By Mashood Erubami

Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen,

PREAMBLE

We are gathered here today to reflect on the death of Chief Ajibola Idowu Ige and to assess the security situation in Nigeria 19 years after his gruesome killing while he was the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Evidently, there have been other dastardly killings after the death of the Cecero of Esa- Oke, which are equally related to politics.

Therefore, I will want to use this year’s anniversary to authoritatively declare that in marking the anniversary, God will bring to an end, all political bitterness in our lives. I also pray that whatever will bring target killings into our politics should be turned into tolerance, peace and sweetness from now on.

When the death of Chief Bola Ige g came calling, it was sudden, unexpected and unnatural !

it did not come through the normal sources, not through headache, running stomach, diabetics, or vehicle accident but it came surprisingly through ‘targetted Murder’ also known as assassination !!

Ever since his gruesome death, his Children, Compatriots, Politicians, Dedicated Members of the Civil Society/Human Rights, Professional Colleagues, particularly members of the Bola I’ve centre for justice, have on yearly basis, rallied round to bring his passage to eternity into the memory of his love ones, families and ‘Comrades’ to whom his death continues to be saddening, giving its stunning nature.

It should however be noted that Chief Bola Ige, our inestimable jewel of value, husband of Justice Atinuke Ige, the father of Muyiwa and Funso did not die but only slept on the day he was murdered, why ? because he continues to live in the hearts and consciences of all that love him !

Introduction

As citizens, we should be worried and start to ask questions about the spreading of this contagious phenomenon called ‘political assassination’

Assassination in Nigeria is as old as the Nigeria’s independence.; It is also known as ‘ Targeted Death, a secrete way of terminating the life of prominent persons, opponents and competitors’.
Several leaders or prominent and distinguished personalities have been killed for political, social and economic reasons, some when trying to occupy or have occupied positions of reckoning.

Assassination has taken the lives of many, before the death of Chief Bola Ige but turned out its severe cases with the death of Chief Bola Ige during the 4th republic which took off in 1999 under the regime of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who came into power from prison to assume the Presidency.

During this period, the country started experiencing many unresolved cases of assassinations which people believed were connected to politics. Political assassinations then became the most potent tool to secure power or eliminate considered enemies either in relations to politics or in the social spectrum.
It was the period when the practice scaled up and made the contest for political power to become a do or die affair.

We can recall the personalities of those records to have been assassinated before the year 2001, when chief Bola Ige was murdered.
They include:

Alhaja Suliat Adedeji a prominent Ibadan politician who was assassinated on the 14th of November 1996 in her home.
Chief Bisoye Tejuosho was murdered on the 29th of September 1996,
Shehu Musa Yar’dua was kept in detention over the phantom coup of 1995, he was assassinated by forcefully injecting him with a poisonous substance.

Alhaja kudirat Abiola wife of the widely believed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election was assassinated on the 4th of June 1996, during the Abacha Junta.
Under the same “General Sanni Abacha, Pa Alfred Rewane who he perceived as an obstacle to the realization of his ambition to perpetuate himself in power was killed in a way that shocked most Nigerians on October 6, 1995.

General Abacha himself was assassinated in a professionalised way on June 8,. Some said he died eating apples of two Indian ladies while some related his death to a palace coup, the exact death is still buried in the belly of Aso Rock.

The strategic elimination of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola is another of the very prominent Nigerians that was silenced through calculated murder.

On December 23, 2001, the most affecting and very painful assassination was that which took the life of our indefatigable Afenifere leader, former Governor of the old Oyo state and former Minister of Power and Steel and later Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

During this period, there was no moral base in politics and the Machiavellian principle of the ends justify the means became so much tolerable. !

Ever since, we have not relented in celebrating the Man Bola on the anniversary of his death to reflect on his death, condemn the darstsrdly assassination and lay the blame of not finding his killers at the doorstep of the state while providing avenues to avoiding the recurrence of future possiblities especially amongst the political elites who currently hold power.
Ironically, none of their killers has been found or exposed, no one has been justifiably arrested, talkless of their prosecution to a logical end.

Even later year enquiries did not authenticate the confessions of those who testified before the established Enquiry.

