Once gain, the story of our sick fatherland has berthed on international shores. Our dirty linens have been washed in the public. Our rat race for impunity has gone berserk. The watching world is jeering freely at our folly. We owe these negativities to the intolerant disposition of the Nigerian presidency. Its bad temper has just boiled over, leaving in its wake derision and damnation. Our country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, has finally exposed the fragile underbelly of his administration. Hamstrung by primordial sentiments, Buhari had, the other day, blurted out on the Igbo without restraint. He threw caution and good breeding to the winds and descended as low as he could. The result was an unwarranted admonition of the Igbo conveyed through undisguised hate speech. Now, the indiscretion has pitted him against the social media giant, Twitter.
What really went wrong? Buhari had taken a strong exception to the ongoing violent upheaval in the South East. Rather than act as the father of the nation that he is supposed to be, Buhari showed how angry he has been with the Igbo of south east Nigeria. He said that those disturbing the peace in the region did not witness the civil war in which millions were gruesomely massacred. Buhari promised them that he will talk to them in the language they will understand. He promised them that they will get the shock of their lives. That was the Nigerian president threatening the Igbo. He did not even try to mask his anger a little. The civilised among us were embarrassed by this. They were taken aback by the outburst. There was no nicety; no finesse.
But those who know a thing or two about decorum are of the opinion that the president of a democratic country is not expected to engage in conducts as unacceptable as this. The president’s action did not just betray his inner prejudices and reservations about the Igbo, he portrayed himself as lacking in the temperament that is required to preside over the affairs of a complex and multi-ethnic country such as Nigeria. But if the president thought that he was ingratiating his bad temper, he was wrong. He treaded without discretion on shores that he was not familiar with. His handlers had taken to his Twitter handle. They carried with them the hateful vituperations of the president. The message was not well received by Twitter. It was an abuse of platform. It violated the rules which Twitter set for its users. And so, the social media outfit had to pull down the hateful tweet as a caution to Buhari and any other person who may want to act in like manner.
Regrettably, Buhari and his cohorts refused to show remorse. They chose, instead, to be heady about it. That was why they took on Twitter in a most unsavoury manner. They berated the social media body to no end and then slammed a ban on its operations in Nigeria. By so doing, the Nigerian government has demonstrated to the world that it lacks democratic principled. By its action, government has shrunk the social media space in Nigeria. Those who rely on Twitter for social media activities and other vital information may have to look elsewhere. The action is also an abridgment of the right of individuals to free speech. It is an assault on press freedom. In fact, government’s irreverence is an act of intimidation. The civilised world is embarrassed by this display by the Nigerian government.
As we grapple with this embarrassing scenario, let us reflect a little more on the bone of contention. Buhari gives the impression that he is upset by the insecurity in the south east. If he is, we expect him to look inwards with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem. As a matter of fact, he should worry that a zone that was never known for violence is sliding dangerously into disorder. This should be of concern to the president. Strangely, however, rather than adopt the pacifist approach, the president chose the path of belligerence. He must have been wondering who the hell gave these south easterners the temerity to want to be heard. That was why the president ignored even more heinous happenings across the country and chose to harass the south east. The president conveniently brushed aside the fact that something much more serious and urgent has been taking place in northern Nigeria. We are all aware that the north has become an embarrassment to the country owing to the killings and abductions that take place there. In all of this, the Nigerian president seems to have been having a ball. He has never been scandalised by the embarrassing security situation in the north. The temerity of the fellow called Sheik Abubakar Gumi has been overlooked by the Buhari presidency. In northern Nigeria, terrorists abduct hundreds of people from schools and demand ransom for the release of the abducted. Gumi acts as the middleman between the abductors and the government, in the name of negotiating freedom for abductors. The Nigerian authorities have never queried Gumi.
In the midst of insecurity in the north, our law enforcement agents do not descend on terrorists in the “language they understand.” Nobody has ever ordered them to move in and liquidate the terrorists. And so, they continue to operate without let or hindrance. They kill those they want to kill and release the rest after payment of ransom. But we ask: Does a government which pampers northern terrorists have the moral right to go after southern hoodlums by whatever name they are called?
Since the disturbances in the East began , the entire region, particularly Imo State, has been militarised. Security forces deployed by the president have killed many innocent souls in the guise of hunting for unknown gunmen. Yet the northern abductor operates with free reign. The situation in both the east and the north is a matter of concern to well meaning Nigerians. We expect the presidency to act decisively to arrest the situation. But what we have is discriminatory application of the rules of engagement. While one is treated with kid gloves, the other is visited with brute force. That is the colour and complexion of the Buhari presidency.
But we need to understand the mindset that triggered the president’s disdainful response to the south east situation. Buhari has this feeling that these Igbo who were defeated in a civil war have no right to ask questions about anything in Nigeria. He feels that they are lucky to be alive and should therefore accept whatever they see. That is why he does not think that he has done anything wrong in the way he treats the Igbo. Buhari, in a fit of anger, asked the Igbo what they want. He asked if he has not been running the country according to the constitution. That was a strange question from the president. It is really strange that a president who has excluded a major section of the population from the entire security apparatus of the country and has gone ahead to exclude them from many federal appointments does not realise that he has breached the provisions of the constitution. Buhari does not know this because he has this feeling that these people, the Igbo, have no right or claim to those offices he excluded them from. Something tells Buhari that the Igbo have learnt nothing from their civil war experience. He has taken it upon himself to remind them in a manner they will never forget. That is expected to take place in the Nigeria that he and his kinsmen are insisting must remain the way it is; a Nigeria whose sovereignty they say is not negotiable. What balderdash.