Insecurity: Where are our $495m Tucano fighter jets?

It has become evident, insecurity, especially in northern Nigeria, has become an instrument and a malevolent playbook for political actors. Events in the preceding weeks painted gory pictures of despair, sorrow, tears and blood. This however seems to reinvent the long held notion of conspiracies and intrigues bordering on the touchy subject and even the […]

It has become evident, insecurity, especially in northern Nigeria, has become an instrument and a malevolent playbook for political actors. Events in the preceding weeks painted gory pictures of despair, sorrow, tears and blood. This however seems to reinvent the long held notion of conspiracies and intrigues bordering on the touchy subject and even the very concept of insecurity — state sponsored and the heinous activities of non-state actors.

Three critical and significant events shaped the discourse on insecurity in the region, lately .The gruesome killing of Sarkin Gobir and the renewed valour and intrepidity of terror kingpin, Bello Turji; and the gruesome massacre of about a hundred hapless farmers in Yobe State by ISWAP.

The high ranking Sarkin Gobir was abducted around Sabon Birni, a notorious, yet known enclave of bandits/terrorists. After spending weeks in captivity, and inability to have ransom paid for his release, in spite of a video of him soaked in blood, pleading, a week earlier, he was summarily executed with his body yet to be released.

For Bello Turji, the self-acclaim Fulani emancipator, he has been having a field day in his protective fortress in the forests of Zamfara. His daily upload of obnoxious videos on social media, brazenly challenging Nigeria’s security is an all time low, in the fight against insecurity.

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Many factors are in play and the situation is getting more precarious and grim. For instance, in its latest report, the Global Peace Index  ranked Nigeria 146th out of 163 countries with a score of 2.712,  with regards to level of insecurity. While among sub-Saharan African countries, the country was ranked 39th out of 44 countries examined. Why the spike in the level of insecurity? In every conflict and insecurity levels, there exist in abundance casual factors — natural, social and man-made.

For the most part, in Nigeria, both factors are in play, but insecurity fueled by conflict entrepreneurs remain the major reason the conflict would go unabated.

Recall, in 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government paid a whopping $495 million dollars for the purchase of 12 new A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets from the United States. Owing to the sophistication of these beasts, one had expected a speedy end to all conflicts across the country.

The Super Tucano fighter jets were thought to be game changers which would alter the course of these conflicts. In fact, it became a bragging right and centre of discourse of the Buhari administration. The then Minister of information, Mr Lai Mohammed was quoted to have said, “The success of the military against terrorists and bandits would be sustained, soliciting for Nigerians support for the military”.

Curiously, even the deployment of these aircrafts to the battlefield in the forests of Zamfara, Kaduna and other bandits’ strongholds became a political issue. The debate then was the existence of a specific clause in the purchase or contractual agreement where the aircraft was to be used on terrorists alone. This prompted the government to pass a legislation which declared or branded bandits as terrorists.

Years gone past, the efficacy of these fighter jets are yet to be felt. They are known for precision and efficiency; the question is, why the snail-like approach in putting them to proper use to degrade the bandits/terrorists? If anything, they had been emboldened. The Turji’s of this world had grown more (liver), to borrow from a popular Nigerian parlance. The question remains, what is the state of these Super Tucano fighter jets, which had costs us a substantial amount of money? Had other countries with similar challenges had access to just a few of these jets, the story would be different in their quest to eliminate such terrorists.

Whether we admit, or deny, the fact is, there exist what appears to be parallel authority governing most states across northern Nigeria. Bandits/terrorists’ taxation system is effectively in place. It has been institutionalised. Several communities pay different taxes and levies.

We can’t invest a prodigious sum, into a wasteful venture. The $495m Tucano fighter jets must be put to use. Its firepower, sophistry and precision must be unleashed on those running a parallel authority. The bandits/ terrorists must be crushed, finally. The onslaught must be intense. That would send a signal the government is serious about bringing to an end, all hostilities in the north and across the country.

Mohammed wrote from Kano