last week, I was glad to see the news of our resilient and skilled pilot who did not only survive a plane crash but also applied survival mechanisms and unmatched experience to escape death from the people who shot down his plane.
Nevertheless, I find myself lost in thought and analysis of the whole scenario and circumstances which pronounced fear and uncertainties to everyone in that area and the country.
I started wondering how on earth could people who have the expertise and machinery to shoot down a whole Alpha Jet, supposedly the highest level of defence we have in the country and still be called bandits? Are we really serious in this country? Kidnappers and bandits have technically induced the entire North-western region with fear, brutality and highest level of inhumanity through atrocities that can only be best known by those who once fell into their evil hands and experienced the excruciating pains that could never be forgotten. They have succeeded in doing all that without the power of shooting down an Alpha Jet.
And to our scariest nightmare, they have now acquired and successfully tested their expertise of shooting down jets. This is something that must concern all well meaning Nigerians, these guys are becoming stronger each passing day and learning new skills of kidnapping and collecting ransoms from both institutions and individuals who unluckily fall into their hands.
In some of the school abductions, the kidnappers overan security check points with superior fire power and numbers to kidnap their victims. Most recently a picture of slain police officers, including a divisional police officer, while fighting to protect lives of people from kidnappers trended in social media.
They have made our schools and roads into a death zone and a no go area unless there is no other choice. Not even Islamiya or the Christian schools where God worship is taught are spared from their dubious and cruel ways to hold anything that can bring money to their tables as ransome.
For reasons which we do not understand, kidnappers use SIM cards for communications during negotiations and even demand for recharge cards as part of their payment and successfully keep victims for months in their hideouts without being traced through their calls or tracked physically for rescue of victims.
Its mysterious that kidnappers are even penetrating well built school fences to kidnap students, and up to now the solution that is being taken as actions is closure of schools while some states have ridiculously bought dogs to protect students from being kidnapped.
We need to apply the safe school declaration mechanism including introducing subjects that will teach early warning for students and revive the boys and girls scout with man o war likes clubs in schools in order to be on their watch and alert students and call for security support on time.
In most cases the students that see the kidnppers early end up being the ones who escaped or hide in safe places. And the local vigilantes must be supported and trained in advanced method to defend themselves and villages against bandits. It is actually appropriate to call them terrorists; kidnapping hundreds of children and shooting down fighter jets is not banditry, it’s terrorism. The significant role of drone technology for regular patrols and geolocation of criminals cannot be over-emphasised.
Musa Gambo,
JCI Nigeria, Ambassador,
Maiduguri Borno state
[email protected]
