Worsening Insecurity: An Endless Cycle Of Horror

Residents of the Northern Part of Nigeria are more or less living like everyday would be their last, not as part of faith this time, but for the breakdown of law and order in most states in the region.

Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and some parts of Kano have become places where bandits, gunmen, armed robbers and thugs freely operate for as long as they want, then move out.

An attack carried out by some brazen gunmen on Saturday around Kaduna airport is among the boldest so far. The security agents are bringing up statements and counter statements of what happened, but that doesn't erase the fact that these armed, inhumane young men, gathered, planned and executed mayhem on residents of Kaduna State where about 40 persons were shot around Giwa Local Government of the State.

After attacking these innocent, defenceless civilians, the bandits again followed the fleeing masses to neighbouring Zamfara and Niger States where many were again killed and had to flee. 

Mothers were separated from their offspring, fathers from their families, and it becomes an endless cycle of horror for the poor children who are most likely never have a stable home again.

Last week in Kano, the Abzinawa area of Ungogo local government was sealed by heavily armed youngers. Some residents who would not openly speak with the press for fear that some of the boys might recognize them said they lived in horror while they raided their homes- moving majestically from one home to another.

"They knocked on our doors, when we refuse to open, they scale the buildings and come in anyway," a terrified resident said.

Shockingly, last Thursday, there was a report on how armed thugs invaded the Accident and Emergency Unit of Murtala Muhammad Specialists Hospital, Kano and robbed patients of their belongings.

A report the State's Hospital Management Board debunked on Monday, giving explanations for the whole situation. But does that mean there were no thugs in the 'hospital'?

On Monday, bandits attacked a moving train conveying about 970 passengers from Abuja to Kaduna, where many were injured, and many more kidnapped.

In a country with a government- that is mostly preparing for the 2023 elections, some villages like Ruwan-Gizzau in Zamfara State is are being laid bare with no homes, animals, trees or movements of any kind.

A woman who spoke to the BBC said she left the home with her toddler, while her husband is on the run with some of their children.

"These bandits are beyond what Nigerian security can deal with," said another man.

Fast forward to the Kaduna train attack that has forced the suspension of train travel from that axis to Abuja, it just shows how, not completely incompetent, but careless Nigeriangovernmentt is.

A journalist in Kano, Mukhtar Yahaya Usman lost his brother-in-law in yesterday's train attack.

"The gunmen after planting a bomb on the train track fatally shot my wife's elder brother, we are on our way to Kaduna to retrieve his corpse for burial," he said.

As the 2023 election approaches like a speeding China train, one would wonder the kind of promises that would be made by Nigerian politicians to garner votes, particularly in towns that have become a shadow of what they used to be.