However,, there had been other gruesome assassinations associated with politics after the death of Chief Bola Ige in 2001, it will however seem to be declining despite unservoury constancy of politically inclined violence, thugeries and conflicts.

Up till date, nobody has been pinned down as the mastermind from the list of those suspected, arrested and prosecuted but freed, it is however certain that he died of target killing and the underlying factors are still shrouded in misery but not far away from political factors.

Suspiciously, his death could either be as a result of being a member of the Obasanjo administration or due to his ambition to become the President of the country after the end of tenure of the ruling President when indeed the agenda of his third term was being baked.!

Another suspicions that can be introduced into the death of chief Bola Ige is resident in the thoughts of some people is that certain people had misgivings about the hegemonic nature of our politics in Nigeria, one of which is the mistrust arising in the view that a geo-political group (North) has been demonstrating holding an inalienable, irrevocable and unquestionable right to continue to rule over Nigeria, or determine the destiny of the country by controlling political power successively.

The principle of end justifying the means ( Machiavellian Principle) could be adopted to liquidate or assassinate those that are being seen as threats to that Oligarchic tendencies. Those that the Oligarchy sensed are antagonistic to their position must also be seen to be fighting for regime change!.

It is in this realm that we can locate the assassination of the CECERO and MKO Abiola,

SOUTH-WEST

There are records of other deaths which include:

*Mr. Odunayo Olagbaju, a member of the Osun State House of Assembly, who was brutally murdered in front of a police station in Ile-Ife in Osun State, on December 19, 2001;

On July 16, 2005, unknown gunmen killed Alhaji Lateef (aka Lati Osogbo), a close associate of Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, a topnotch leader of the PDP

Engineer Funsho Williams, PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos State and Chairman, Board of Directors of Nigeria Maritime Authority (NMA), was murdered in his bedroom on July 27, 2006 after a political meeting.

• Dr. Ayo Daramola, a PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State was
murdered in his bedroom at his hometown, Ijan Ekiti on August 14, 2006;

The above represent the prominent ones among the cases that have been recorded in Nigeria. These are just a list of the prominent politicians outside the list of those less mentioned who were killed through unservoury constancy of politically inclined violence, thugeries and conflicts.

SOUTH EAST

Ogbonaya Uche,(ANPP)

*An ANPP senatorial candidate in the Southeastern state of Imo and former commissioner in the Imo state government was short in his home in Owerri on February 8, 2003, and died two days later after he
defected from the PDP to the ANPP.

Abigail and Barnabas Igwe

*On September 1, 2002, Mr. Barnabas Igwe, the chairman of the state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, an open critic of then Anambra state Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju and his wife Amaka Igwe were ambushed in their car and brutally killed in Onitsha,
Chinwoke Mbadiniju was suspected and charged to court for the murder but was never convicted.

*In February 2003, Theodore Agwatu, principal secretary to the Imo State Governor, was
murdered by suspected hired assassins in Owerri

*On March 27, 2003, Mr. Ikenna Ibor, an ANPP councillorship candidate in Anambra State was assassinated

• On April 19, 2003, a stalwart of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Onyewuchi Iwuchukwu, was murdered in Ikeduru Local Council, Imo State

On April 20, 2003, an ANPP member of the House of Assembly, Toni Dimegwu, was killed
in Imo State

*Victor Nwankwo,

On August 29, Chief Victor Nwankwo, younger brother of Dr. Arthur Nwankwo, founder of the Eastern Mandate Union and a known political activist, was assassinated in Enugu State.

SOUTH SOUTH

.2. Marshall Harry
On March 5, 2003, Harry Marshall, the national vice chairman for the South-South Zone of the now
defunct All Nigeria’s People’s Party.
Marshall Harry was an important politician both nationally and within Rivers State, where he was known as a political “kingmaker.”
He had supported the Rivers Governor Peter Odili in the 1999 election but later disagreed with Odili’s policies and began a move to stop the reelection of Odili in 2003. He was suspended by the PDP and he moved to the ANPP when some armed men in plain clothes came to his residence in Abuja, the federal capital and made their way to his bedroom.

