From the Chase of Looters to the Orchestration of Order
But then, as often happens here, politics bared its teeth and pushed him aside. Nearly twenty years later, the same man walks a new path. Same resolve. Different war.
The Language of Numbers and the Silence of Results
In the space of three months, the armed forces achieved the following:
- Sixty five commanders of terror taken down
- Over one thousand nine hundred militants killed
- Nearly two thousand eight hundred suspects arrested
- More than one thousand eight hundred captives rescued from darkness
These numbers speak softly but carry weight. They do not shout from podiums. They come from the dust and heat where soldiers stand between chaos and what remains of order.
And consider Ogoniland. For decades, oil exploration there was synonymous with blood. Now, for the first time in nearly thirty years, drilling has resumed. No gunshots. No smoke. Just work. Quiet work. The kind that heals.
The Return of Coordination in a Previously Broken Orchestra
What separates Ribadu from many who have held the post before him is not merely intellect or experience. It is instinct. The instinct to listen, to connect, to harmonise a cacophony into a single note.
For the first time in years, the military, the police, the air force, the navy, the DSS, and intelligence bodies are not operating like strangers forced into the same room. They are cooperating. Sharing intelligence. Planning together. Acting as one. The machinery is finally moving in rhythm.
Look to the southeast, where once the mere mention of IPOB or ESN turned men pale. Today, those groups are increasingly cornered. In the northwest, banditry is losing its swagger. The responses are swift, coordinated, deliberate. What was once patchwork has become a quilt. And in that quiet stitching lies the return of state authority.
It Is Not Paradise Yet, But There Is Purpose
Let us not fall into delusion. There are still tears in the fabric. Attacks still occur. Entire communities remain on edge. In many regions, sleep is still interrupted by distant gunfire. These are not illusions. They are the lived realities of people who have seen too much.
But something has changed. Intelligence gathering is no longer an exercise in hindsight. Threats are being intercepted before they manifest. The DSS and NIA are preventing crises that will never make headlines. Cross-border weapons are being stopped before they become tools of sorrow.
Of course, the work is not perfect. Concerns have been raised, rightly so, about how some operations are carried out. And the police, along with immigration, still struggle beneath the weight of bureaucracy and inefficiency. But this time, something feels different. The silence is not apathy. It is attention. Someone is watching. Someone is acting.
The Wind Beneath the Strategy
All this would crumble without political will. But President Bola Tinubu has chosen to throw his weight behind the security structure, and it shows. Not just in speeches but in the speed of budget approvals, in the urgency of arms procurement, and in the accountability demanded of service chiefs.
This is not the old game of pass-the-blame. This is responsibility backed by power. And in that rare alignment, results are blooming.
Why This Moment Matters
Because without security, there is no life. Schools shutter. Roads empty. Markets rot. Hope becomes a fugitive. Even the most poetic democracy dies when people cannot sleep in peace.
What Ribadu and his team are doing is not merely a war against terror. It is a slow, patient rebuilding of the right to live. To gather. To dream.
For the first time in many years, there is a whisper rising. Not a cheer, but a cautious murmur. A question that perhaps things might change. That this nation, so battered by its own hands, might yet find a rhythm of peace.
And if we nurture this fragile moment, if we support those who protect us, demand honesty from those who lead us, and continue to lean toward unity instead of division, then maybe—just maybe—we will arrive at a place where Nigerians do not just endure.
They will live. And live fully.
