite the level of information these inflorescent Nigerians have at the tips of their fingers. Do they really care about the number of lives being lost to this insurgent? Do they prefer paying condolence visit to the families of the victims, were they make a cheap political gain by shedding crocodile tears, promising them those behind the crime MUST be brought to book, but  alas! they got scot free?

With the recent evil perpetrated by the so call unknown gunmen, where a renounced Islamic scholar Sheik Muhammad Auwal Albany Zaria and his family were assassinated and the previous other clerics such as Sheik Jafar Mahmud Adam of kano and Malam Umar Dan mai shiya of sokoto, one can wonder if the lives of prominent Muslim clerics were meant to be terminated by unknown gunmen? Similar attack was made on the Emir of Kano; Alhaji Ado Bayero by unknown gunmen, but the target survived the attack and from nowhere the suspect was fished out. Despite the kind of selective prosecution and segregation in social strata displayed in providing security to citizens, some people are still expecting authorities to provide them with security to their lives and properties, what an irony?

It is a known fact, if the Muslim Society and their cleric body keep mute on the assassination issue by not mounting enough pressure on the government to find the culprits and bring them to law, then in no time all of them will be wiped out. The highest thing that can be done to protect scholars by their followers is to do similar to what Ado Bayero’s guard did to him which I really doubt if such might happen. Even if there is a tendency of such protection in near future, it requires some kind of training and sacrifice, which are obviously lacking from their followers or the aid groups. Therefore it is now left for the Muslim society and Clerics to be realistic and rise up to these challenges by finding a long lasting solution to the assassination of clerics before it is too late. The earlier the better!!!

I pray to Almighty Allah to give the families of our martyr scholars the ability to bear the loss and to all Muslims across the country.

Sabiu Zaranda wrote from Bauchi, Nigeria.

Can be reached via twitter@binzaranda

Email-Binzaranda@yahoo.com