Those who may feel that the problems of the oil producing areas are not in their backyard and feel a safe distance from the oil communities should be reminded that Nigeria is an entity moving in one direction. Decay in one part will ultimately affect the rest of the nation. The fate of the mineral producing communities should be a concern for all.

– Late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, admonishing Nigerians and especially the leaders to feel for the oil producing communities in the country.

When the Sardauna spoke at the time oil was first struck in Nigeria in commercial quantity, he might have been speaking in parables. Now the drama is unfolding. Like a vicious circle, the decay is going round. The Igbo nation had tasted serious human losses during the civil war. Niger Delta had taken its own bitter pill of the national woes.  Boko Haram is the security challenge of the North today, leaving perharps only the South West.

Let us pause and think about it. Why is Nigeria – the most populous black nation on earth and the economic stronghold of Africa always in search for peace? Every time, there is one crisis or the other – each strongly interwoven into the political string of the nation.

In the hard search for peace and stability, two major security chiefs, the National Security Adviser to the President and the Minister of Defence have been relieved of their appointments. Although SaharaReporters posted a story indicating that a secret army report allegedly indicted some security chiefs during the Niger Delta insurgency, it is quite unarguable that the present greatest challenge for Nigeria is insecurity and these two chiefs whose responsibilities were primarily to restore peace had proved ineffective.

But for the fact that the Acting Inspector General of Police is new, there would have been no justification for leaving him behind. His predecessor had proved incapable to safeguard Nigerians. So, the new National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), should coordinate all the security apparatuses in the country and quickly swoop into action to forestall further insurgency and rebellion against constituted authorities in Nigeria.

Given his pedigree as a scion of the Sokoto caliphate  –  cousin to the Sultan of Sokoto and former ADC to the former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the new NSA should be familiar with the security set-up and administration in the country.

However, many people have been thrilled by the twist in search for peace and stability; the passionate acknowledgements, confessions, proposals and solutions made by many Nigerians including those in authorities on the Boko Haram insurgency. Nearly all responsible citizens of the nation have made their stand very clear.

President Goodluck Jonathan has not only expressed his sadness over the ugly happenings even calling for God’s intervention to restore peace in the nation, he has also initiated a new strategy by the shake-up in the security circle. Other eminent Nigerians have also expressed their worries on the nation’s state of insecurity.

In his address to the people of Kaduna state on the crisis that recently rocked the state, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa also appealed to Imams and pastors to admonish their adherents on the need to ensure peaceful coexistence and tolerance for one another and to be their brother’s keepers.

National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, argues that it was clear that the present government cannot tackle the Boko Haram alone.

“The government should not shy away from inviting peace loving political and community leaders to brainstorm. Nigeria is sliding and we must act now. Our country is going through a trying period. We must all join hands to say no to religious violence. No religion can eliminate the other,” he said.

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, describes the situation in the north as pathetic for which everyone should work towards bringing a lasting solution to it.

‘‘I am ashamed about what happened in Zaria and Kaduna recently. We need to be brutally sincere to ourselves; running and looking for water is not the solution. Without finding the cause of the problem, we cannot quench the fire. We have to ask ourselves: how did we get here? What is happening now does not reflect who we are, whether as Christians or Moslems.

‘‘If we have a country where Christians are talking to themselves while Moslems are talking to themselves, it won’t work. I look forward to a time when Christians will talk on behalf of Moslems and Moslems will talk on behalf of Christians. I make bold to say, about 90 per cent of Nigerians are not happy because members of the political class have not been able to deliver on the promises they made,” he stated.

The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) alleges that most of the ugly incidents are part of a ploy to destabilize the region by whittling down its economy and setting its people against one another. They believe that given the level of sophistication involved in the activities of the perpetrators of the bombings, it is easy to conclude that some oblique forces are behind the violence in the North and not Boko Haram alone as widely believed

”If progress must be made, security agencies must deal decisively with all those arrested in connection with terrorist acts, particularly bombing of churches and schools claimed by Boko Haram, to serve as deterrent to others”, NSGF stated.

The Secretary General of Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI), Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu is much worried of the mishandling of the crisis. “The pervasive way security upheavals are being handled in Nigeria needs serious introspection. While calling on the security agencies to curtail the violence, we call on them to be guided by the rules of engagement of the military by not using excessive force on the citizenry. Equally, the security should make public the arrest of non-Muslims disguising as Muslims to perpetrate the dastardly acts of bombings and the motives behind such.”

The President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is also much worried over the management of crisis by the presidency, saying the president should introduce an element of surprise by acting contrary to form because what emerges now, according to him, is the picture of a president who has been held hostage by conflicting intrigues woven around the issue of Boko Haram.

Former Minister of Defence and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, calls for a central, responsible and committed leadership to salvage the north from its very precarious situation.  “It is an attempt to acknowledge that the north is on fire, and that the north must redeem itself. One must not go outside the northern region to look for the reasons why we are in this problem. We must admit that there is a failure in the north and it is the responsibility of the northerners to redeem themselves and do the right thing with a view to making sure that they remain relevant in the Nigeria nation.

For Chief Audu Ogbeh, “there were great days in this region when the Sardauna of Sokoto had an Igbo Christian as his cook for 29 years and his personal doctor was also a Christian and he saw nothing wrong in it. Some of what we do today in the name of religion is not pleasing to God.”

As many Nigerians who have spoken and proffered solutions to the nation’s woes as could be recounted, the ultimate belief is that Nigeria is undergoing serious challenges. Our ability to overcome them would serve as a determining factor for our unity and development.

Ajah, author and advocate of good governance, writes from Abuja.

Muhammad Ajah