News Analysis
The visit of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, to Benue State, though symbolically significant, underscores a deeper crisis of military inefficacy and political inertia in Nigeria’s worsening security nightmare.
Governor Hyacinth Alia’s statement welcoming the army chief highlights the urgency of the situation: civilians are being slaughtered in their homes, farmlands are abandoned, and entire communities are under siege from armed herders, militias, and criminal gangs.
Yet, behind the familiar rhetoric of “assessing the situation,” “deployment of troops,” and “strategy meetings,” lies a pattern of performative military presence, one that rarely translates into tangible protection or lasting peace for affected populations.
While General Oluyede’s visit is framed as proactive, Nigerians have witnessed similar high-level tours in the past that ended with no discernible change on the ground, leaving many to question whether the top brass of the armed forces are simply buying time or truly prepared to take the fight to the enemy.
The military’s repeated failures to quell violence in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna, and other hotbeds of conflict raise pressing concerns about both capability and will, with allegations of collusion, compromise, or gross incompetence never far from public discourse.
Beneath the surface of military missteps lies a deeper political failing, President Bola Tinubu’s reluctance to overhaul the military hierarchy, despite its serial failures, signals a troubling compromise of national security for political survival.
In a country still haunted by its history of coups, Tinubu’s cautious stance toward the military high command appears driven more by fear of insubordination than a determination to end bloodshed, effectively holding Nigeria’s peace hostage to a fragile civil-military balance.
This dynamic, a security architecture unwilling to deliver results and a presidency afraid to shake the system, fosters impunity and leaves vulnerable communities like those in Benue trapped in cycles of violence.
Governor Alia’s appeal for calm and cooperation with security agencies is commendable, but such calls are increasingly met with skepticism from a populace worn down by repeated betrayals of trust and empty government promises.
Until both military and civilian leadership are held to account, and bold reforms undertaken without fear or favoritism, the theatre of insecurity in Nigeria will continue, with the blood of innocents staining the conscience of the nation.
The crisis in Benue is not just a regional issue; it is a symptom of a national failure, one that will not be solved by visits, vague assurances, or token deployments, but by a courageous overhaul of the entire security governance structure.
If Nigeria must reclaim peace, someone must finally bell the cat, even if it means rattling the generals.