• On 6 February 2004, the National Vice-chairman (South) of PDP, Chief Aminosoari Dikibo was assassinated in Delta State on his way to the south-south PDP meeting in Asaba

• In August 2005, Mr. Felix Eboigbe, councilor in Oredo Local council in Edo State was murdered.

NORTH-CENTRAL

The 15 August murder of Ahmad Pategi, chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the central region Kwara State;

• On June 30, 2006, a governorship aspirant of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Mr. Jesse Aruku, was abducted and killed near his house in Bassa Local council in Plateau State

On August 15, 2002, the State Chairman of PDP in Kwara State, Ahmed Pategi was
assassinated.

• On March 4, 2004, Mr. Luke Shingaba, a chairmanship candidate, was killed in his house in Bassa Local Council in Kogi State.

On February 5, 2005, Sunday Atte, the leader of the legislative council in Yagba East Local Council of Kogi State, was murdered by unknown gunmen.

NORTH-WEST

• Alhaji Isyaku Muhammed of the United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) was murdered on 24 September.

All these mentioned political assassination cannot be delinked from the desperation of politicians who are prepared to use force to achieve or maintain their position in government or to to assume power.

The killing of our African Cecero, a Senior Advocate Of Nigeria (SAN) and the inability of Nigerians and Nigeria government to unravel those behind his death since 2001, remain a National disgrace which has followed past governments and may follow the current government, if nothing is urgently done to unwrap the veil on the faces of the devilish people behind his gruesome death

It is now expedient more than ever before that unresolved cases of politically motivated killings should be reopened. Those cases already in the law courts should be diligently prosecuted as there should be no sacred cow.
In the end those who can be discovered to have participated and convicted for having something to do with political assassination should be banned from political activities for life.

However, political killings would most likely continue unless serious re-orientation of the people towards real civilian politics was done to stop the decline in moral code and standard of behavior.

What impact do political assassination has on politics?

Assassination within the political spectrums create fears and scare descent people particularly women from participating in politics. Whereas, jettisoning politics allows inferior people to predominate the political space and keep out those who should be in politics but kept staying outside politics to be criticising it’s bad outcomes.

At this juncture, assessing the security situation in the last 19 years cannot be limited to the political assassination in it but considered wholistically to include all the insecurities that have been experienced.
There have been crimes of Insurgency, Kidnappings, Armed robbery and lately Banditry.

Assassinations in the past have sparked distressing calls from Nigerians on who were behind those atrocities, but because police officers were not around to witness the deadly acts and nobody could volunteer information on those target killings, it remained unrevealed secrets till today.

Definitely, the perpetrators are around within us and they know themselves and who sent them !

However, the same reasons why it has been difficult to give information about those who committed assassination are responsible for not knowing who the insurgents of today are and those masterminding their actions.

It still remains a sad commentary that security Agencies have kept singing their competence into the ears of the people, promising that crime perpetrators will be exposed and be brought to justice but no high class murder has been successfully prosecuted, a high cry about the low capacity of the police for intelligence gathering !

The police have failed in tracking the perpetrators of political assassinations such that these perpetrators who have gone away with murder in the past continue to resort to it to settle political scores.

From available records, it would seems that political assassination is on the decline but Nigerians are still at the mercy of criminals, as no where can be called a safe haven.
Killing of Nigerians in Kaduna, Kastina, Benue and spread of the Northeast have remained unsettled.
Bandits, Cattle Rustlers have taken over in most of the Northern zones, dictating their terms to people in the streets, farms and the homes.!

Seriously speaking, Nigeria is fighting wars that are difficult to describe. When there is any killing in the North, it is said to be from Boko Haram insurgents but in the same North, there is banditry, cattle rustling and kidnappings. This is why we can hardly label the wars.

However, it looks a bit difficult for Nigerian Armed forces to fight the bandits and the insurgents because of the new styles of gorilla attacks on the poor and helpless people in the war fronts.

The new strategy of combat from the insurgents, bandits and kidnappers against the army and the citizens who are mostly farmers can only be repelled by an armed forces that are supported through the intelligence gathered by patriotic civilians who are not consciously harbouring these terrorists and know their abodes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The same reasons behind the police not being able to detect those behind the dastardly killings of the prominent people listed above also explain the factors that made the growing insurgents, banditry, kidnappings and Armed Robbery blossoming. !.

