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We have been on this matter for the past two weeks. This outing is the third. It is a reflection of the place of security in national development. It should take our attention because of the prevailing conditions in the country right now. It is a fact that insecurity plagues the land.
In the bid to carry along some of the readers who for one or two reasons couldn’t read the past editions, we will do a concise summary. We are yet to build a country. America, Great Britain, France, China, Russia, Singapore and Malaysia just to mention a few have built their countries. It is one reason they turned out great. There is a sense of bonding, buy-in and ownership.
Citizens in those countries don’t arise and say to the other, ‘Get up, pack and go.’ There is a sense of oneness, of being held together by a common destiny. In Nigeria, forget what our leaders say, there’s social tension, and contestation for the soul of the country is intense.
In Lagos some are calling other members of the union “immigrants”, meaning strangers to their country. In the past citizens have risen in mobs to kill other people on account that they own the land.
The struggle between citizenship and indigeneship is very much in play. The tempo is quite high. The constitution even provides for representation according to state of origin, much like approbating and reprobating in the same breath. Those who want peace and stability must be very clear on the process that would lead them to the cherished goal. We desire something but choose to act in the opposite direction.
The other point we identified is the lack of a generally agreed vision for the country. We know of the popular saying, “where there’s no vision a people perish.” Perish here in context we write is to be vanquished, it could later get to that but it is to operate in confusion, walking in very volatile conditions and atmosphere. Definitely the atmosphere hovering across the country isn’t pleasant so nearly every one wants to run away to where his or her senses imagine they could find some measure of comfort. Many have taken the plunge and found themselves landing on very strange grounds, some into the new format of self employed slavery.
Because we don’t have a country, many have ensured we have a borderless union. No country that desires safety would throw her borders open. Even with bilateral agreements citizens who wish to cross would be required to undertake some form of documentation so authorities can be on the know who came in, where he is and perhaps what he is up to. The herders’ militia didn’t happen by chance. Fellow countrymen ran with the idea.
The incumbent governor of Bauchi State told us not too long ago, “Nigeria is home to wandering Fulani tribesmen scattered all over Africa.” Shooting and massive killings is part of the struggle for partition. There are demands for cattle colonies as part of the expansionist ambitions – coming at a time reasonable countries are manufacturing all kinds of equipment and even thinking of new homes in space. Foreign interests are all into stirring insecurity in the land, they run on the philosophy of “gain from chaos.”
Recently, some of us in the critical segment of our population were jolted when a top Nigerian business chieftain was included in the Qatari government delegation that welcomed American President Donald Trump to the country during a visit this year. We would have desired to expand on this but for now leave it at this point. But the point must be strongly made that every index suggests foreign hands in some cases of insecurity we suffer in the country.
Our intelligence set is either weak or affected by primordial considerations. As one said earlier, organized nations know where deviants stay, they can approximate when they gather for evil. They can tell where they are per time. We don’t have the same organization. Federalism requires multi-layer security architecture. There should be no questions about that. The implementation is being held up by bad politics. Anticipated fears can be taken care of by legislation, this is the pathway taken by other countries with security consciousness. What is more, laws can be amended to take care of the unforeseen. We know this, yet choose to keep going round the mountain. Funding and inadequate personnel, not leaving out training are big issues.
Our focus today is on the office of the President, governance style and options for getting peace and stability. A national conference is necessary to build a country and create vision. It hasn’t happened because those who got advantage would not want to relinquish it – for them everything better go down than to effect changes that would birth the new Nigeria we now desperately want. We heard “whatever you want, go through the National Assembly” – which is a product of bad politics by the military in government. It is a fact that the military pandering to narrow interests bastardized the political architecture most terribly. This attitude of refusing change is counter-productive . We ought to be saying this and saying it very strongly, but we are not.
What has happened is that leaders either circumvent the matter for fear or leave to reinforce the existing model. Buying time but time itself magnifies the negative values unleashed against the larger society. Our presidents choose to run away from convening a national conference. It is hurting. The ones that attempted didn’t do it well. We don’t play down those who insist it won’t work.
Now our presidents have the penchant to sidetrack the people in policy formulation and execution. They prefer to visit states rather than organize regions or political zones to find out exactly what it is they want.
The approach isn’t adding up. Recently the North was up in arms against incumbent President Bola Tinubu insisting they were being shortchanged. This is in spite of having so many projects being executed in the region. If the government took time to find out key things they require the situation may come out perhaps differently.
The same goes for the South East, the Minister of Works David Umahi was in Ebonyi State last month blowing hot that the entire South East would in 2027 general election vote into office for second term his principal the President on account of what he has done. The Minister was talking but if only he knew his heart was far off from the people who insist what they want most for the moment is the release of their son, Nnamdi Kanu, from detention and his trial stopped. The people are saying insecurity would nosedive once that was done. They advocate political solutions. President Muhammadu Buhari ignored the shooting, turning state guns on citizens. President Tinubu is toeing the same line.
The question is if peace and stability are the desired objectives why don’t our leaders love to properly engage with the people? Why do they loathe dialogue? President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua used engagement and dialogue to stop militancy in the Niger Delta. Why are the others tied to force?
Plain Truth is, force is good but what produces better results is “constructive engagement, dialogue, compromise and consensus.” The root of their growth is “equal rights, fairness, equity and justice.” The trouble is that our leaders don’t read.
•Concluded
