There is a palpable tension in the land as never before witnessed; not even during the build up to the Nigerian civil war. The country is in dire straits as we are adrift and lost in the high sea, tossed by virulent current of ethnic agitations to a breaking point. There is a gradual erosion of civil and political authority in the face of leadership failure across the country. It is true as held in a statement created to the leadership of the National Assembly that ‘Democracy is threatened or endangered’. It is even truer to say that the actions and inactions of the National Assembly have played a huge role in undermining democracy in our country. There have been claims and agitations of marginalization from left, right and centre and the Federal Executive Council as well as the National Assembly have failed to take dispassionate look at the issues with the aim of resolving them amicably. Rather than engage the people who are aggrieved, the government and its officials resort to blackmails and use of force to coerce people into submission. It is highly unlikely that social political problems of a nation can be achieved through military solution; that would be a delusion especially, given the perception of the military as politicized.
We attribute the festering insecurity in the North-east to neglect of that region of the country over a long period of time just the same way we find it convenient to say that the agitation in the South-east is due to marginalization of that part of the country. The emanating cacophonies of voices from the political leadership across the ethnic divide on the current problems of agitations for restructuring and secession facing the nation is coloured and have no soothing and unifying tenor. Our inability to live in peace and harmony with one another is a product of the rivalry and competition between the intellectual and political elites who relentlessly pursue divisive ethnic agenda as their only credential in order to remain relevant.
Every people have a right to self-determination but I am not sure any person or group has a right to levy war on the state or kill other citizens from other parts of the country to claim or exercise such rights. We are where we are because successive governments and political leaders have not consciously promoted the strengthening of institutions and the rule of law in governance to guarantee a healthy polity and equality amongst citizens. Our leaders have not demonstrated that they could rise above sectarian interest to invest on a political capital of nationalistic agenda. We have ethnic irredentists and bigots who pay scant regards to our diversity and national character.
The Nigerian political and intellectual elites have no tribe and religion; they are one and the same, from the North, South, East or West. They form a cult of leadership with the sole aim of remaining in power by perpetually fanning the embers of ethnic and religious hatred. Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB in pursuit of their secessionist agenda are full of bile and venom of ethnic resentment and hatred towards other tribes in Nigeria as if the Biafra State when achieved would live as an Island. We all need each other but when we feel that we can no longer live together as in marriage we should seek peaceful divorce rather than pull down the bricks that form the building blocks of this country by violence.
President Buhari has been demystified and has become very vulnerable. He has run out of steam and lost the bite as age is no longer on his side. This is in addition to his health challenge as the political capital of his body language has since evaporated. Even members of his cabinet do not share in his dream and vision and have made him sufficiently in-electable should he indicate interest come 2019 through their conspiracies and even open declaration of true allegiance to their political godfathers. They are only waiting for the curtain to be drawn and the President would discover that he is on his own. The President has found himself in this situation because he is not able to appreciate Nigeria in the currency of today but prefer to view it through the prism of his stint as the Head of Military government in 1983. Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with ethnicists and bigots who do not appreciate the diversity of the country and the need to accommodate everybody. In a situation like this, buffoons like Shekau and Nnamdi Kanu would get headlines and even push the country to the brink. Indeed there is insecurity in the South-east just as there is insecurity in other parts of the country. It would be beyond mere python dance for the military should they engage in full blown confrontation with Kanu-led IPOB militants as they have their hands full already from the intractable battle with the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east.
It was rather hasty for the military to declare IPOB a terrorist organization rightly or wrongly. Whatever the canon of assessment, we are not in a military regime and it would amount to usurpation of civil authority for the Defence Headquarters through its spokesperson to declare IPOB a terrorist organization. Even in the event that the military is called out in aid of civil authority as provided in the constitution, it is incumbent on the military to stick strictly to its professional duties rather rush to the microphone and television cameras to make statement without clarification and authority. Silence is golden especially in military operations. Our military are duty bound to help keep the peace when it is beyond the Police but it should be within the bounds of their rules of engagement and respect for the rule of law and the rights of citizens. However, every citizen who is exercising his right to protest should also understand that they should keep within the bounds of the law because even when on Internal Security (IS) operations, the rifles of soldiers are charged with live ammunition and not chocolate.
All said, the government should urgently wake up to the need to have dialogue with Nigerians on the burning issues creating unrest across the country before we wake up to see Nigeria vaporised. Our ship of state is sinking!
- Kebonkwu Esq is an attorney based in Abuja.
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