No sheriff in town so bandits/terrorists kill as they please, By Jibrin Ibrahim

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If President Tinubu had kept his inauguration-day promise that he would focus on providing security for Nigerians, we would not be where we are today. Precisely because there is no Sheriff in town, bandits/terrorists are emboldened and are killing and aiming Nigerians as they please. This tendency must be reversed.

It is profoundly sad and frightening that bandit/terrorists are winning the war against the Nigerian State and people, while our leaders and security personnel watch helplessly. Clearly, there is no Sheriff in town. At the level of symbols, particular notice should be taken of the armed attack and killing of security personnel at the top elite institution for the training of the cream of the security and state governing cadres of Nigeria, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru (NIPSS). On Monday night, there was a gun battle between the bandits/terrorists and security personnel stationed at the institute.

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NIPSS is Nigeria’s foremost policy institute. Senior government officials, including those in the military, the police, and the public service, are required to undergo a summit-preparing leadership course at the institute. The attack was a political statement, proclaiming that we bandits/terrorists can do anything we want and nothing can be done to stop us.

The other symbol was the kidnap and killing of General Rabe Abubakar (rtd). He was laid to rest in Katsina this week. The retired General was abducted by bandits, alongside his wife, along the Marabar Musawa-Kafinsoli road in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State, on 30 May. It was painful to watch the video circulated by the bandits showing him and his wife at their mercy and suffering, as if to taunt the Nigerian State that: he is in our custody and you cannot save him. Mr Rabe Abubakar had served the country but the country could not save him when he needed its help. It was another moment of shame for Nigerians, who once again lost a very senior officer; a reality that has happened so many times in recent years.

Maybe pushed by the anger of Nigerians and the shame they felt, the military made a supreme effort and liberated Abubakar’s wife. That action posed the question we all pose on a daily basis: why did they not act earlier to save him also. It was painful reading the statement issued last Saturday by the Defence Headquarters, describing the late Mr Rabe as a committed officer who contributed immensely to counter-insurgency operations in the country, saying his commitment to duty and the unity of Nigeria would continue to remain a shining example to all personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Precisely for these reasons, they should have saved his life.

A small percentage of the resources currently being used to destabilise opposition forces would have made a difference in increasing the size of the armed forces and providing state of the art equipment and weapons to defeat the bandits/terrorists. The insurgents are not stronger than the Nigerian State, but the stark reality is that the State is not investing sufficient resources towards defeating them.

The real problem is that insecurity has been left to grow, spread and deepen all over the country, and the emerging realty is that the bandits/terrorists are now so strong that they are overwhelming the forces of the Nigerian State. The reason we are confronted with this challenge is that we have a self-serving ruling class that is more focused on looting the country’s treasury than providing resources to intensify the war against the bandits/terrorists.

A small percentage of the resources currently being used to destabilise opposition forces would have made a difference in increasing the size of the armed forces and providing state of the art equipment and weapons to defeat the bandits/terrorists. The insurgents are not stronger than the Nigerian State, but the stark reality is that the State is not investing sufficient resources towards defeating them. We have a ruling class that does not have a sufficient sense of enlightened self-interest to save the goose that is laying the golden eggs they are consuming. Over the last three years, enormous financial resources have been deployed by the Nigerian State to attract, bribe, cajole and even, more seriously, to threaten opposition politicians to abandon their parties and join the ruling party. The government is laser-focused on providing a second tenure for President Tinubu, rather than providing security and safety for the Nigerian people. That is our core problem.

The latest twist in this run of play was the judgment by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in a suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, seeking to compel INEC to deregister key opposition parties for alleged failure to meet constitutional performance thresholds under section 225A of the Constitution. The legal basis for this is not absurd in itself, because section 225A gives INEC the power to deregister parties that fail to meet specified thresholds, and the Supreme Court has previously upheld INEC’s power to deregister non-performing parties under that provision. The political and legal problem was that the judgment was not based on the facts of the case, as some of the parties targeted have clear evidence of electoral performance. The key target, the major opposition coalition, ADC, had, for example, won the Yagba Federal Constituency House of Representatives election in 2023. APP also reportedly won 22 chairmanship seats in the 2024 Rivers local government elections, and ZLP won 15 of 17 local government areas in Abia’s 2024 local elections.

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Following the Court of Appeal’s decision to reverse the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress and four other parties on Monday, ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark, was right in stating that it was the judiciary that was on trial, as it was essentially an abuse of the powers of incumbency to apparently pressure judges into making illegal judgements that would favour the ruling party.

Justice Lifu’s judgement was declared to be essentially a case of judicial rascality, because the Court of Appeal had already stayed proceedings in this deregistration suit and the Federal High Court had no power to declare the judgement it made. INEC had been obliged to appeal the judgement because of the implications the case had for the reputation of the election, in which key opposition political parties would be prevented from participation. Following the Court of Appeal’s decision to reverse the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress and four other parties on Monday, ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark, was right in stating that it was the judiciary that was on trial, as it was essentially an abuse of the powers of incumbency to apparently pressure judges into making illegal judgements that would favour the ruling party.

It was good that the Court of Appeal in Abuja ordered a stay of execution of the judgment that directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the ADC, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance, Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party, while delivering a stinging rebuke to Justice Lifu for flouting a 22 May appellate court order restraining him from delivering the ruling. It stated clearly that: “The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.”

If President Tinubu had kept his inauguration-day promise that he would focus on providing security for Nigerians, we would not be where we are today. Precisely because there is no Sheriff in town, bandits/terrorists are emboldened and are killing and aiming Nigerians as they please. This tendency must be reversed.

A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.