Politics
The problems facing the nation now are enormous and every Nigerian, including the politicians should stop playing the ostrich in the name of politics. The nation needs to be fixed through a robust review of the constitution and other areas that need urgent reforms in order to rescue it and put its economy back on the path of growth.
By Goddy Ikeh
ABOUT a decade ago, many political analysts could say without fear of contradiction that Nigeria’s problem was mainly misrule since the country enjoyed a certain level of peace and security of lives and property was not a major concern to Nigerians and foreigners alike. But in the last five years or more, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, poverty, high inflation, unemployment and poor governance issues have become so prominent that the priority for most Nigerians is staying alive.
But reactions to these maladies have been surprisingly muted accept for a few Nigerians, who have repeatedly called for constitutional reforms, which are central in tackling the problems of the country and the plight of millions of Nigerians. Obviously, these issues mean little to the elected politicians, who are already jostling for positions in the embryonic political parties as the countdown to the 2023 presidential and general elections begins in earnest.
Some prominent Nigerians have recently accused politicians of fueling insecurity in the country with a few of their collaborative elites. For instance, the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad, other eminent Nigerians and leaders of apex socio-cultural organisations, have warned against the politicisation of matters bordering on the security of life and property in the country.
According to them, politicization of insecurity will not do the nation any good, but aggravate the already fragile situation in the country. They gave the warning at a one-day ‘Retreat on Inclusive Security’ in December 2021, organised by the Global Peace Foundation, in collaboration with Vision Africa in Abuja.
They appealed to the nation’s elite to refrain from comments that could widen the “gulf of trust deficit amongst the many divides” that make up the country, saying that Nigeria’s survival as a nation should be considered sacred.
In his speech at the event, Obasanjo said that military action alone would not effectively end insecurity, adding that government must embrace the carrot and stick approach in addressing the menace.
He said: “People talk of political will, but I talk of political action. Political will is not enough. It must be matched by political action.
“The problem of insurgency will not go away if all we are using is the ‘stick’ (military action). We may suppress it, and keep it down a bit, but we have to use ‘carrot and stick’ together to effectively tackle the problems.”
The Sultan, who lamented the recent spate of insecurity in the country, said that lives should be considered sacred and that the leaders should rather be circumspect than carrying on as though all is well.
“It’s unfortunate that this is what we are seeing across the land. Parties are accusing one another of not doing enough to tackle insecurity. I think that is the major problem we have been facing in the country,” the Sultan said.
Presenting his own argument, Bishop of Evangelism and Discipleship, Methodist Church Nigeria, Rt. Rev. Sunday Onuoha, regretted that the security problems in the country were worsened by the perceived existence of a wide gulf of trust deficit among the many divides in the country.
“We must take deliberate steps to close the gap between the aggrieved and the leaders by identifying trusted, objective and reliable moderators, who must coordinate the discordant tunes into a harmonious melody that will bring about peace and reconciliation.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing political drama in Imo State seems to ignore the advice of these concerned patriots on promoting peace in a fragile nation. The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma and his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha have been engaged in accusations and counter accusations on who is responsible in overheating the state, which has witnessed its share of insecurity, including killings and attacks on government institutions.
Speaking early in January, Governor Uzodinma accused Senator Rochas Okorocha of wanting “to remain the governor of the state even after he has left office”. Uzodinma told the 2022 Imo Stakeholders meeting at the Government House in Owerri, that Okorocha had become a pain in the neck and advised Okorocha to allow him to enjoy his position as governor of Imo State for the duration of his tenure.
“Traditionally, I’m his elder brother. He should let my administration be and not bring in unnecessary interference. “We have had previous governors like Achike Udenwa, Ikedi Ohakim, and Emeka Ihedioha, but the difference between the former governor Rochas Okorocha and others is that he is out of office but still wants to remain the governor of Imo State,” the report by Channels Television quoted Uzodinma as saying.
Perhaps, one of the areas of perceived disagreements between the two politicians is the ongoing recovery of government property from Sen. Okorocha. Uzodinma also told the gathering that one of his administration’s greatest achievements was recorded in the education sector. For him, the recovery of the K.O. Mbadiwe University for the Imo people was a major milestone. “As you may well know, the university was built and furnished with taxpayers’ money of not less than N40b. Yet, an individual, abusing his office as governor, brazenly wanted to appropriate it to himself as a privately owned establishment.
“I am glad to report to you that by the second week of December this year, I received a Certificate of Ownership for the university on behalf of the Government and people of Imo State. Today, as we speak, that university is now the rightful property of Imo State,” he said.
Unfortunately, Governor Uzodinma, who had earlier promised that he would make public the names of people allegedly sponsoring insecurity ravaging Imo state, failed to reveal the names despite his claim that some of the security breaches in the state were politically contrived.
“This was based on intelligence information at our disposal. As the Igbo saying goes, when a child is crying and pointing in a particular direction, it is because either his mother or father is there.
“I assured you that my administration will name those behind insecurity in the state during this stakeholders meeting but for security reasons, we will hold on.
“With the cooperation of the security agencies and the support and assistance of the Federal Government, we have been able to overwhelm the bandits,” local media reports quoted the governor as saying.
Uzodinma, however, said that he would allow security agents to arrest and prosecute the sponsors of the criminals, who had been troubling the peace within Imo State.
