The current global security environment is increasingly becoming complex and dynamic due to the activities of non-state actors who have become the major source of conflict all over the world. Add to this is the upsurge in intra-state crisis and conflicts as well as the entanglement between domestic and international threats which have compounded the security challenges.

Africans are containing terror and terrorists, in addition to the rise of repetitive civil conflict in such desperate African countries as Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan, dangerous depredations of Islamist terror continue to shake Somalia, Kenya, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Nigeria is currently facing multiple security challenges that are spread across the major regions of the country. None of the regions in Nigeria is insulated from one crisis or the other. For instance, there are the lingering challenges of terrorism, cattle rustling, armed banditry, kidnappings, arms and IED proliferation and other sundry crimes such as armed robbery in the North East Region.

There are also the threats of armed robbery, insurgency, ethno religious disturbances, cattle rustling, kidnappings and political crisis among other menaces in the North Western part of Nigeria.

Incidences of militancy, arms proliferation, illegal oil bunkering, sea piracy, oil thefts, kidnappings and pipeline vandalization/sabotage, armed robbery, cultism and political violence are serious security challenges in the South-South Zone and the Delta Region. So also are the challenges of farmers-herdsmen clashes, cattle rustling, ethnic tension, and the influx of mercenaries and arms flow in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States.

Here in the South Eastern Region, we have security threats such as kidnappings, armed robbery, communal crisis, cultism, herdsmen-farmers clashes, the proliferation of arms, political disturbances and the disturbing activities of MOSSOB and the outlawed IPOB groups.

Recently, we are witnesses to the emerging trend of the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in pursuit of political objectives.

In the midst of these challenges, the Nigerian Army (NA) has a constitutional duty to effectively checkmate these complex national security threats. While in the South East, the NA through the 82 Division, in conjunction with other security agencies have contained these threats to manageable proportion, in the North East and other parts of Nigeria, the NA is fully involved in far more complex security threats such as insurgency, terrorism, cyber threats, militancy, arms and IED proliferation and ethno-religious conflicts.

The relevant security agencies must, therefore, continue to seek new ways and means to consistently mitigate the new challenges and provide an effective deterrence. Consequently, the NA under Lt Gen TY Buratai proactively and consistently appraised the numerous security threats across the nation, initiated and conducted several Field Training Exercises and Operations with the major aim of containing the threats.

These exercises were deliberately initiated and conducted with an overarching aim of checkmating identified security challenges in the regions where they were carried out. In this regard, Exercise SHIRIN HARBI, for example, was originally staged from 17- 19 April 2016 in 3 Division Area of Responsibility to take care of the insurgency, cattle rustling and armed banditry common in parts of the North Eastern Region. In the same vein, Exercise HARBIN KUNAMA was held in 1 Division Area of Responsibility from 9-15 July 2016 to rid the general area of the North West Region of banditry, insurgency, religious insurrection, armed robbery and cattle rustling among other menaces.

Also, Exercise CROCODILE SMILE was conducted originally from 5-10 September 2016 in the Niger Delta Region by a combination of 2 and 82 Divisions with the major aim of reducing incidences of illegal bunkering, piracy, the influx of arms, pipeline vandalization, kidnappings and other criminalities across the entire region.

Similarly, here in the South Eastern Region, Exercise PYTHON DANCE was initially carried out from 27 November – 27 December 2016. The peculiar security challenges in the region such as kidnappings, armed robbery, cultism, farmers-herdsmen clashes, communal conflicts, traffic gridlock particularly at the Asaba-Onitsha Head Bridge and the violent secessionist agitation among others were the targets of the exercise.

On the whole, these exercises were successfully conducted as the objectives of the exercises/operations were greatly achieved. For that reason, all the exercises are now scheduled NA training exercises which are being conducted annually in the various regions of the nation.

We may recall that despite the initial disinformation, agitation and misplaced apprehension about Exercise PYTHON DANCE in 2016 and now Exercise EGWU EKE 11 in 2017, the record of achievements of the exercise are many and are acknowledged by well-meaning Nigerians up to today.

One major achievement is in the area of peace and security. Due to the intensity of patrols, roadblocks, raids and other activities in the Military Line of Operation, miscreants and criminals were denied freedom of action in the entire South Eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. The account of peace, law and order and secure environment in the entire South Eastern Region occasioned by the exercise was widely circulated by the media among others and is being enjoyed up to today.

