For over two years now, the security situation in Nigeria arising from numerous attacks by  an Islamic sect known as Boko Haram has been a source of  threat to the nation’s peace and unity. Against this ugly trend, the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bamanga Tukur recently raised an alarm that “Nigeria is under attack.”

At a recent meeting with Senators and Service Chiefs where security was on the front burner, Tukur said: “Today, there is fear everywhere. Churches are being burnt, mosques are being attacked, United Nations building bombed, motor parks are being bombed, people can not go to motor parks again to travel for the fear of being attacked.”

According to him, security installations such as police stations, prisons, amongst others were being burnt down and inmates released at will. To Tukur, neither the PDP, nor the President should carry the cross, saying, “it is not about the PDP or President Goodluck Jonathan but a matter that should be of concern to everybody, irrespective of political, ethnic or religious affiliations. The opposition, the labour movement, religious leaders,  traditional leaders, name it, we all have to come to fight the evil that is now manifesting everywhere in our land. Those perpetrating this evil are within us in the society. It is not a matter of Mr President or the PDP-led Federal Government alone.”

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka also lent his voice to the security situation in the country. Speaking in Lagos recently,  the Nobel Laureate said that  “Nigeria is on the brink and if the issue of insecurity is not seriously tackled, it will result to civil war. It needs a carrot and stick approach.”

Former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu also toed the path of Soyinka when he said that the leadership was weak in handling the security problem of the country.  The Governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi  on his part, faulted the present political arrangement in which those without known pedigrees hold public offices just as Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola called for a review of the country’s political process to ensure better election where only people with impeccable pedigree emerge as winners to ensure peace.

From the look of things, the present security situation in the country  is already threatening the economic and political stability of the country.

Just a few days ago, a bomb-laden Volks Wagen Gold 3 car abandoned by fleeing gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram sect members was recovered by the police in Kano, along with some dangerous weapons.

Since the inception of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government, there have been several cases of Boko Haram attack on public places which have claimed thousands of lives and unquantifiable loss of properties.

Nigeria is yearning for solution or ways to deal with the present upheavals in the country. Federal Government, security agencies, individuals and all stakeholders including religious leaders in the country must unite in finding solution to the security problem before it turns out to another civil war.

The situation requires the nation to come together to fight the common evil. As Tukur rightly asked, “Where are we heading to.” Nobody can even explain what is happening now. This means, as it stands now, that the solution to the insecurity in the country is not at sight if everyone is still at sea as to what is happening. It is high time something tangible was done to restore the nation to peace, unity, progress and stability, We must rise up to fight against the manifesting evil so that the people will enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Tukur, during his just-concluded tour of the six geo-political zones as part of efforts to reconcile the aggrieved members of his party, said his team discovered that there was fear of insecurity in the land, ravaging hunger, poverty and unemployment of young men and women which needed to be tackled head-on in the overall interest of the nation.  He assured that as a responsible ruling party, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) would look into all the collated views, review them and pass recommendations to the appropriate quarters for action.

The nation’s leaders cannot deny knowledge of these problems listed by Alhaji Tukur but decided to pay deaf ears to the peoples’ cries over the years. What is happening today in the country, I believe, is an outburst of accumulated grievances over untold hardship faced by the citizenry.

The Senate at the meeting with Service Chiefs, said it would formulate a template that could be forwarded to President Goodluck Jonathan as ways and means of addressing the worsening security problems in the country. Such template must seek to address the main problems of the people as identified by the PDP National Chairman.

Huge budgetary allocations are being made annually to address the security challenges of the country, but there seems to be no solution in sight, especially in the area of addressing the Boko Haram insurgency. Security agencies appear to be losing grip of security challenges, thereby exposing Nigerians to danger.

If positive progress must be made, the Federal Government must be positive and sincere in the governance of the nation, and ensure that the issues at stake are properly addressed. The issue of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram members should be properly examined and addressed if that would restore peace.

In doing this, we must know that the actors are human beings and not ghosts. So, if any  arrangement is put in place for dialogue, Boko Haram must be represented by their leaders to state their  grievances.  The Presidency should ensure that at the shortest possible time, the security challenges facing the country are resolved, either through amnesty or any other option that can bring lasting peace.

Security agencies on their part, should redouble their efforts at providing adequate security for the citizenry. We appreciate what they have been doing, but they should double their efforts in the best interest of the country.

However, Nigerian leaders should change their style of leadership by ensuring that governance is used as a good device for solving problems. There is bound to be chaos in a state where public goods are enjoyed only by the ruling cabal or the affluent. Governance should flow down to the ordinary people.

The present security situation in the country is a serious problem that must be given a serious thought and attention before it gets out of hand.

In the same vein, Northern leaders should not leave the fight against Boko Haram for the Federal Government alone because their people are behind the mask committing the havocs. Some leaders of the northern extraction are shying away from the truth, thereby compounding the security situation.

At the same time, members of the Boko Haram sect should  lay down their arms as neither armed struggle nor military action would do them or the nation any good.

We must recount what happened during the last civil war in the country and say capital NO to its re-occurrence. Enough is enough to the incessant killings and destructions in the northern part of the country; we must embrace peace and unity.

Shedie Okpara