MANAGING THE WAR ON TERROR

Nick Dazang 

When a war, such as the one on terror, becomes prolonged, it becomes checkered: It begets its ebbs and flows and it assumes different colorations.
Once upon a time, the terrorists were treated with kid gloves. That is until they viciously, and in quick succession, attacked a presidential convoy, a correctional center and members of the Guards Brigade.

When it suits the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, and depending on the temperature of the war, it would join in canvassing for the creation of State Police. But once things simmer down, such a canvassing, hitherto issued on the rooftop, would be conveniently forgotten.

The Katsina State government recently introduced a bizarre dimension to the war on terror. It announced that it was considering releasing bandits who were facing trial even without such bandits being convicted and subsequently showing remorse through good behavior.
In the meantime, even as its communities continue to enter peace deals with bandits, the said bandits in Katsina State have been unrelenting in killing, abducting and maiming its citizens.

Even more bizarre must be the theatre of the absurd which played out in Kaduna State, last week Sunday. On that fateful day, not less than 166 residents of Kurmin Wali in Kajuru Local Government Area, were rounded up by bandits as they attended Church Services. They were then herded into the forest by the bandits.

The abduction was first disclosed by Reverend Joseph John Hayab. The Reverend’s ennobling credentials precede him. Apart from being a prominent member of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), he has, for years, championed the transformation of his Kaduna State into an Arcadia of religious harmony.

In spite of these lofty bonafides, and instead of both the security agencies and the Kaduna State government to exercise circumspection and due diligence, the two vehemently denied that the abduction took place.

In fact, the Kaduna State Police Command on Monday claimed, in an interview with BBC Hausa, that it had scoured the entire Kurmin Wali with the Local Government Chairman and the Village Head and that nothing of the sort occurred. The government was quick to frame the abduction as the doing of “conflict merchants” and the “figment of the imagination” of its traducers.

Shortly after this surreal and grotesque denial, both the State government and the security agencies made an about face. The State Governor, Uba Sani, even visited Kurmin Wali and assured the villagers that the abductees would soon be rescued.

The comportments and pronouncements of the Kaduna State Government and the security agencies are egregious. They stand condemned. They give the impression that they put no premium on the lives of Nigerians in their care.
They also knock the bottom out of the Governor’s claim that his State had assumed the uplifting status of an oasis of peace. For quite sometime, Governor Sani has advertised his Kaduna State as relatively peaceful. He has also flaunted it as a model to be copied by other embattled States in his geopolitical zone. What happened at Kurmin Wali shows, crystal clearly, that it is a hollow claim.
Worse, the initial denial did not only feed into the unseemly narrative of Christian genocide, it dovetailed into it and reinforced it. The denial and volte face are thus lacerations to the image of both Kaduna State and the country.

Additionally, the manner in which the abduction was denied, only for it to backfire, should instruct us on how we communicate. In a crisis, such as we are facing, it is always judicious and prudent to be upfront with information. That way loss of face is not suffered thereafter as has happened in this case. If both the Kaduna State government and the security agencies had been proactive and forthcoming, rather than being deliberately in denial, the precious time wasted issuing these asinine denials would have been used to apprehend the bandits.

Above all, we should, by now, have some clarity, coherence and coordination in the war on terror. We cannot be waging war on terrorists while succoring them via “peace deals”. Neither can we be negotiating with vile murderers. Such peace deals would amount only to the peace of the grave. By the same token, negotiating with terrorists is counterproductive. This is because we give them resources with which to procure more weapons with which to mow down our security personnel and the wherewithal to recruit fellow travelers.