By Emma Ogbuehi
Obviously rattled by the recent outing of former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Retired Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar’s in which he alleged that the nation’s diversity is being mismanaged by President Muhammadu Buhari, the president’s media attack group, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), has fired back, describing the remarks as an attempt to blackmail the President and to undermine his genuine efforts in addressing the security challenges confronting the country. BMO went ahead to describe Col. Umar as a victim of a “distorted vision engendered by frustration borne out of lack of recognition”.
Umar had among other observations, accused President Buhari’s government of exhibiting poor skills in managing the diversity in the country and according undue attention to the threats of separatist movements in contrast to the more daunting ones posed by bandits, kidnappers and insurgents in the Northwest, some parts of North Central and Northeast.
In his words; “Activities of those criminals have resulted in the evacuation of over 20 per cent of the villages in Northwest and Northeast. Hundreds are being murdered and maimed every week. Many more are kidnapped for ransom. Millions have been rendered internally displaced, facing disease and starvation. Over one thousand schoolchildren were abducted in the past eight months with over 300 still in the hands of the bandits and kidnappers demanding humongous ransom payments. Rape of women and young girls has become a daily occurrence.
“Most economic activities, particularly farming, which is the mainstay of the people in these areas, are now all but impossible. Government’s earlier claim of having technically defeated the Boko Haram insurgency has turned out to be empty propaganda. Contrary to this claim, the enemy has morphed into a more determined and deadly force, threatening to overrun the whole of the NE.
“For the average Northerner living in these zones, who is barely aware of the activities of separatists; banditry, kidnappings and insurgency are of greater threat and concern to him. The arrest of Nnamdi Kanu is of no serious consequence since it does nothing to ameliorate his harsh and brutal condition”.
But in a riposte, BMO in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke argued that Umar’s position was laughable because the President has left no one in doubt, in the last six years of his administration, of his avowed commitment to resolution of security and other sundry challenges bedevilling the country.
“As a seasoned administrator and military expert with long years of experience that cuts across various areas of human endeavour, President Buhari has taken the best constitutional and political measures that could unify the country and correct fault lines in his dealings with Nigerians and addressing the country’s challenges”, the group stated.
BMO urged the former Military Administrator to always be fair and just in his assessment of the President and his administration, devoid of sentiment and any political colouration.
“If it is a ploy by Dangiwa Umar to deflect attention of Nigerians from the various efforts being made by the Buhari administration in addressing the infrastructural needs of Nigerians and the country’s security challenges, he has only exposed himself as a man who peddles falsehood and is seeking political relevance.
“The Dangiwa Umars of this world should be told in clear times that it is not ethnic or religious diversity that President Buhari is unable to manage. No. What the President has been unable to do is to manage the security vote in a way to share money to lazy men and women who can’t survive outside government patronage.
“With this inability to share money as his identified weakness, President Buhari is unable to silence critics by way of settlement”, it added.
