Nigeria: Growing Panic and the Collapse of the Political Order in Nigeria

opinion

Yesterday, I saw a video clip of the Emir of Muri giving Fulani bandits a 30-day ultimatum to stop killing his people, banditry and kidnapping in his Emirate. If they do not stop, he threatened, he will order his people to start killing all Fulani on sight. This is another sign that the security forces are outside the equation. An audio clip has been circulating of a bandit leader called Turji who openly proclaimed that he is indeed a bandit who has killed soldiers on three occasions and his location is known to the security agencies. Rather than come to arrest him for his crimes, the police arrested a soft target, his father, because they are afraid of him. He then threatened the security agencies that he will continue to kidnap more people until his father is released. He kidnapped about 150 people in Shinkafi Local Government area, his father was released and he released the captives (See reports by Abdulaziz Abdulaziz in Trust of 17th and 18th July). So, who is in charge in this country?

Today, the fear is that even remote fighting from the air is under threat. Last week, an Air Force jet was sent to bomb bandits in Zamfara State, the bandits, turned terrorists, shot the plane down but thank God the pilot was able to eject and find his way to safety. The problem is that the Airforce has become a major line of attack against bandits and terrorists because their strength is becoming overwhelming for our ground forces. If they can shoot down our jet fighters then the situation is really serious.

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