Rather than offering the citizens protection, Nigerian leaders have literally gone asleep or fiddle while the state burns.
By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)
We had advised here and elsewhere, on the need to understand the crisis in Somalia to be able to appreciate what lies ahead for Nigeria if the leaders continue to fail in their responsibilities.
Somalia is a country that ordinarily has everything going for it but has failed to utilise any of the potential that should have worked in its favour. It is a country of one religion, one language and a common ancestry. But because it lacks the political will and visionary leadership, Somalia has remained a reference point for state failure. It has in fact, slipped to a collapsed state, where law and order are on flight and the citizens live at the mercy of war lords.
Those that caution against Nigeria toeing the Somali path, know what they are saying. President Muhammadu Buhari was, among those that had raised the alarm, long before coming to office. General Theophilus Yakubu (TY) Danjuma, one-time Chief of Army Staff, had spoken on the matter. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Military Head of State, has also issued similar alert. All warn on the dangers of Nigeria going the way of Mogadishu.
Central in their fear is that if Somalia, a homogeneous entity could be in its present piteous state, Nigeria with its heterogeneous tendencies and multiple fault lines, may take more disastrous dimensions if it continues to be mismanaged.
The problem, however, is not on the early warning signals by those that should know. It is rather what is being done to stave off the imminent danger.
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Buhari, who incidentally was among the early voices that drew attention to the dangers ahead, has been in the saddle in the last seven years. While gunning for the office, he had pledged to address the twin evils of corruption and insecurity, decisively. The hope of tackling insecurity, given his military background, was mainly what sold him to many Nigerians.
But sadly, rather than offering the citizens protection, the President has literally gone asleep or fiddles while the country burns. Even his so-called body language which his supporters had advertised in his early days as the talisman to get the country working, has failed woefully. If anything, the impression from the President, is that of inaction, which gives impetus to insurgents, bandits and his pastoral Fulani kinsmen unleashing mayhem on the citizens.
Since his days in office, Nigeria’s index on insecurity has been on steady slide, accounting for the country sharing odious slots with Iraq and Afghanistan as the three most terrorized nations in the world. No matter the efforts by the government at downplaying this disturbing categorization, the facts and statistics are there to speak for themselves.
It is within this period that over 70 Nigerians, were murdered in one fell swoop by murderous herdsmen in Benue State. It is under this administration that more than 50 citizens were killed in one particular night in Ukpabi-Nimbo, Enugu community in 2016. Bandits are virtually in charge of the states and territories in the North West, while Boko Haram continues to draw blood in the North East.
In the atmosphere of confusion, there is no distinction between the sacred and the profane. Priests have been killed right on the Altar while celebrating Masses in Benue. School children have severally been assaulted and violated. Before now, it did not occur to Nigerians that the 2014 abduction of students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, was merely a precursor to what lay ahead. Ever since, pupils and students have been taken hostages, in Kaduna, Kankara in Katsina State, Kagara in Niger State and other parts of the country.
Few days ago, 18 soldiers were ambushed and killed by terrorists in Kebbi State. At the border town between the state and Niger, 60 members of the local vigilante, were also mowed. The South East, is of course, gradually turning to a killing field by unknown gunmen. Elsewhere, the situation is not radically different.
For a leader who had promised security of life and property to the citizens, these are ugly developments that should cause him some concern. But President Buhari does not look bothered or does not manifest such. Even in the best of time, he is lukewarm and perhaps, thinks that it is better keeping the nation guessing.
That is, playing the African superman; an attribute that is not good for leadership, especially in a democratic setting. The governors and other political leaders are not better. They are complicit in getting the notion and essence of leadership wrong. Leadership is about empathy, transparency and overtly identifying with the people, particularly in moments of crisis.
The unintended message from the President’s lethargic carriage, is that individuals and groups who feel alienated and abandoned by the state to the butchery of the terrorists and bandits, can resort to self-help. This amounts to abdication of authority to non-state actors. No nation goes this way and returns intact.
Truth be told, Nigeria under Buhari, is on a sorry curve. Indications point to an administration that is not bothered or prepared to deal with the challenges of the time. For six weeks running, the energy sector has been in virtual state of collapse. Nigerians have been going through lingering scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called Petrol. The confusion over non-availability of petrol has been compounded by scarcity of aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1, leading to flight disruptions. Prices of Automated Gas Oil (AGO), also called Diesel, have gone up astronomically, in some instances, selling at over N700 per litre.
University students have been out of school since the last five weeks due to the face-off between their teachers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government over institutional funding and welfare of the lecturers. As if these are not enough, nation was for some days, thrown into darkness following the collapse of the national grid.
The situation is really bad and has reached the level requiring declaration of emergency in the relevant sectors. It is at such moments as we currently find ourselves, that leadership counts. But here is Nigeria, perpetually in motion without movement.
The President, under whom the petroleum ministry is domiciled, has not said anything on the lingering fuel crisis. On the pretext of medical examination, he has been out of the country for the second week running. The feeble explanation by the minister of state, Timipre Sylva, lacked force and focus. Nothing tangible has been done on the fate of the university students out of schools and the unemployed youths on the streets.
These are not good signs for a nation already battered by economic crisis and underdevelopment. What is required immediately is the will to steer the country out of the clear and present danger it presently finds itself. The president and his team must act fast. This House is falling!
