CC™ ViewPointBy Professor Femi Ajayi
"Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic who if given the chance would ensure the disintegration of the country. His ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria's national unity.".....Ahmed Bola Tinubu - 2003
Albert Einstein cautions that "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."
In Theodore Roosevelt words, "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
Since 2016, General Muhammadu Buhari has been ASSURING Nigerians for better life; secured environment by terminating the atrocities of Boko Haram; gainful employment; positive economic growth; and a united Nigeria regardless citizens ethnic or religious affiliations.
Embarrassingly, it has been a rough road for an average Nigerian since 2016. In less than two years to his second term, Buhari keeps assuring Nigerians to end poverty, economic disasters, appropriate modern inappropriate, leaky environment in the hands of Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen, among other assurances.
Buhari claimed that "Nigerians are unfair to me". Justifying that his administration has been doing well, in tackling insecurity across Nigeria. More so, training, and equipping security operatives. He denies sparing bandits and other terrorists in fighting insecurity in Nigeria.
Buhari pre-recorded unacceptable interview of June 2021, on Arise TV, is not a substitute to speak to Nigerians in this critical time. Nevertheless, his reference to Igbos as a "dot within Nigeria" is unpresidential, failing to realize that the Earth is also a dot within the galaxy. Each dot in a Society makes the whole.
Buhari affirms the words of Thomas Jefferson that the "two enemies of the people are Criminals {Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen} and Government, {Buhari Administration}, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."
However, the re-examination of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution is urgently critical.
We recognize the historical fact that in any society where injustice becomes a rule or law, civil disobedience or resistance becomes a duty, or an obligation. Buhari is feebly refusing to realize that Nigeria security challenges encourage the agitations for separation across Nigeria: the Oduduwa Country in South-West; Biafra in South-East; Ibom Republic within Akwa Ibom Coalition, Middle Belt in North Central; and Self-Determination in the Northern Minorities.
According to Buhari, "Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the field for 30months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand."
Hence, it is shocking for his statement dealing with those agitating for separation in the language they understand. Violence or War?
Prof. Wole Soyinka remarked, "Regrettably, the President threatens, and in a context that conveniently brackets opposition to governance with any blood thirsting enemies of state, we must call attention to the precedent language of such a national leader under even more provocative, nation disintegrative circumstances."
Buhari has been quiet on the attacks and killings in Benue State especially, or any other Northern States, regrettably, he is very quick to evoke memories of the civil war whenever the South-East is involved.
Prof. Wole Soyinka continues "…When Benue was first massively brought under siege, with the massacre of innocent citizens, the destruction of farms, mass displacement followed by alien occupation, Buhari's language, both as utterance and as what is known as 'body language', was of a totally different temper. It was diffident, conciliatory, even apologetic. The evocation of the civil war, where millions of civilians perished, is an unworthy emotive ploy that has run its course".
Regardless, Buhari administration would be labelled as the promoter of religious and ethnic division in Nigeria. Any opportunity could be seized by Buhari to launch an attack on areas that seem not to be in support of his administration.
In Soyinka's words, "…the nation is already at war, and of a far more potentially devastating dimension than it has ever known. Every single occupant of this nation space called Nigeria has been declared potential casualty, children being pushed to the very battlefront, without a semblance of protective cover. We need no breast-beating about past wars. The world has moved on, so have nations,"
History shows that using the military and violent to solve the National problem leads to national fractionalization, lawlessness, and inevitable dissolution.
As Buhari war-drum gets louder, Nigerians should be cautious of the war dangers knowing fully well that the 'Military don't start war, politicians do;'
Betrand Russel warns that "War does not determine who is right, but who is left."
Herbert Hoover cautions that "Older men declare war, but it is the youth that must fight and die."
While Herodotus painfully reminds us that "In Peace, sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons."
Whilst Bellic says, "War is when young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other."
The intelligence report that broke Buhari's silence could had been echoed by the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, aka Amotekun, Gen. Kunle Togun (retd), in May 2021 advised the residents of Southwestern States, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States to be security alert of the eminent attack from the foreign Fulani Herdsmen from Futa Jallon, Mali, Bourkina Faso, Chad, Niger Republic, who have been residing in the forests.
The President should deal with the sources of the insecurity in Nigeria in the language they understand, however, not on the innocent citizens.
Regrettably, the Boko Haram and the Fulani Herders, have intensified their killings, kidnappings for significant ransom as a way of indirect Government sponsorship. Ironically, as of June 2021, Boko Haram expanded to Niger State, closing to Abuja, while Fulani Herdsmen invaded Cross Rivers State.
Unfortunately, Buhari administration refused to establish the way of ending Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen atrocities against citizens facing hunger, poverty, insecurity, and poor infrastructure.
In the face of security challenges in Nigeria. There is a popular saying that if your neighbor is swallowing bad insects, the disquieting noise of wheezing would prevent peaceful night sleep. The Islamic State group and its rivals in al-Qaeda have taken a strategic decision to make Africa their new priority after suffering setbacks in the Middle East, meanwhile Nigeria is very vulnerable in the faces of Both Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen.
Africa's semi-arid Sahel region has been hit by an insurgency, since militants captured large parts of northern Mali in 2012 and 2013, and it is spreading fast to Nigeria. If chaos, violent extremism, and insecurity become the norm in Sahel nations like Mali, then we are likely to see a new geographic base from which jihadists can plot attacks around the world, especially its neighboring countries, like Nigeria. Whereas this part of Africa, the Sahel, is the transit route for huge numbers of migrants making their way northward to Europe or its neighboring countries to escape from their own countries. It is also a major transit route for illegal drugs, weapons, and jihadists. Nigeria vulnerability is inevitable.
Nigeria-Niger Republic proposed rail system could facilitate the Terrorist infiltration into Nigeria.
Could what Tinubu said about Buhari in 2003 be true about him, before they became 'partners in crime against humanity', ten years later, in 2014, that "Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic who if given the chance would ensure the disintegration of the country. His ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria's national unity."
So also, Nigerians were pre-warned by Prof. Stanley Nwabia on June 26, 2018, that "If Buhari wins a second term, Fulani Herdsmen will spread deep into Southern Nigeria using Oyo State as launch pad. Remember Buhari and his Fulani brothers had already 'marked' Oyo State in the early 2000s during Lam Adesina's era."
Buhari should be cognizant of his oath of office, if that means anything to him positively protecting Nigeria Citizens focusing on security issues in Nigeria, diverting Nigerians from agitations for separation. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari should realize that it is time for a peaceful action and dialogue, not war and destruction.
Most Nigerians, with their lifestyles, prefer unity in peace than war. Dialogue is what patriotic Nigerians, Nigerian admirers and the international communities expect of the Nigerian President, to resolve the present national crises, and not military action.
We close with a message from Muhammadu Buhari that "I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody."
Nigerians want Justice, Peace, Equity and Fairness, PEACE not WAR.
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