Nobody who is arrested for these acts have no places of abode even the kingpin of kidnappings in Nigeria, Mr Evans has owned buildings in Nigeria and Ghana. ! People live in those houses and around but because we are not our brothers keepers, the gate of our security has been widely opened.

These growing insecurities are making situations of the armed forces and the government very difficult, yet the citizens seem to be misplacing where the blames should be laid.

Some are blaming the President, the Service Chiefs, Garrison Commanders but Instead, our strong view is that the blames should be spread to everyone !
Security is everybody’s business and we should all be involved.

There had been consistent calls from a section of the Press, a faction of politicians and most people for the removal of Service Chiefs, such calls in my opinion are not well meaning, many of such calls are coming from the belt of oppositions who do not wish the nation well.

The National Assembly, which represented a key institution in Nigeria out of frustration, raised a motion of urgency and called on the President of the country to come and explain the ever recurrence of target killings in Nigeria, particularly in the Northeast.

Instead of blaming the President, the citizens should rise to the occasion to support the armed forces and volunteer genuine ideas that they think can better combat the raging war.

Security is everybody’s business, so if we can channel real time information about what we know about the movements of the insurgents to appropriate authority in good faith the days of the wars will be numbered. If the question should be posed,

*Where are the owners of the lands on which insurgency is being perpetrated?
Those who are perpetrating kidnappings and Armed Robbery are not ghosts, cattle rustlings are not being carried out in aeroplanes and ships, their acts took place within areas being inhabited by humans.

Can the armed forces in their limited numbers be everywhere? Has every nation the required numbers that can go round the communities.?

*Who should be in charge of security ?, the Federal or States? I think both including the citizens.

• Is fighting everything war dependent on the use of guns and ammunitions?
• What happens to intelligence gathering and other inward looking strategies?

*What is inhibiting the governors in the affected states that take monthly security votes and still watch insecurities to envelope their territories?

*Should the States wait to be directly given the power to give instructions to the head of the police before they will know how to handle insecurity in their territories?
These are the questions we need to ask and provide answers for by ourselves.

The President recently declared that he has mobilised enough fundings and procured modern weapons to help the armed forces to execute the insurgency in the Northeast and the Service Chiefs are trying their best to reduce the impact of the war on the nation, apparently, fighting such war to its logical end is not for the armed forces alone but the responsibility of all !.

At this juncture, It might sound too simplistic to say that the Country’s security architecture is adequate to defend the territorial integrity of the areas being encircled in these wars, it must however be noted that, insurgency war is not an easy interplay of forces, nor a tea party,
Service chiefs are facing challenges of protecting Nigerians, though silent corruption, internal sabotage might be attributed to the deficiency that is being revealed from it.

In the case of Zabarmari village in Jere local Government of Borno State, how will the Insurgents have captured scores of farmers who were beheaded one after the other, without the active collaboration with internal conspirators?

How many expert who were engaged in the slaughtering arrived in the state and from where?

Why were those being killed patiently awaited their turn to be slaughtered without raising a finger? I am asking these questions to show where the roles of the citizens in all these wars lie.

According to reported accounts of survivors, ” The killers had arrived the village several days earlier and lived peacefully with the villagers without detecting their motives, pretending to be labourers, if the dead and the living could not be alerted, or suspicious of their evil intentions before they stuck, how can we blame Buhari and his service chiefs who are far from the place of incidence.

I plead not to be misunderstood ladies and gentlemen, If the evil has been exposed to the military, the deed would have been averted.
The people living around the war infected areas must always be alert and conscious of their roles in being a part of the war going on, define their roles in saving their society and set the net for their security.

They must not just mix anyhow with strangers, to curtail infiltrations which could make them unfortunate in their homes on the streets and on their farms.

The facts established by the recent slaying of over forty farmers in Zabarmari, Jere local government in Borno state is that, the citizens did not play the roles expected of them in fighting insurgency to its knees.

