The law of retribution caught up with the notorious militant, ‘General’ Don Waney’ Igwedibia Johnson yesterday. The curtain was drawn on his life of militancy, crime, kidnapping and illegal bunkering by patriotic security agents. His co-labourers in the vineyard of terror-Ikechukwu Adiele and Lucky Ode-also met their waterloo. Three AK-47 rifles and eight magazines were recovered from the men of the underworld. There was jubilation in Rivers State.
The mass murderers were killed in Enugu, a week after President Muhammadu Buhari directed security agencies to apprehend them and bring them to justice. Many Nigerians have commended the president, the Army and DSS men for acting decisively. To them, the majority cannot continue to be threatened by few miscreants.
It is believed that if their activities were not curtailed, they may snowball into a major crisis that may prove difficult to manage as the country approaches electioneering. The bad guys may become weapons in the hands of unscrupulous politicians to settle political scores and assault the ballot box.
The news may have been received with ambivalence. Although the inevitable security measure against the assassins smacked of a semblance of extra-judicial killing, in the opinion of some observers, the Army and the Department of State Service (DSS) explained that their men opened fire at the public enemies because they resisted arrest.
The murderous gang had plunged Rivers into sorrow on New Year’s Day when they attacked church worshippers, killing seven innocent people— in all 22 were killed. Relations of victims are yet to recover from the brutality.
As the Rivers criminals were on the prowl, herdsmen in the northern part of the country were building on their culture of mayhem. Scores of Nigerians were killed in Benue State. Also, in Borno and Adamawa, there is no respite to terror.
Many Nigerians want the perpetrators of the Benue mayhem to be brought to book . The herdsmen, according to observers, may be surrogate fighters funded silently by their sponsors.
What is the motivation for the endless killings? Where did they get their sophisticated weapons? Who are those behind them? Why has the trend persisted? Is there light at the end of the dark tunnel? Will heinous crimes abate, unless those financing them are not apprehended?
President Buhari has read the riot act. The Army and other security agencies are battle ready. They are working hand in hand to rescue the country. To them, the criminals have no hiding place.
However, security is a joint enterprise. Nigerians owe it a duty to assist security agents in apprehending the murderous herdsmen, armed robbers, unrepentant militants, kidnappers, cultists, and terrorists. They should be vigilant and participate in intelligence gathering that are critical to nailing the mass murderers.
Nation