Reacting to the claims by Governor Uzodinma, Senator Okorocha wondered why Governor Uzodimma failed to name the sponsors of insecurity in Imo State as promised. Okorocha in a statement titled, ‘The Camp Hope Government In Imo, Has Become An Embarrassment,’ said that the governor failed to name the sponsors “after much noise to that effect” before the stakeholders meeting in Owerri.
For Okorocha, the Uzodimma’s administration has made Imo State a laughing stock and has become a nightmare to itself. He, however, said that he won’t pursue the press statement written earlier by Uzodimma’s Press Secretary which mentioned him and Uche Nwosu as sponsors of insecurity. It would be recalled that the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Oguwuike Nwachukwu, had, before the stakeholders meeting, named some people in his press release, as the sponsors of insecurity in the state, including Senator Rochas Okorocha and his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu.
Apart from the Imo State debacle, politicians at the federal level have not been helped matters either, especially in the area of the huge trust deficit between the federal government and the people. A familiar case in point is the reluctance by the Presidency to formally declare bandits, who have responsible for most of the heinous crimes in the country as terrorists. Although, the federal government has in the declaration titled ‘Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Order Notice, 2021, contained in Volume 108 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette, formally declared the bandit groups operating in the country as terrorists, but Nigerians will not forget in a hurry the hundreds of lives lost due to the delay tactics employed by the politicians in government. It will be recalled that state governors, the National Assembly members, state legislators, lawyers and several groups were among Nigerians, who had long called for bandits to be declared as terrorists.
Other critical issues of concern to many Nigerians include the refusal of President Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, his stance on State Police and grazing routes. In the recent television interviews he granted to Channels TV and the Nigerian Television Authority, Buhari said that he was ready to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, if the National Assembly would include the options of consensus candidate and indirect primary to the mode of selecting a candidate for an election, as against the initial direct mode as the only option to conduct primaries by political parties. Asked if he would sign the bill if the lawmakers effect the change in that direction, he affirmed, “Yes, I will! I will sign.” This revelation came after series of reactions to his refusal to sign the bill and heating the polity. The other contentious issue is the grazing routes agenda, which the Presidency wants to add to the list of challenges troubling the tear fragile nation apart.
Reacting to the review grazing routes by Buhari, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, criticised ongoing plans by the federal government to reopen grazing routes across the country. Speaking told a press conference in Lagos in 2021 that many experts had identified ranching as the solution to the perennial farmer-herder conflict.
“Virtually the whole nation is screaming (that) we do not want any open cattle grazing. Whether they go by the name of cattle routes or grazing reserves,” Soyinka said.
“Round the entire nation, we’ve had opinions surmounting the antiquated mode of cattle rearing. “Even the all-powerful, untouchable Miyetti Allah, even they have gone on record to say that ranching is what we want.
“And when we think all that debate is settled in rational terms, along comes a new version, rather like Decree 4, of Ruga, with the President insisting on sending his agents out to map out and recover the old grazing reserves when governments and people and experts, agronomists, businesspeople are saying that this is a business and it should be conducted in this particular way.
“So why is this President obsessing about something which is being rejected right, left and centre?,” he said.
Soyinka was reacting to President Buhari’s approval, earlier this month, of the recommendations of a committee to review 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment”.
On insecurity in the country, Soyinka said that Nigeria’s sovereignty had been taken over by armed groups. According to him, President Buhari needs to do more to stop Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements, who threaten Nigeria’s security.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television programme, Soyinka said: “From a self-protective point of view, it is a common problem (insecurity); it is a national, collective issue. Don’t just sit there and think that you can solve it from Aso Rock, no. This now concerns even the lowest common citizens in this nation because that lowest, that most impotent individual has become a prime target. So, it’s a collective issue.
“Instead of that, what do I hear? Somebody gets on the podium and say, ‘The sovereignty of this nation cannot be challenged.’ Please, don’t let us hear any more of that rubbish. The sovereignty of this nation is in the hands of the murdering herdsmen. The sovereignty of this nation has already been taken over by Boko Haram, it’s been taken over by ISWAP, it’s been taken over by those with absolutely no respect for what is called national integrity,” he said.
Apart from the activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram in the Northeast, armed bandits routinely attack communities in Northwest Nigeria, killing and kidnapping residents. Kidnapping for ransom and attacks by armed herdsmen is also commonplace in many other parts of the country.
“I am very glad that the northern elite are now speaking up, boldly and practically now taking measures which they should have taken years ago. They’ve moved beyond the unbelievable policies of actually paying killers to stop killing,” he said.
Soyinka in November 2021 said that Nigeria has reached a stage “where a series of town hall meetings should be organised to ask ourselves retrospective questions about what has happened to us.”
Speaking during the presentation and discussion of his book, ‘Chronicles From the Land of The Happiest People on Earth,’ inside the British Library Knowledge Centre, Soyinka said the country has degenerated into a situation where human dignity has been devalued by vices such as the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls and the recent alleged ritual killing of Timothy Adegoke Oludare at Osogbo in Osun State.
Unfortunately, the politicians are being blamed for the poor state of affairs in the country, especially when most of the time, the lawmakers are busy with bills for either establishing a new university in their locality or upgrading a polytechnic to a university and paying little no attention to the insecurity in the country. Nigerians, including the politicians should take decisive actions to rescue the nation from its slide.
JAN. 10, 2022 @ 08:26 GMT|
A.I
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