Therefore, in view of the obvious security threats in the South East such as kidnappings, cultism, armed robbery, communal conflict, farmers-herdsmen clashes, political violence and secessionist agitation as well as the emerging dangerous trend of the use of IED as seen in the recent explosion in Ohanaeze leaders’ compound,  a catholic church and a popular yam market, there is the need for members of the public especially the media to be more watchful,  so as to sensitize the public on the disturbing trend and the necessity for partnership with the security agencies with the view to collectively and effectively contain these challenges.

Finally, in the midst of all these security threats, it is obvious that the South East Zone is the most peaceful region in Nigeria. Major security challenges that could have dramatically disturb the peace; security and stability of the region have been effectively silenced. Consequently, there is the need for the various tiers of government, security agencies, Civil Society Organizations, media and members of the public to collectively cooperate to improving if not sustaining the current security situation.

Colonel Sagir Musa, Deputy Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, gave this remark at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Media Summit, Held in Owerri, Imo State on June 14, 2018.

Though a political masterstroke, the timing of the national honour investiture on Chief MKO Abiola by President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to be enmeshed in controversy. Proponents and opponents of the event have their points; but we lose the relevance of that electoral epoch if we disregard the fact that June 12 has become a national paradox that epitomises the dark and bright side of our democracy.
The annulled presidential election represents the resilience of the Nigerian people amidst the shackles of military dictatorship. When hope was lost and the citizens were tired of the trampling of their rights; they stood on the side of democracy. For once, a nation that was being invaded by demons of religious violence buried the hatchet and stood behind a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
From Borno to Lagos; Katsina to Port Harcourt; Calabar to Sokoto; and Ibadan to Adamawa; the electorate marched with the Hope ’93 Campaign Team. When it seemed obvious that that late Are Ona Kakanfo was coasting to victory, the military reversed our expected dawn of hope and replaced it with a moment of despondency. The annulment exposed the underbelly of some politicians whose sole pre-occupation in politics is to grab power.
No doubt, Buhari’s choice of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi for the national award is in recognition of his struggles not just for June 12, but for the masses. The acceptance by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe who served as Foreign Affairs Minister in the Abacha military regime and thereafter Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under President Umaru Yar’Adua, proved a heavy blow against the June 12 struggle. To Kingibe’s critics, honouring the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) with the GCON award amounted to honouring Judas.
The presence of Senator Jonathan Zwingina, who served as Director General of Hope ’93 Campaign Organisation, at the event proved that politics and prostitution  could be bedmates. It was Zwingina who quickly renounced the June 12 struggle to become a commissioner in Adamawa State. His speech at the investiture ceremony is akin to Brutus’ justification of the assassination of Julius Caesar.
The absence of Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who was the Chief Midwife of June 12 Miscarriage, was an irredeemable mistake. For those who are quick to describe the chief electoral umpire as a coward, I only pray for them not to have an encounter with a bandit. According to his account as contained in his book, Professor Nwosu came under an unprecedented pressure to keep silent. He must have taken to the advice of Professor Chinua Achebe who said, “It is good to be fearless my son, but sometimes it is good to be a coward; for we often stand in the compound of a coward to point at a ruin where a great man used to live.”
Professor Wole Soyinka must have been miffed at the presence of some of these politicians who had come to a feast to brighten their prospects ahead of 2019 polls. He recalled the selfless efforts Ola Oni in  rallying other nameless Nigerians to stake out their lives in defiance of the military over the annulment. For justice to be served, Soyinka advocated for the setting up of Halls of Fame and Shame to appropriately recall the roles played by various people.
The June 12 struggle is the most profound movement that threatened Nigeria’s oppressive forces as it propelled our people to take control of their destiny. As Senator Bola Tinubu rightly noted, June 12 was not a South-west affair as some have tried to paint it. Victims of the June 12 annulment cut across ethnic, religious and social status. Any deliberate ploy to ethnicise the struggle will amount to a grievous injustice to those nameless people who lost their lives in the struggle.
The trajectory to June 12 victory was the fallout of a bridge-building process by Abiola that spanned several decades of service to the Nigerian people. Permit me a little digression to explain one of those nameless acts of kindness by Abiola that made June 12 a reality. In 1981, the absence of a bridge at the Kolosok stream in Kamuru Ikulu, then in Kachia Local Government of old Kaduna State, had led to loss of lives during raining season. With the people poor and government not responding to their plight, the people came up with the idea of organising an appeal fund, with Abiola as the Chief Launcher.
