With last Sunday’s attack on St Francis’s Catholic Church in Owo, the headquarters of Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, condemnation of the gruesome act has been pouring in from all quarters. The citizens are condemning it,  traditional, political and religious leaders are condemning it. Those in power, whose primary responsibility is the protection of lives and property of the citizens, are not left out in the condemnation galore.
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, who is from Owo, termed the day, “a black Sunday in Owo.” He said it was a personal loss, an attack to the state, an unexpected, shocking development, declaring that, “We shall never bow to the machinations of heartless elements in our resolve to rid our state of criminals.” President Muhammadu Buhari on the other hand, lamented in a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, that “only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such a dastardly act.” Adding that “no matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people and darkness will never overcome the light. Nigeria will eventually win.”
This is a road we have travelled severally in the past and you will be so disappointed if you take these words to the bank and wait to see the government, particularly the federal government, who is in charge of the police and the military swing into action immediately to rid our communities and forests of terrorists because that may not happen. Just a few more days the outburst and resentment will be over and the Owo massacre will be forgotten, just like other similar ugly incidents before it and life goes on as usual.
Apart from the families of some of the victims of March 28, Kaduna – bound train attack, who intermittently carry out protests to remind Nigerians that their loved ones are still in the hands of their abductors and appeal for the authority’s expeditious actions towards their release, who else remembers the attack? We have since moved on as if nothing happened.
Unfortunately, when the issue with killer herdsmen, farmers/herdsmen clashes started, some governors in the South and Middlebelt tried to get the killers out of the forest and to put an end to their criminal activities.  I recall the Southern Governors forum banning open grazing of cattle in their states. What did the federal government do? Through the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, they were asked not to dare it, claiming that the ban contravenes the constitutional right of the herders to freedom and liberty of movement.
Rather than yielding to calls by well meaning citizens for an end to open grazing and that those in the business of cattle rearing should adopt other modern ways of doing the business which will be less injurious to the harmonious relationship between herders and farmers as well as the local populace, the government announced that it was going to embark on the recovery of about 415 grazing routes across the country and has already adamantly commenced the exercise, according to reports.
Each time people spoke against these killer herdsmen, the federal government officials, particularly, the “presidency” rose in their defence and you would see some people or groups challenging the governors for challenging them and going against their members.
Having allowed all these to go on all these years, what do we expect to be the effect?  It is clear knowledge that the consequences to an action determines whether it will happen again or not. Therefore, when a group of people indulges  in negative acts and there are no reactions in terms of punishing them for what they did, of course, they will be emboldened to do more.
We have fed these criminals to this point where they have become monsters. Remember, it is not the day you take your goat to the marketplace to sell it that you start feeding it. The process must have started long before then. Right now, we are stuck.  These killers are in our forests, they have migrated to different parts of the country. Nowhere is safe anymore. You are not safe in your home. You are not safe to travel by land, rail or air. The children are not safe in their schools. Even in your worship place you are not safe. Haba! We are losing Nigerians gruesomely every day in horrific manners that are difficult to comprehend. We have written, we have condemned, we have screamed, shouted and the situation instead of improving gets worse by the day. Some security experts have even told the populace to braze up for more security challenging days as next year’s elections draw  nearer.  Now we want to beg the president and the governors to do all they can to ensure that the people are protected. The political parties are done with the election of their flag bearers for the 2023 election, can we now begin to see more effort channelled to the solving of the numerous problems facing the country?
During the just concluded party primaries, we heard the contestants, including those from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) revealing what they would do to make Nigeria a promised land, if elected. The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in particular called out the potentials of various regions and states of the country and promised that if elected, he would turn things around for the better in the country.  And the question many people have not stopped asking is why the ruling party had not unveiled all these potentials in the past seven years they have been in power instead of constantly blaming the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the nation’s woes. The elections are here, what is being done to protect the people and forestall a repeat of the Owo incident in any other part of the country?
Are there plans to better equip the police to enable them discharge their duties effectively? Is it not high time the issue of State Police that has been discussed in different fora is considered since it is obvious the federal government cannot fund the Nigerian Police? There is no doubt that if the police are well equipped and working as expected,  people would not come into a church, kill scores of people during Mass and fade into thin air. And almost a week after the incident, we cannot say for sure who the masterminds and perpetrators were, because no arrest has been made.
A few days ago, following the Owo attack, a group, the Committee on Charter of Protocol (CCOP) asked south-west governors to launch “Operation Sweep Terrorism out of Yorubaland”. They demanded for arrest and diligent prosecution of the suspects, ban of commercial motor cycles, residency registration programme of all security personnel in the south-west states among others. While the courageous move of this group must be applauded, it is advisable that rather than a regional or state approach to insecurity challenges in the country, there should be a holistic approach where no state or region is left out.
No state or region exists in isolation. They are usually bordered by other states and regions. And if a particular state or region is safe, there is the tendency of criminals from other unsafe places migrating to those areas and causing havoc.
It is also pertinent that the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria be reviewed with the aim of reducing the numerous items in the exclusive list so as to give the state governors more powers to administer the states better. We cannot continue to have a huge federal budget for security, transportation and other things year in, year out, yet there is nothing to show for it. Similarly, the state governors and local government chairmen should begin to make use of their huge security votes which are hardly accounted for, for the right purpose of ensuring security in their domains.
Traditional leaders, youth leaders and other members of our communities need not be reminded that they all have roles to play in ensuring a secured society. After all, security is everybody’s business. How proactive the people and the leaders are to the security intels at their disposal will go a long way in determining whether there shall be a repeat of the Owo massacre or not. And the way the criminals will be handled if they are ever arrested will send a big signal to other criminals out there.

By: Calista Ezeaku