The number of the insurgents who pretended they are labourers but whose real intention was to commit mass murder should have alerted their hosts that they actually came to Jere local government to commit evil.

Where did they tell their friends that harbour them for days that they came from and who invited them as labourers which they called themselves? to work on which or whose farms?

Patriotically collected intelligence from the citizens could have helped the security agencies to nip the massive slaughtering in the bud.

Where would competence have helped here? Even if the army is well equipped with the best of weaponries, it would have remained in their armoury in the absence of needed intelligence.!

The people, before any other institution should be their self safeguards, and share a larger portion of blames because of their nearness and proximate relation with the perpetrators of the evil terrorism, banditry, Kidnapping and Armed robberies. Most often they are not security conscious.
People in some areas where banditry germinates know the names and former abodes of the leaders of some armed robbery gangs, kidnapping kingpins and even the leadership of the insurgent groups !. It was after Evans the (Kingpin) was arrested that the people living with him knew he was a kidnapper.!

Perhaps if the people have been sensitised to assume their historical roles in curtailing insecurity in their areas, it would have been manifestly clear why they should join in making the fights against insecurity the collective responsibilities of all.

The 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended, states that security and welfare of citizens are the primary obligation of government in chapter 2 under section 14 (b).
In my marxidt studies, we are made to know that the government is made-up of the state, its police and the army and the people inclusive !.

In this context, the people had abysmally failed to assume their historical responsibilities of making the society in which they live to be safe and peaceful. People should be foremost safeguards to the government but they have failed woefully in the performance of their duties in this regard.

It’s time for people living in this country to accept the reality of their failures in helping the security agencies all over to stop targeted killings of their brothers and sisters all the time and everywhere.

Astonishingly, our people are still calling on the government to provide 24 hours cover for the people everywhere killings took place. Will the same overstretched military albeit in their limited numbers provide the same security net to everywhere the insurgents shifted without the people providing supportive intelligence on which the military forces can work on successfully?

Insurgents are not ghosts, they are people foremost, they are not dropped down by ships, warplanes and War helicopters to ravage the chosen areas for their attacks.

Notwithstanding our position above, we should in plain language speak to the people in power at this juncture of the insurgency, kidnappings, armed robbery and banditry in Nigeria, telling them that it is about five years, that President Buhari took over from Dr Jonathan Goodluck where he ended in 2015.

Though, Jonathan left behind abysmal performance, corruption of the highest order and created a conducive atmosphere for the germination of insecurity in the variants of banditry, kidnapping, Cattle rustling, armed robbery, boko haram.etc.

We believe that all these cannot be excuses for failure of the current government which was emotionally elected thereafter to change the face of the past, messy government, redirect its directionless and cluelessness of the preceding government.

Therefore, given that these bandits and their colleagues in crimes are heartless and inhuman, knowing that killing is their pastime, tougher measures should be meted to those arrested, no more allowance for their change of minds, they must not be spared and treated in a way that will enable them to be recycled to commit more crimes.

The wars being fought against the terrorists and insurgents are beyond the condemnation of President Buhari. We would be leaving certain pre conditions untouched. There are certain foundations that were wrongly laid by successive governments which need to be rebuilt in order to fight the worsening and seemingly unending insecurity to the end.
The government alone can not do that.

Given the commission of these old faults, in these disorderly foundations, we must all stand for the defense of all rights, speak up against all wrongs and pose more questions to the people in power.

The fact of the matter is that, nobody is blameless, everybody is guilty of conspiracy of silence, we have mostly been indifferent, ambivalent and apathetic to our historical roles in speaking aloud rightly.

Interestingly, given the growing and seemingly uncontrollable insecurity in the land, some of us believe recruitment of Mercenaries into the execution of the war is the answer, we say NO !

The call for the recruitment of Mercenaries in the prosecution of Boko Haram war is a double edged sword which opens the security capacity and hardwares of the country engaging them to future enemies.

The suggestion to involve mercenaries in executing the war against insurgency is a statement from helplessness and despair.
It is a statement that declared the Nigeria Army a monumental failure. Even if the mercenaries will come with new and better ideas to fight the war, certain internal forces will make it difficult. There will be internal sabotage.

