Northern Region In Turmoil, Leaders In Slumber – Security Expert

A security expert, Mr Tola Itioye has taken a sweep at Northern leaders for neglecting the north and allowing it degenerate to a state of turmoil.


He said that the present security situation in the Northern part of Nigeria has put the region in the state of turmoil, adding that leaders in the region “are deeply in their slumber”.

Itioye, in a telephone interview on Wednesday stressed that the recent abduction of 110 girls from Government Girls’ Science and Technical School at Dapchi, Yobe State, confirmed the continuous volatility of the region.

The level of criminality has taken a very dangerous trend in Northern Nigeria, the region is presently in the state of turmoil, even beyond what is happening in some notorious countries like Yemen, Somalia, and Central African Republic.

“Except in Uganda years back, where one Joseph Kony of Lords’ Resistance Army(LRA) was reportedly kidnapped some school girls, where else in Africa and world at large has school girls become booties for insurgents like we witness in Nigeria.

“The developments in the tree geo-political zones of the North are panting Nigeria in a very bad light among the comity of nations, and a pointer to the fact that leaders in that region are not doing enough, they have refused to wake up from their slumber.

“Many of the Northern leaders at initial stage of insurgency covertly and parochially perceived it as a weapon in the hands of the region to fight government at the centre and negotiate, unfortunately, this eventually boomeranged, and they are presently at the receiving end.

“Intelligence reports have confirmed that Boko Haram insurgency has aggravated other criminal activities in the region, due to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and it’s militarised impact on the youths.

“Aside the three states of the North East, I mean Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, look at what is happening in Zamfara, Taraba, Kaduna, and Benue to name a few, the situation is getting worst by the day and leaders in the region have not deem it fit to come together and take a responsive and drastic action to curb the melee”, Itioye lamented.

The expert averred that the developments in the North East and other parts of the region is a big “global dent” for Nigeria, saying” other region might take a decisive steps to protect the image of their nations if the North fails to solve it own problem”.

He noted that there are bound to be a terrible humanitarian crisis in the region as a result of insurgency and herders/farmers clashes on the Benue valley, which in his words could consume the region.

“The sudden massacre and wanton destruction of property and farmlands in Benue state by alleged Fulani herdsmen is also a fallout of terrorism in the North East, you will agree with me that the conflicts between farmers and herdsmen in the Benue valley took another dangerous dimension during insurgency in the North, when supposedly local pastoralists suddenly became sophisticated weapon bearers.

“Also, look at the manner in which villages were sacked in the Southern Kaduna by alleged herdsmen, any right thinking individual must reason that there is more to it than meets the eye”.

Do you agree. are there things the northern leaders could have done differently?

Daily times