By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)
We shall commence with a caveat that this piece is not in any way intended to hold brief for the Service Chiefs. In fact, it will not be safe to do so, especially in the face of embarrassing security breaches that have been recorded since their appointment. The slaughtering of innocent rice farmers in Borno and the attendant international opprobrium, have accentuated the demand for their sack.
The calls should not have come, in the first place. Elsewhere, Generals know what to do on occasions as this, having been seen to have failed to deliver. But this is a system where officials do not go on their own, except they are forced or taken out by death. They should, therefore carry their can or, ‘face their warrant’ as it is said in street lingo.
But who is really to blame in this matter – the Service Chiefs or President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed them? This is akin to the axiomatic question of which is first between the chicken and the egg. Nigerians did not elect the Service Chiefs. They elected the President who appointed them in accordance with the powers conferred on him by the Constitution. Their loyalty is to the President and the country. Their failure is a burden on all. But in their failure, the President fails Nigerians more. They are a reflection of his person and attitude to duty. Robert Greene in his classic, The 48 Laws of Power, warns; “Never outshine the master: Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power”. We may not know if the Service Chiefs have really offered their best or are playing along this dubious rule.
Whichever way it is looked at, the buck stops with the President! He is the person that history will record as having failed at the hour of need. The excuse will not be that Nigerians did not know the limitations of the person they elected to govern them. It will also not be that they did not read beyond his trademark taciturn outlook.
It has rather become clear that within the five years of his being in the saddle, whatever myths or messianic robe woven around him earlier, have been shattered considerably. Thus, in the place of the fabled Buhari who could not enter Maiduguri Township Stadium for campaign in 2014 due to the tumultuous crowd that had surged to see him, is now a President that even members of his native Katsina constituency are agreed, has failed woefully.
Nothing probably draws the level of despondency in the land closer as the desperate remarks by Senator Ahmad Baba-Kaita (APC Katsina Central) on the floor of the senate during the week. According to the Senator, “The time of truth has come. This situation is no longer acceptable to any Nigerian. We can’t be mourning our citizens every day”. Baba-Kaita represents Buhari’s senatorial district in the National Assembly. In a system that is driven by primordial sentiments of religion and ethnicity, the unusual outing by Baba-Kaita, deserves serious attention. The lawmaker knew what he was saying. Katsina, his state is among the states bearing the brunt of insurgency and banditry.
Buhari incidentally, does not come across as one that is bothered. If he does, he does not manifest such. He is one man many Nigerians do not really know or understand. I recall a story by a senior colleague on their encounter with a former Head of State during the APC tour of marketing Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate in 2015. According to him, when the topic was broached, the General, a Buhari contemporary, took a studied look at each member of the delegation, without making comments, initially. Thereafter, he responded that if truly they had settled for him (Buhari), he won’t be the person to oppose it. “It is now that those in the delegation, are understanding the looks by the retired general and the way he couched his response”, he concluded.
The fact is that Nigeria is on a rough deal. Beyond the incidence of insecurity weighing down the country, we are equally not having it fair on other indices of development. A report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in May, estimated the number of Nigerians that were poor to be 82.9 million, with states in the North, topping the list. The figure may have jumped higher with the crushing impacts of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) and the recently mismanaged #EndSars Protests. To worsen matters, the country has again been hit by recession with an unprecedented contraction that has seen unemployment index for non-manufacturing sector rising to 44.2 percent. An earlier United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report had estimated the number of people displaced in the North East at 1.9 million, with children constituting 60 percent of the figure. What this means is that there is a growing army of hands for possible recruitment by the insurgents, if nothing tangible is done to give them sustainable sense of living. This is a huge threat to the security of the country, from whatever angle it is looked at.
The only way out of the frightening situation is a convocation of informed minds beyond partisan considerations, to provide the way forward. It has become clear that the problem at hand is beyond the president and his coterie of cheer men. What is required is a clear headed comprehensive approach to tackle the issues. Much as the removal of the Service Chiefs, may offer momentary lullaby to obviously flustered Nigerians, the problems besetting the country are more fundamental and require strategic solutions, not the fleeting engagements by the leaders.