By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

WHAT is nicely called “Kwara Massacre” involves the termination of an indeterminate number of lives in a 17-hour attack on Woro and Nuku, in the northern parts of the State. The killings would only add to the list of such abbreviation of lives in parts of Nigeria.

Is there any difference between 75 people, the government’s figure or the over 200 people that community leaders give, supporting it with “we are still burying bodies by Thursday”?

All these amount to indifference. The number of human beings killed means nothing to those who have sworn by the Constitution that the “security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government”.

With insecurity ravaging the land, how have “security and welfare of the people” reflected as a purpose of government?

Did it matter if five lives or one million were deleted in the attacks that went unchallenged? No. Lives do not matter.

The trite and tired lines governments use in addressing the killing of Nigerians have become familiar and drained of any atom of empathy. The hollowness of these speeches echoes long after they are made only interrupted by the next killings.

How many should be killed for the government to act? What would make government to act?

Nothing. The excuses are the evidence that again, nothing would be done. Nothing would be done whether to punish the criminals or protect the residents of Woro, Nuku, and other Nigerians who fall easy prey to these attacks because our governments do not care.

Why would Kwara be attacked? It is an APC State that has enjoyed the dividends of APC governance since 2015. While the supposed explanation for Governors decamping to APC is for their people to be beneficiaries of APC’s governance, Kwara proves that all those excuses are mere ruses.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not care about you and I. Governance for him is dispersal of resources as he pleases mostly to make the point that he is the President.

His statement that he had deployed a battalion of the Nigerian Army to Kwara State sounds well. Sadly, it means nothing and confirms that governments do not listen to the people.

Battalions of soldiers cannot secure Kwara. Like other parts of Nigeria that come under these attacks, soldiers and the security agencies fail to protect the people for whatever reasons.

Old complaints surfaced in Woro and Nuku. The people had expected rescue from an army barrack at the nearby Kainji Dam. Nothing happened.

What was the outcome of the investigations of who ordered withdrawal of soldiers from Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School, Maga, Danko Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State moments before the school was attacked in 2025?

“The military didn’t order their withdrawal; military authorities are investigating,” Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle had said. “I am confirming to you that soldiers who reportedly withdrew from the school before the attack are in military custody. If they are found wanting, they will face the military court martial,” said Matawalle,” a former Governor of Zamfara State.

“As a responsive government, when we received intelligence on a possible attack, we summoned a security meeting. The security agencies assured us that all was well and that personnel would be mobilised to the school.

“The military was deployed, but they later withdrew by 3 a.m., and by 3:45 am, the incident happened,” Kebbi State Governor Nadir Idris said.

“Who authorised the military to withdraw?” How did security personnel pull out at such a critical time? That is our concern. We have asked the military to investigate and identify who gave that order,” Governor Idris asked.

The 25 school g”rls taken from Maga were returned safely. The Governor has not got any answers since the abduction last November.

Kebbi, like Kwara State, is an APC, awash with the great governance that the party’s manifesto promises.

Governor Dauda Lawal has severally challenged the federal government to fight banditry in the region, expressing how helpless he is as a Governor.

“I swear to Almighty Allah, wherever a bandits’ leader is located within Zamfara State, I know it and if he goes out, I know. With my mobile phone, I can show you where and where these bandits are today. But we cannot do anything beyond our powers.

“If today, I have the power to give orders to the security agencies, I can assure you, we will end banditry in Zamfara State within two months. Most of the time, I shed tears for my people because I can see a problem but because I don’t have control over the security agencies, I cannot order the security operatives to act in time.

“There was a time, the bandits invaded Shinkafi local government and I was sitting here when the security operatives were alerted but they refused to go to Shinkafi simply because they were not given orders from Abuja. This is the problem we are facing but we trust God and surely, He will come to our rescue,” he added.

What was the federal government’s response to Lawal’s concerns? Silence. Tinubu would not work with a Governor who can track the movement of bandits. Is the app with which Governor Lawal monitors bandits unavailable to the President?

APC’s interests in Zamfara are elsewhere. It is a PDP State and recovering it in 2027 is more important than the security of the people.

“I am … the representative of Zamfara in the federal government,” Matawalle told DCL Hausa last November. “He (Lawal) bypassed me to meet (Mohammed) Badaru (Minister of Defence). I can tell you it will amount to nothing.”

Zamfara is the centre of illegal solid materials mining, gold in particular. Insecurity provides good cover for illegal mining which in turn funds more insecurity. Tinubu is not interested in solving the problem.

The solution Is not the of number boots on the ground. How the boots are deployed is important. Government must also have the balls to punish those whose actions and inactions make these attacks and killing of Nigerians easier.

Kwara bandits will be a tougher nut to crack. The attackers are not the ransom-demanding ones. The offence of those killed in Kwara was that they reportedly refused to convert to new Islamic doctrines. The penalty was death.

The Kwara group is not for kinetic approach. What is next? Tinubu is overwhelmingly committed to the 2027 election – nothing else matters.

Nigerians have renewed their hope on the United States to fight the bandits or at least frighten them. The President, Commander-in-Chief, as always, is absent even when he has not travelled.

Finally…

• GUILT led Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio to explain the difference between the Senate “rejecting” electronic transmission of the results of the 2027 election and the amended version of the Electoral Act. Nigerians want electronic transmission clearly stated as the mode of sending the results, not as a suggestion to INEC not as an alternative, but the only way. If the Electoral Act was clear and specific, would Akpabio be a Senator today. And Senate President? Do you think Akpabio has forgotten how he won his Senate seat in 2023?

• FIRST Lady Oluremi Tinubu considers American President Donald Trump mentioning her presence at the Republican Party prayer event as respect for Nigerian leaders abroad while they are maligned at home. Was Mrs. Tinubu unaware that Trump was acknowledging the $9 million – over N13 billion – that her husband paid Republican lobbyists? “Nigeria is built on love, unity, and collective effort toward shared success. Let us come together to support our respected leaders and work hand in hand with them to make our country great,” she stated in a social media post. This picture of Nigeria “built on love, unity, and collective effort toward shared success” exists only in the heads of the likes of Mrs. Tinubu who live in a different country from Nigeria, our own dear native land. Friends of the First Lady should start the receptions in recognition of the great leader Trump recognised. What a great leader she is.

•Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues.

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