The eventual use of mercenaries if approved to execute the war against insurgency would not be new in Nigeria but definitely cannot be the best approach in the circumstance of the raging war against the Boko Haram.

It is a desperate and distrustful call, signaling seeming failure of the military and the entire security apparatus .
What Nigerians expect from the President, as the commander in chief of the Armed forces and the service chiefs is to rejig the war processes and make it more effective and result-oriented which cannot be easily derivable from the injection of foreign mercenaries.

Mercenaries may in the short run be effective and result oriented but in the long run may turn out to be a threat to National security, peace and stability which cannot guarantee human rights.

As for the strident calls on the President to remove the service Chiefs, it is not the right answer and not even the declaration of state of emergency will end the war, unless and until the badly laid policy foundations by successive leaders are broken to give way to a new order. !

What are these disorderly foundations which represent the causes of political assassination and the general insecurities ravaging the land?.

CAUSES OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONAND SOCIETAL INSECURITY

As earlier explained above, assassination or Target Killings or Death arising from secrete attacks are occassioned by identifiable underlying factors: namely;

Social foundation of Insecurity in Nigeria-Widening Gap between the rich and the poor.

In 2018, over 1.8 millions undergraduates were studying in the federal, state, and private Universities yet
about 80% of the number seeking admissions could not be admitted.

Only a few of these numbers gained admission into other tatiary institutions, polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Technical Colleges, Schools of Nursing etc.

The remaining large numbers are let to be roaming the streets or visiting offices to seek Jobs that are not there.! Very large populations of these are uncatered for and many have turned their hands to the workshop of the devils
Infact, they are really the kegs of gunpowder that Nigeria is sitting on.

A little of this bomb was detonated during the recent EndSars protest and it met the ruling class in a deplorable state of unpreparedness.!.

The youths who participated are from the lists of the uncatered for, from informal sectors, unemployed students whose bottled up anger resonated in the protests. These angry, hungry and yet uncatered for large populations of youths who participated are not from foreign lands but specially recreated and equipped with the hoodlum sense of revenge hence their violent and incendiary actions were triggered.

It has been said that when the hungry has nothing to eat, they will turn back to eat those who imposed hunger on them.

Economic foundation:

The World Bank study report stated painfully, that 34% of the national labour force is unemployed, 38% of these are graduates from higher institutions, a gruesome statistics arriving from the non implemented government policy for years earlier.

Government policies dis-emphasised the engagement of youths in production, manufacturing and industry hence unemployment has declined, decapitating productive capacity among the youths who cannot gain smooth access to the national resources that can make their lives better,

For many years, the trend has been, to produce millions of graduates from Secondary, Tertiary and Universities without establishing appropriate industries and Manufacturing firms that can engage the lots.

Only about 20% of those turned out from schools are truly employables in the real sense of meeting the requirements of the available industries.

Another 25% of the Youth population are informally distributed into informal trading sectors and other creative sectors, while the remaining 50% of the unengaged hands are left to be dependent on the little percentage that are gainfully employed, roaming the town without being taken care of, or being able to take care of themselves.

Insecurity Foundation

For years, under successive governments in Nigeria, the number of its armed military forces have never been adequate to maintain territorial integrity and peace in house. The active Nigeria armed forces at any point are a little above 400,000 with a reserved personnel of not more than 150000.

The Nigeria army is at any given time about 200000 strong (Encyclopedia )
The Nigerian armed forces is rated to be on the low ladder, ranked as 57th most powerful country out of 60 nations.
In Africa, Nigeria is ranked 4th, coming behind Egypt (9th), Algeria (28th), South Africa (29th) despite its being professed as the “Giant of Africa” .

Thus its low capacity cannot deal with crimes and criminal activities and that explains why criminal insurgency, Banditry, Kidnapping and armed forces have been rampant in all its geo political zones, making the Country a high risk area.

The Nigeria Police

The numbers of its police had never been enough for its law enforcements assignment. Yet this force is the principal law enforcements and lead security agency with a staff strength of about 400,000 though, with plans ahead to increase the numbers to 700,000.

