In May, the United States government released a report that unmasked the terrible underbelly of terrorist violence in Nigeria. In its report titled “Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants”, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) revealed that the Fulani terrorists troubling Nigeria number about 30,000. The report documents attacks involving killings, kidnappings, destruction of villages, displacement of communities, and attacks on places of worship, particularly in states such as Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and Niger. Before then, in November last year, the global media had covered the gory spectacle of gunmen attacking the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in Eruku, Kwara State. In that dastardly episode, the attackers killed two worshippers and the church’s pastor, while abducting dozens of others. The attacks were part of a deadly plot to terrorize Yoruba communities in Kwara State.

If these two episodes illustrate anything, it is that the global community is conversant with the terror situation in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, I watched videos of the Eruku attack on global news platforms. Given this background, it is illogical to posit that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde’s call for global scrutiny of the recent abduction saga in Oriire LGA of the state amounts to inviting global interference in Nigeria’s domestic issues or exposing Nigeria to ridicule. The global community is already heavily invested in Nigeria’s security affairs, and Nigeria is a signatory to treaties and conventions that invite global oversight.

Beyond this basic understanding, you cannot but notice the hypocrisy and highhandedness of the present rulers. In April 2013, members of the defunct ACN actually called on the ICC to probe and prosecute the then president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, over the insecurity in the country. During the Chibok girls’ episode, they weaponised the abduction to rubbish his administration on the global stage. They drew support from high-profile figures like Michelle Obama, British PM David Cameron, etc. They framed national insecurity as a failure of the Jonathan government and, at a stage, even hosted the then U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, completely bypassing diplomatic channels. At the time, they never blamed the abduction of schoolgirls on the then governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima — now Vice President — and did not see their actions as undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty.

Today, the same individuals, supervising a security profile that is far worse than anything Nigeria experienced under Jonathan, have suddenly turned into emergency protectors of Nigeria’s sovereignty — the same sovereignty they never mention when they beg the international community for loans and aid. As 19th-century orator Robert G. Ingersoll said: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Hmmm..

In his call for global — not strictly UN — scrutiny of the Oriire incident, the Oyo State Governor did not incite Nigerians and the international community against the Presidency, something the then opposition did with gusto. He merely demonstrated what the French theorist René Descartes called methodological skepticism. The key question, as Descartes framed it, is this: “Can my senses deceive me?” In other words, is there something to see beyond what seems apparent? Methodological skepticism, to echo a famous line in T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, is actually “not worth forgetting”.

Methodological skepticism is not about denying reality; it is about temporarily withholding belief in order to test what can be known with certainty. By the same token, Governor Makinde is not saying that an abduction did not happen, nor that a rescue did not take place. What he is calling for is an investigation of the overarching circumstances, because the entire episode raises legitimate questions. Hear him: “The circumstances surrounding this incident are sufficiently grave and unusual to warrant independent scrutiny beyond our domestic institutions. I, therefore, with a full sense of responsibility as the Executive Governor of Oyo State, call on the appropriate international human rights and accountability mechanisms, including those within the United Nations system, to closely examine the facts surrounding this abduction and the circumstances of its resolution. Such scrutiny is not intended to undermine our institutions.”

Following this statement, President Bola Tinubu’s supporters and members of the opposition have made two diametrically opposed, categorical claims, namely that:  (a) “Makinde is saying that the attack was staged and therefore falsely accusing the FG of complicity”, and  (b) “Makinde is saying the attack was staged and, therefore, the FG is actually complicit.” Attractive as these options are, they do not convey Makinde’s position, which is, quite simply, that “this incident warrants scrutiny”. Now, the scrutiny may eventually lead to any conclusion, but it is completely disingenuous and unintellectual to sidestep the initial step: inquiry.

Now then, is an inquiry called for? Absolutely. Like in the case of the PFIPC scandal in which a lone individual allegedly conned the Federal Government, got office accommodation in the Federal Secretariat, and obtained budgetary allocation for a fake agency, the Oriire incident also invites certain questions. Terrorists abducted schoolchildren and their principal, kept them “under the sun and in the rain” for 56 grueling days, killed security personnel with landmines, and were eventually arrested by troops after a large-scale operation involving special teams from the Armed Forces, DSS, NIA, the Police, NSCDC, Amotekun, and others, some of whom lost their lives during the operation. Now, basic questions arise: How were the terrorists able to beat security networks and storm the affected schools? When and how did they lay the landmines that killed the deceased security operatives? If, as Mrs. Rachael Alamu, the school principal abducted during the raid, said, the terrorists “knew their way” around the Old Oyo National Park — and Air Force drones, as the GOC, 2 Division, Major-General Chinedu Nnebeife, said, could not identify the victims’ precise location— when and how did they accomplish this? What food and water did the captives survive on? The Oriire incident certainly cannot be reduced to a case of “abduction and rescue, full stop”. No. People must talk. Nigerians deserve to have the details.

In any case, while the children were in captivity, Ayodele Fayose, a presidential ally, pointedly accused Governor Makinde of staging the incident to embarrass the Presidency. I addressed this issue in my piece, “Ayodele Fayose’s criminal incitement to violence in Oyo State”. Sunday Igboho and a horde of other characters also levelled sundry allegations against Makinde, saying that he was impeding the rescue of the captives. Now that the captives are back home, how can it be offensive that the Oyo governor is trying to clear his name by inviting the international community to scrutinise the incident? Kudos to President Tinubu and the security agencies. They have done well. But again, I return to Descartes: Is there anything to see beyond what we think we are seeing in the Oriire incident?

I end this piece with Makinde’s call: “The Nigerian people deserve a full and transparent account of what happened, who was responsible, whether there were institutional failures, negligence, or collusion at any level, and what measures must now be taken to ensure that no community is ever subjected to such an ordeal again.”