The sleepy ancient town of Owo was thrown into mourning on Sunday when gunmen suspected to be kidnappers attacked a Catholic Church in the town killing many people and kidnapping reverend father.
That police men claimed not to have security vehicle to mobilise to the scene on time shows the fundamental logistics issues confronting police and policing in Nigeria despite increasing security budget.
This killings must go beyond condemnation from the Governors and Federal Government. The southwest must rework its internal security framework and protect her borders. They must not negotiate the lives of their people on the platter of politics.
Victims of this crime must be assisted by government while the criminals behind the attacks must be tracked, arrested and prosecuted.
The responsibility to protect is the sole responsibility of government and failure to do that shows misfit. We cannot continue to compromise the safety of lives of Nigerians while criminals have field day. The security community should be alerted of new wave of kidnapping of priests.
Citizens must be protected to have trust in government. When people are not secured, they will run away from their places of residence, employ self help or become captured by criminals.
We cannot and must not allow this to happen. It is sad that police could not intervene on time. This has now caused health emergency in Owo. Emergency response system is poor and this incident will also expose our health infrastructure deficit. What have people benefitted from government? A government that cannot provide security, health, power and quality infrastructure for her people has failed. Southwest must stand up and protect her people, a successful attack in Owo can influence attacks elsewhere in the zone due to their proximity. We must clear bushes on highways and communities and ask questions from new faces.
With 2023 around the corner, weapons and amunitions are being moved. And criminals are also migrating to other areas in the country including southwest. We cannot afford to compromise our zone. Government of Nigeria must protect Nigerians but southwest governors must protect their zone from security threats and terror attacks.
Dr. Oludayo Tade
Criminologist,
Department of Sociology
University of Ibadan.