If the country reaches the peak, it will still be very low to cater for over 200m populations.
The force is the least paid and most poorly trained.

Given this low percentage representation, the number of the have-not, criminals habitating in the unemployment sectors, the huge population of uncared for and the marginalised populations will at any given time, overwhelm the number of available military forces in a situation of civil insurrections, as aptly shown during the recent protestations by the Youths across the country. !

These, ideally, are the fundamental factors which created the widening gap between the poor and the rich, a critical underlying factor that is building the basis for insecurity that we witness in the country today.

The yearly cumulative of those unengaged hands are those asking questions during the recent #ENDSARS protests, though, with the so-called hoodlums that hijacked the struggle from the real Endsars initiators.
Those referred to as hoodlums are also Nigerians who are found majorly involved in the worsening and seemingly unending insecurity and bloodletting in Nigeria.

The worst of their criminal reaction was demonstrated in Abayomi Bus Stop, Iwo road, Ibadan, Oyo State, where they all went bizzare, sliced the human parts of burnt policemen and ate it publicly. !

Even the deadly Boko Haram members were not seen eating human parts in their conclaves.

Whereas, employment of those categories in gainful jobs will reduce the wide gap between the very poor and the affluent who are not showing concern for the youths and are silent from speaking up or taking redeeming actions or being seen to be opposed to the wrong practices that brought the bad situation to which the youths are responding. !

Nigeria lost trillions of resources, some of which went up in flames to protest the brutalities of police officials, this triggered the Endsars protests in which the youths came out to express their outrage leaderlessly. !

Nobody can afford to keep silent, we all owe this nation the duties of fighting insecurity, with governments, by raising our voices against the noticeable wrongs that we perceive, so as to straighten the paths of governance towards achieving direction, recovery and progress.

The ruling party, the APC, promised to help the country on three program mantras, I.e. corruption, insecurity and fixing the economy.

Sadly, the country is yet to excel in any of the areas and it is a pity that the population of Youths that came out to express their trust in the integrity of President Buhari in 2015 and reinforced this trust in 2019 are still left to express indignation against not being cared for.

Other underlying factors which make assassination of people , kidnappings, banditry, and armed robbery flourished are located in :

Desperate struggle for political and economic power and painful betrayer in politics, social and economic relationship.
Bitter and uncontrolled struggle to impose political candidates;
Proliferation of arms and ammunitions in our society;
Intolerance of Oppositions.
Bitter struggles to occupy a prominent position of reckoning in Politics, Social and Economic sectors.

Do or Die approach to gaining political and Economic prominence.
Open carriages of arms by some politicians during election rallies. Youths and Students being monetized to carry arms and ammunitions on their way to conventions,
Non prosecution of those caught with arms; who were caught carrying sophisticated arms more than ever
before.

WAY FORWARD TO MINIMISING DEATHS FROM POLITICS

To effectively dislodge crime in whatever way it raises its head, the security apparatus must be reorientated and transformed, engage the Citizenry from the Community towards erecting a new Platform for effective policing under the watch of the states.

In addition, the following action steps must be taken:
The first step is for a state to comb and be aware of the dangerous areas and chart the surrounding areas to design preventive and workable strategies that could stem any crisis and proffer solutions to ending the circle of criminalities that could come up at any time.

There must be constant surveillance and joint security meetings conveyed by each state among citizens, Traditional leaders, security agencies, government representatives, local government chairmen and stakeholders to identify possible conflicts that could develop from critical ethnic,trading, religious, boundary, and occupational (Herdsmen/ Farmers), interconnection. This will effectively check the menace of criminalities in the states..

The second step is to ensure that the Military Chiefs conduct the Census of their men and women in the war field to determine their adequacy, in terms of men and equipments need, well motivated and better in equipment holding and handling on the field.

Intelligence gathering on the personnels fighting the war and their Masterminds.

We can also discourage political Assassination through effective use of the following recommendations:

Political Tolerance of others’ view and chances in the political process.
Upholding the fundamental rights of opponent in political participation
Upholding of the social economic rights of others in all business and social relationships.
Expression of love to political candidates in competitive politicking.
The police and other security agencies must continue to raise alarms of their intelligent gatherings.