Somehow, by struck of a magic, an invite was delivered to the generous money bag through Rev Father Matthew Hassan Kukah. He was said to have promised to honour the event. On the day of the ceremony, the man who was expected to cough out large chunk of the expected fund was nowhere close to the venue of the event. Organisers of the ceremony had to scan through the assembly to see if there was anyone sent to represent the owner of Concord Newspapers. Finding none, the organisers caved in to despair. Hope of many months of planning to end the death trap at Kolosok began to fizzle out.
With the people tired of waiting for someone whose name was then only heard on radio, they proceeded with the ceremony. After few remarks, the anchor of the ceremony enquired if someone was in the assembly to represent Abiola as the Chief launcher. To the embarrassment of many at the event, a scrawny fellow dressed in clothes unworthy of being an Abiola representative stood up.
When the fellow announced Abiola’s donation, not many ears were attentive as they had given up on the man who needed a decent hair cut and good clothes. To make matter worst, he told the disappointed faces that he was a journalist working for the Hausa Community Concord in Zaria. He told the gathering that his boss had to be away for another important event.
When he announced Abiola’s donation to the gathering, a moment of surreal silence blew over the people who before now had been mourning the absence of Abiola. Shout of joy broke through the gathering when the Master of ceremony announced that Chief MKO Abiola had donated the entire amount needed by the organisers of the appeal fund launching committee. Abiola, in his absence, had brought hope to a land threatened by Kolosok stream. In his worn-out bag, the representative brought out bundles of money that sent an excitement through the crowd. The scrawny fellow with a faded bag became a magician. One of the men in the gathering, Baba Sheyin, who had regained his cheerful disposition, said, “A man who can reach out to a fellow man in anguish and bring hope is not just a man; he is a leader”.
Over a decade later, it was pay-back time. The Hope ’93 Team had arrived Kamuru Ikulu and reminded the people that the man who built the Kolosok Bridge was on the ballot for the June 12, 1993 presidential poll. Despite criticism that Abiola was running a Muslim-Muslim ticket, Baba Sheyin said, “Even if it is the Grand Sheikh of the Mecca Mosque that is on the ticket with Abiola, we shall still vote for him. He saved us when there was none to help us.”
Days before June 12, 1993, words had gone round that anyone that was a true son of the Ikulu Nation must vote for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to reciprocate the kind gesture of Kolosok Bridge Builder. The queues for the ‘horse party’ (SDP) in the various polling units were long, compared to the few faces on the National Republican Convention (NRC) queues at various polling units.
“May you fall off from the Kolosok Bridge as you cross it next time”, a voice screamed against the NRC queue in a particular polling unit.
Baba Sheyin and many old men who remembered the generosity of the multi-millionaire were dumbstruck when news came that the June 12 poll had been annulled. One of Baba Sheyin’s friends was heard heaping curses on all those behind the annulment.
Back to our discourse. Abiola did not only walk, but worked his way into the hearts of Nigerians by demonstrating generosity and assisting the citizens to tackle challenges confronting them on various fronts. Though coming from a poverty-stricken background, he knew the pangs of wretchedness and was committed to ending it. Unlike some of our political leaders who escaped poverty by the whiskers, political power has been turned into a platform of advancing pecuniary interest to ruin the future of the country. Abiola invested in Nigeria because he believed in the nation. He provided jobs to thousands and shared in the dream for a greater Nigeria where wretchedness is banished and the nation’s resources deployed to serve the needs and not the greed of a few controlling the levers of power.
As patriots and political villains assembled to honour the memory of the man who paid the supreme price for democracy, we must not lose sight of what June 12 symbolises. It was a movement for the emancipation of the citizens from the primordial forces that seek to destroy the dream for a prosperous and just Nigeria.
Our leaders and those who assembled to honour Abiola should honestly answer these questions: Would Abiola endorse the mass murders that have turned our country into a hair-rising cynosure of killing field? Would Abiola accept our present condition of cascading poverty where no fewer than nine million jobs have been lost in the last three years? Would the winner of the June 12 presidential poll accept a situation where some state governments sack thousands of workers in a bid to provide for the feeding of primary pupils? Would Abiola not have revolted against the cries of marginalisation and outright discrimination on the basis of ethnic and religious factors tearing the fabric of our nation apart? Would Abiola have accepted a situation where the executive and legislative arms are almost at war at a time when all hands ought to be on deck?
The investiture may have come and gone, but the controversy may not fizzle for a long while to come. June 12 is not a memory; it is a flame of inspiration to move Nigeria forward, no matter its imperfections.

Simon Reef can be reached through: simonreef927@gmail.com