Nigeria @66: How Sokoto’s Governor treats security as duty, not slogan
By Lawal Jet Kaugama
Sixty-six years after the Union Jack came down, Nigeria still wrestles with questions its founding fathers hoped we would have answered by now.
Few of those questions weigh as heavily as security, and few leaders in the Nigeria are answering it with as much visible commitment as Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu.
In his Independence Day message, detailed in a statement by Abubakar Bawa, Director General, Media and Publicity, Government House, Sokoto, the Governor called for deeper collaboration between the Federal and State Governments against banditry and other criminality.
What stands out is that he did not simply appeal for help. He laid out what his administration has already put on the table.
The figures are concrete: over 200 patrol vehicles, 100 Buffalo Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), two bulletproof emirate vehicles, 200 motorcycles, 2,000 bulletproof vests, 200 night-vision goggles and 100 thermal-vision scopes.
The state also facilitated the full operationalisation of the Nigerian Air Force Base in Sokoto, upgraded the DSS tracker from 4G to 5G, and supported a military barracks in Illela and a Police Mobile Barracks at Tara village in Sabon Birni.
These are the actions of a leader who understands that security is a responsibility of the state, not a favour to be awaited from Abuja.
Behind every vehicle and every vest is a person. Think of the farmer in Sabon Birni who wants to return to his land before the rains, or the mother who wants to sleep without listening for footsteps at night. Think of the trader who wants his goods to reach the market, and profits earned, and the schoolchild whose only ambition is to reach the classroom and come home safely.
Insecurity is not an abstraction to them. It is the difference between a harvest and a funeral. That is why the Sokoto State Community Guard Corps matters.
Banditry thrives where the community is unknown to the state and the state is a stranger to the community.
By recruiting and equipping local men who know the footpaths, the settlements and the strangers, the Governor has put the first line of defence where it belongs, among the people it protects.
Providing 40 Hilux vans and 700 motorcycles for the Corps shows this is a serious institution and not a ceremonial one.
Credit is also due for the Governor’s honesty. He did not claim the war is won. He reassured the people of his determination to end banditry, and he asked citizens to rally around the effort.
He acknowledged the Federal Government’s support and asked that it be sustained. This is the language of a leader who knows the fight is collective and that pride has no place in the arithmetic of peace.
His reflection on Nigeria’s journey was equally measured. He spoke of the sacrifices of the founding fathers; men who endured prison, exile and ridicule so that their children could govern themselves. He admitted that the nation has seen many ups and downs, while insisting there have been real achievements. That balance is rare in a political climate that often swings between cynicism and propaganda.
Gratitude for the past and honesty about the present are the foundations of a better future.
Sokoto is no ordinary state. It is the seat of the Caliphate, a land of scholarship, faith and statecraft, and its stability affects the whole of the North.
A secure Sokoto means safer highways, steadier trade and calmer neighbours. Governor Aliyu seems to grasp that his work reaches beyond the state’s borders.
No one should pretend that equipment alone ends banditry. Lasting peace will also take intelligence-sharing, economic opportunity, education and reconciliation. But foundations matter, and the Aliyu administration is laying them, in vehicles, barracks, technology and community structures that will outlast any single season.
At 66, Nigeria needs fewer speeches and more leaders who show up with results. On the evidence of his Independence Day message, past activities, Governor Aliyu is writng his name among them.
Sokoto’s people have good reason to support him, and the rest of us have reason to watch, and to pray, that his resolve carries the day.
Happy 66th Independence Anniversary, Nigeria.
Lawal Jet Kaugama, a commentator on national issues, writes from Kano. He can be reached on [email protected]