When in 2017 farmers were attacked in Saki in the Atisbo local government area of Oyo state many discerning observers shrugged it off as just another in a series of attacks that had assumed the dimension of the norm while others survived, Shina Jaiyeola whose brother Jaiyeola Ayokunle has a farm in the area and Jelili an indigene of Shaki and a famer were not so lucky as they paid the supreme price.
Going farther north of Nigeria, people of the Agatu community in Benue state were also in the firing line of marauding herdsmen with some observers in that part of Nigeria positing that the rampage that led to the killing of hundreds of villagers and the sacking of villages and communities is of genocidal proportion and that the perpetrators may not be Nigerians.
Since the beginning of the year, the issue of security has again become a major sticking point between the government and most Nigerians with killings spread over most parts of Nigeria from Niger state to Zamfara to Kaduna and even the president’s own state of Katsina, the orgy of violence keeps getting bigger with the attendant loss of lives and property.
For security observers and most Nigerians, it is a major source of frustration that perpetrators of the unending circle of violence in most parts of the country seem to always get away with it creating an environment ripe for retaliation and attacks and counter attacks from aggrieved villages or people.
The question many have asked is what can be done at all levels to put an end to the soaring level of insecurity not only from herdsmen attacks but bandits who have made some states in the North western part of the country no go areas for people and the activities of kidnappers who have turned major highways to business centers where humans are abducted and exchanged for ransom without much repercussion in the form of arrests and prosecution.
While acknowledging the activities and successes of the Abba Kyari led Intelligence Response Team of the Nigerian police force who have been in the forefront of combatting kidnapping and violent crimes it still seems to be a drop in the ocean too little to make any appreciable impact.
With groups in the north led by Professor Ango Abdullahi, those in the south led by Dr Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and others up in arms against the government over its perceived lax handling of the issue of insecurity which may also lead to food shortages especially as attacks have continued in states with vast agriculture production output such as Oyo, Benue, Niger, Zamfar and Kebbi to mention just a few, is there a way out?
The recent conviction of Yunusa Yellow who abducted and had carnal knowledge of an underaged Ese Oruru from Delta state to Kano state is seen by many as a good first step in taking people to account for their crimes against people and the state.
Though his conviction was not without its controversies after a tweet by presidential aide Bashir Ahmad condemning the judgement promising to intervene to free Yunusa Yellow to much outrage from users of the social media platform in Nigeria.
It was according to many an indication of the allegation of nepotism and sectionalism leveled against the federal government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria as a nation does not lack adequate laws against most of the crimes committed with increasing regularity over the last few years but observers posit that until the government at all levels show the right level of political will without fear or favour let or hindrance, the orgy of violence will continue as a vicious cycle.
The belief is that if Tvay in Benue, Umaru in Katsina, Chukwudi in Owerri, Oghene in Warri and Abimbola in Osogbo Is sure that he will get justice from the judicial system and from law enforcement agencies who have been accused by several interest groups of complicity in violence, the level of insecurity, attacks and counter attacks will subside and people will always put issues relating to crimes in the hands of the authorities and stop taking the laws into their hands.
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