Nigeria can be likened to a cat with nine lives as it emerged from a protracted civil war, bloody religious uprisings, and political troubles not dismembered. However, some countries, which are heterogeneous as Nigeria, had disintegrated. Eritrea pulled out of Ethiopia after fighting political battles; and Sudan split into two, with South Sudan emerging from it. But can Nigeria continue existing as one indivisible and united country for a long indefinite time?
Nobody can correctly hazard a guess. However, the bloody happenings in Nigeria are auguries of impending apocalypse. Today, Nigeria is gripped by the jugular by Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East; banditry in the North-West; the Fulani herders’ murderous deeds; kidnappings; inter-tribal conflicts; and other sundry crimes. These security challenges, which are undermining our national unity and cohesion, are asphyxiating life out of Nigeria. Today, the country is inching close to becoming a fragile state.
For example, the Boko Haram insurgents, who want to create an Islamic theocracy in Nigeria, hold sway in the North-East. Unfortunately, there is no let-up in their bloodletting campaign. They kill people by detonating bombs in public places filled with people. More so, till now, hundreds of kidnapped school girls are still in their captivity. The government, charged with eradicating crimes, has abysmally failed to stem the tide of the Boko Haram insurgence.
Until recently, bandits turned vast areas of Zamfara State into ungovernable places. They would kill people with reckless abandon. Thankfully, now, the government is reining in the activities of the bandits in the North-West through a bizarre approach of negotiation.
In addition to the aforementioned security challenges, the ubiquitous Fulani herders seem to be on a killing spree in many parts of Nigeria. They kill members of their host communities, especially farmers. In addition to this, they desecrate the sanctity of womanhood by raping women, indiscriminately. Sadly, they’re seldom brought to justice.
To make matters worse, there are suspicions that some members of the security outfits are complicit in crimes committed by armed robbers and kidnappers in the country. The Hamisu Wadume’s arrest and subsequent release by soldiers at a checkpoint in Taraba State have become an eye-opener for us. Our security agencies’ aiding and abetting of crimes in our country signpost the fact that Nigeria is fast turning to a fragile state.
However, while Nigeria is chafing and groaning under the yoke of insecurity, President Muhammadu Buhari is pussyfooting as to tackling our crippling national problems. Has he re-invigorated our economy to create job opportunities for millions of unemployed Nigerians and lift them out of excruciating poverty? The answer is an emphatic no. Consequently, some Nigerians have embraced suicide as a way of escape from economic hardship. And the negotiated new minimum wage, which would give workers a new lease of life and improve their living conditions, has not been implemented. Months after.
It is this state of things that Omoyele Sowore planned to call attention to with his “RevolutionNow” before he was arrested. Sowore has been clamped into detention and charged with a treasonable offence. Is it in our statute book or constitution that organising protests is a treasonable offence? Muzzling opposition voices with high-handedness is an anti-democratic practice. It portrays Nigeria as a police state. It is an unconscionable act for the government to abridge the citizens’ right to freedom of expression and assembly.
We should remember that President Buhari had proscribed groups like the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and Indigenous People of Biafra for self-serving reasons. It is self-evident that his preference for the Sunni brand of Islam as against the IMN’s Shia Islam informed his proscription of the IMN. Is President Buhari not religiously biased? Members of IPOB reserve the right to agitate for the sovereign state of Biafra in the same way as the people of Catalonia are agitating. But President Buhari proscribed the non-violent group while the murderous Miyetti Allah declared the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world by the World Terrorism Index is intact.
A national leader should be a unifying factor in a country, and not a divisive element. But President Buhari is wont to execute ill-thought-out policies that create tension in Nigeria and polarise us along ethnic and religious lines. His RUGA proposal, which was fiercely shot down and shelved, was a classic advertisement of his insensitivity to other people’s plight, belief systems, and others. Did he and his team think through it before making it public?
We are not unaware that national underdevelopment is not unconnected with bad and profligate political leadership. No nation can rise above the visions and dreams of its leaders at various levels. Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore have achieved economic prosperity and technological advancement owing to good political leadership obtainable in those countries.
Here, although we’ve oil wealth and humongous human resources, Nigeria is going to the dogs because we lack focused, patriotic, honest, astute, and visionary leaders, who can harness our natural and human resources to bring about rapid economic and national development. However, we should remember that national development is a function of the existence of functional educational system in a country. Revamping our school system is key and critical to Nigeria’s achieving economic and technological greatness. Can President Buhari start to do the right things now?
Chiedu Uche Okoye
Obosi, Anambra State
08062220654
[Punch]