The working of Civil Society Groups in collaboration with the International Community to set agenda for crime prevention.
Creating integrated insecurity reduction campaigns among security Stakeholders at local and state levels.

When the institutions saddled with the obligation of preventing the fundamental rights to life from being infringed upon are working in synergy, i.e. the National Assembly, Executive Politicians, Advisers on Security to the president, Service Chiefs, General Garrison Commanders, Officers across the States and geo political zones under the direct authority of the Commander in Chief

CONCLUSION

It would seem that the political assassination of prominent politicians and business people in Nigeria seems to be on the decline but increasing daily on hapless Nigerians who are Innocent of the offences for which they are being murdered.

Having tried to assess the cases of political assassination in Nigeria between 2001 and 2020, exposed some of its causes and bringing out some of the ways through which political assassination and general insecurities could be minimized, I will like to observe that:

The number of deaths among political elites and leaders of government have declined but the number of deaths recorded of political Activists and the electorates as a result of electoral violence have increased, positing that our politics and the electoral processes have not been devoid of being operated at gunpoint, a lack of a transparent and credible democratic order, which ensures orderly ascent and transition to power and good governance, may be the single most important reason for these avoidable deaths.

Politicians should learn their lessons from the experiences of others towards making Nigeria to focus on the issue of orderly succession and the peaceful handing-over of government to duly transparently elected national leaders while all efforts should be made to avoid holding on to power unnecessarily.

It is our society, not necessarily the government but including all of us that should rise and inform Politicians in harsh and very intemperate voices that the desire to get political power in order to have unbridled access to state’s resources should seize to be a factor that will underly the brutal assassination of our brothers and sisters.

Those who terminate the lives of our people are ourselves and such homebased, killing cannot be put only on the shoulders of those who by their occupation are to fight to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.
Those who when we are sleeping with our families are on the war fronts to curtail the acts of insurgents, bandits, Kidnappers and Armed Robbers. They cannot be asked to account for every incidence of target deaths and political assassinations.

Ridiculously, it is the same Nigerians living in the societies which have become the masterminds of target deaths, kidnappings and slaughterings.
Everybody should rise and act its part in collecting information , passing information to the required authorities, We are the ones who will be blaming security forces who are miles away of deficient handling of securities and calling loudly for the sacking of Security officials who are themselves overwhelmed by the enormous jobs on their hands.

There is no basis for governors to be lamenting and citing helplessness and frustration, if they have done the necessaries, their being referred to as the Chief Security Officers of their states is not for fun.

Insecurity takes place in their localities, not being in control of the Armed forces and the police is not a reasonable excuse for their helplessness.

Governors should brace up as the Chief Security Officer in their States, work closely with the security agents and citizens in their state to design faithfully, preemptive strategies to confront any eventual insecurity in the States.
The governors should provide the needed logistics and stop lamentations on the bloody losses when they occur.

In a state where peace and security reign, the lives of all prominent and other citizens shall be secured, there will be conducive space for construction and building of infrastructural facilities that will allow for expanded commercial and industrial activities across all sectors and direct flow of local and foreign investments.

The states do not lack the resources needed to protect the lives and properties of their people .

The resources to preempt and prevent insecurities and protect lives are not expensive except that the States do not see security if lives and properties as a priority as directed in chapter 2, section 14(b) of the 1999Constitution which States that ” Security and Welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government “

There is therefore, the urgent need to lift the states from the seige and terror they are under, providing employment to the unemployed who ride on motorbikes around the rural areas and urban centres, hanging on their shoulders series of AK47 rifles with glee, carrying out impunity for hours, murdering, burning houses, raping, carting away livestock’s and abducting women and their children !

The local, state and the federal governments, the people and stakeholders must become strong safeguard against banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and Armed robbers.

Enough of Governors claiming to be helpless to stop regular visits to victims and counting bodies, when indeed, the monthly security votes for years never had accidents. !

Thank you all for your attention.

Comrade Mashood Erubami 17 /12/20. Delivered at the ,19th Anniversary of the Assassination of Chief Bola Ige. In the Airport Hotel Ikeja Lagos State.