With imminent threats by terrorist groups to launch attacks in the country’s capital, Abuja and other cities, Ahmad Salkida, the publisher of HumAngle has called on the federal government to take necessary action before it is too late.
Salkida in a Twitter post, referencing a security alarm raised by the US Advisory Council, said the threat is real and there is a need for the government to put in measures to combat it.
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According to him, it is easy for the terror groups such as Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram to plan attacks in the country and carried them out unchallenged owing to the failure of the government to do the needful.
Salkida argued that the renewed threat is different from the one Abuja had experienced in the past.
Today’s ISWAP, he said, has an expansionist agenda, not limited to their fixation on territorial control in the Lake Chad basin as they had far more sophistication than what Boko Haram did in pre-2015 when Abuja came under attack.
“ISWAP has global networks; the goal is no longer limited to local targets but also international interests,” Salkida said. “That’s why the diplomatic community in Abuja is on overdrive. However, the alertness and preparedness of security agencies within Abuja today are greater than in the pre-2015 era. But don’t get me wrong, we will all be fooling ourselves if we think Abuja will be spared from the insecurity spreading like wildfire across the country.”
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“If the roller coaster killings and adductions across the country are not contained sooner or later, the FCT residents will have to endure what other Nigerians have struggled with for many years”, he continued. “While it is essential to take urgent and drastic measures to secure the country including the FCT, with physical security measures, investment to address social and economic inequality has to be the government’s top priority. Otherwise, we may not need an advisory from the US or UK to know something is wrong; we may all end up as IDPs in our own country.”
