FREDRICK NWABUFO argues that recent operations of security forces across the country bear a mark of resolute leadership
It takes decisive leadership to roll back the forays of terror. Terror understands the language of terror. The recent successful operations of Nigeria's security forces across the country bear a defining mark of resolute leadership.
On Thursday, troops of Operation Hadarin Daji made a quick delivery. They dispatched terrorist leader, Halilu Sububu, and his gang of death-dealers in a five-star caravan of wry irony to the netherworld.
Bandit leader Sububu had risen in notoriety with the savagery he dealt on citizens in Zamfara, Sokoto, and other parts of north-western Nigeria. He was loud, imperious, and brutal, issuing threats and making crowing pronouncements on videos. Lives have been lost, communities displaced, property destroyed, and citizens maimed by the sheer industry of Sububu and his gang.
The troops also scored another victory, neutralising Sani Wala Burki, kin of Sububu in the terror business, and his gang, as well as extirpated a terrorist hideaway in Kaduna, freeing 13 kidnapped students.
According to PRNigeria, an authoritative news source on security operations, the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji also eliminated four terrorists in Zamfara State -- Ibrahim Nagure, Lawali Dodo, Kadiri, and Jambaleri.
In another valiant endeavour, the security forces apprehended terrorist leader, Hosseini Osman, in Plateau State. The news agency says Osman was netted at Ganawuri village, in the Riyom local government area, where he confessed to masterminding numerous attacks across the state.
The troops further launched offensives against fleeing terrorists in Sambisa Forest, neutralising many of them.
This string of propitious outcomes in the north-west and the north-east follow President Bola Tinubu's directive to the service chiefs to relocate to the zone and his consistent support to the security agencies.
President Tinubu is a renowned democrat, but also a firm and bold Commander-in-Chief.
On September 3, in a decisive response to the killings in Yobe State, the President had said: "The perpetrators of this sinister act will have an inevitable encounter with justice." And true to his promise, the troublers of the nation are having fated encounters with justice, and so will all those visiting terror on Nigerians.
Additionally, the successful operations also show that there is synergy and proper coordination among the security agencies and the intelligence agencies. Intelligence is a fundamental piece in the counter-terrorism puzzle.
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In the past, inter-agency rivalry had been a detraction to the counter-terrorism effort. The effective coordination and deployment of security resources attests to a strong and reinvigorated leadership.
Fundamentally, successive actions against terrorism will not be effective or be permanent solutions without a conscientious plan to address the underlying cause. A prominent contributor to the challenge is youth illiteracy and socio-economic dislocation. Economic and social security is essential for corporeal security.
This is the reason the President Tinubu-led administration is making critical investments in education. The federal government through its out-of-school initiative recently reintegrated four million children into the educational system. Also, the Out-of-School Children Commission, set to commence this month, will provide training to approximately 10,000 young Nigerians.
The Tinubu administration is addressing the bottom-line precipitates of social-economic insecurity through seminal policies and programmes while redistributing wealth to the vulnerable and the most vulnerable through revamped social welfare schemes.
As the President re-affirmed, immediate and latent security threats will be decisively dealt with.
Nwabufo is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement
