Introduction
President Muhammadu Buhari shocked most Nigerians when he said those agitating for restructuring and secession were not only naive, but “mischievously dangerous.” He made the statement through the executive secretary, Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Shehu, in Zaria, at the Kudirat Abiola Sabon Gari Peace Foundation. I was certainly not one of those Nigerians who were shocked. I was not because, as a close monitor and commentator on national and international affairs, I didn’t expect anything more from him. My thesis is simple, not rocket science: a leopard cannot change its spots. Buhari said he did not understand what the restructure proponents want, or what is to be restructured.
Buhari erroneously believes that the problem of Nigeria is how to make local governments functional and the judiciary independent. As important as these are, President Buhari has merely seen the smaller picture, rather than the larger picture, as President of a haemorrhaging country yearning for urgent rescue. So, for those Nigerians who had heaved a little sigh of relief last week on the little tokenism conceded by Buhari, I sympathize with you.
During his Democracy Day address to Nigerians on June 12, 2021, Buhari had appeared to understand Nigerians’ pains, agony and genuine yearning for restructuring. He had said, among others, that he was not unaware of misgivings causing national discontent in different parts of the country, including allegations of marginalisation and Constitution amendment. While saying efforts were on to address these “challenges that this period imposes on us”, Buhari had said government was “willing to play a critical role in the constitution amendment process “without usurping the powers of the National Assembly in this regard”. He believed said that with the process, “we can come out stronger”.
President Buhari’s summersault in just one week has, therefore, shocked most Nigerians. Suddenly, in Zaria, he beat the drums of war, in a speech that is as provocative as it is unpresidential and unstatemanly. He berated those who are “calling for restructuring and conference or what they call ethnic nationality”. Wrongly believing that Nigerians and the youth who daily agitate for a better nation, including during the #EndSARS peaceful protests, are simply separatist secession advocates who wanted to overthrow his lacklustre government, and describing them as “naive and mischievously dangerous,” because they are “ignorant of war and its consequences” Buhari challenged parents to “try and educate their children.”
But, Buhari sorely missed the critical issues at stake. He appeared frighteningly ignorant of the dire need for attitudinal change in his strong-arm tactics when he declared imperiously like Louis XIV of France, “there is no way we can separate as a country.”
Read this around: Nigerians must stay together, whether things are working or not, agitations or no agitations, disaffection or no disaffection, social justice or no social justice, security or no security.
A leader does not dictate to his people as to what they want, just as the tail does not wag the dog. It is the people that tell their leaders their desires. Buhari daily reminds us of the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson: “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
Said John Maxwell, “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
Buhari does neither. He is distant to and disconnected from his people. He does not care; does not listen to their cries, woes, pains, pangs, tears, sorrow and blood. He cares not about their genuine yearnings and desires. Buhari erroneously believes he knows what the 211 million Nigerian populace wants. He is making a grave mistake. No ruler in history has ever perpetually dictated to, or held down his people with sheer jackboots. Musolini woefully failed, just like Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Stalin and Lenin. Ask the bones of Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pinochet, Gheghis Khan, Pol Pot and Kim Jong. They will tell Buhari how and why they failed miserably to dictate to their citizens forever.
Aside from self-determination agitating groups (a concept recognised anyway by the UN, EU, AU, etc), I have not seen nor heard leaders of the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria ask for outright balkanization of Nigeria. What I hear them say in the South, North, East and West (and which I have also crusaded for over three decades) is restructuring, total devolution of powers and renegotiation of our suffocating union to enthrone social justice, equity, egalitarianism and mutual religious and inter-ethnic tolerance and respect. They talk about re-engineering the week fabric of Nigeria to make it stay together as a country.
Buhari must learn from history. Let me give some samples of nations that were once together and have today gone their separate ways. Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro used to be one country. Today, they are separate and independent. The Republic of Venezuela was reformed in 1999 with a brand new Constitution as Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in July 2011. In February 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. East Timor or Timor-Leste achieved independence from Indonesia in May 2002. Palau, with a population of slightly over 21,000 (less than a local government in Nigeria) became independent from Micronesia on October 1, 1994. In the same 1994, Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia after a Haile Selassie-sustained 30-year bloody civil war. In January 1991, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved by Parliament into Slovakia and Czech Republic. Quebec held a referendum to break away from Canada in 1995. The former USSR broke into 15 republics of Russia, Georgia, Belarusia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Latvia, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Estonia and Kyrgzstan. Some of these countries, like Estonia (1.92m) are less than two million in population; less than the population of the smallest state in Nigeria. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh used to be one country.
Help me remind President Buhari that many countries of the world enthroned a new constitutional order by enacting brand new constitutions after referenda of the people. Examples are Egypt (2012), South Africa (1999), Morocco (2011), Kenya (2010), Eritrea (1994), Iraq (1979), Iran (1979), Bangladesh (1991), Tunisia (2014) and USA (1787).
Help me tell President Buhari that he should struggle hard within his remaining two years in office to force himself into the pantheon of great statesmen in history; not better forgotten dictators, absolutists and tyrants. I wish Nigeria well, or what remains of her. Amen.
When a tottering government twiddles Twitter
The Nigerian government, through the Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed, suspended indefinitely operations of the micro-blogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria. It was a retaliatory action against Twitter for humiliating President Buhari, based on his incendiary statement against protesting Nigerians.
Well, I am not surprised that the Federal Government has suspended Twitter’s operations in Nigeria. Are you? I have always said that this government has a very thin skin for criticism. It is a government that cannot take punches but delights in always giving punches to adversaries, real or imaginary.
What does Nigerian government think Twitter loses by being suspended? It is just the Nigerian people that will suffer, in the same way the government has been punishing Nigerians in the last six years. Twitter will not even bother whether Nigerians use Twitter or not. We are 210 million people in Nigeria. Of this number, only about 33 million Nigerians are active on social media. Less than 15 million of these are on Twitter. On the other hand, there are well over 300 million people across the world that use Twitter. So, Twitter will not feel it. It is just like a drop of water in an oasis. Twitter will not even know that a country has suspended it. So, it is the same beleaguered Nigerian people that will suffer, not the Federal Government or Twitter, because the Federal Government is a minute, minuscule aspect of the Nigerian society, made up of only a few selected elite that do not care about the common man.
Government knows that Nigerians now resort partly to Twitter to express their dismay and dissatisfaction with its mis-governance, opaqueness, lack of responsibility, transparency, accountability and commitment to the Nigerian people. Government knows that Nigerians now express their resentment and protest through Twitter, by telling the whole world how Nigeria has been turned into a corruption haven, and a sprawling field of butchery, extra-judicial executions and slaughter. Those in government do not want the world to hear about their atrocities. So, they just gleefully tell the world that they have suspended Twitter, and that they would soon license other OTT and social media operations. These people in government know that Nigerians have been reaching out to the whole world; and they are very embarrassed that the breeze has been blowing, and the smelly backside of the fowl is always being opened for the whole world to see and smell its odorous side. This is the same government that undeservedly rode to power using the same Twitter and other social media platforms it now detests. My humble appeal to this government is that it should go further than this. It should actually suspend or dissolve the Nigerian people, which it has become so allergic to and no longer wants to see or hear about. Then it can go ahead to elect or select another people in place of the present Nigerians who appear to have become a nuisance to it.
I am very ashamed of this government. This government knows no shame at all. This government has no integrity at all, no honour, no dignity, no capacity to govern, no pretensions to democratic nuances. I am greatly disappointed about this government round and round. I feel very sad as a Nigerian being led by a government of one scandal per day.
SOUNDS AND BITES
Week after week, henceforth, this column will deliberately include short bites on some sounds and bites. It would include jokes (to soothe our aching nerves), philosophical platitudes (to redirect our steps), and scriptural quotes (to pave the way to eternity). We commence this week.
“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy, but much better when others are happy because of you.” – Pope Francis.
Thought for the week
“To be a good citizen, it’s important to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes and see the big picture. If everything you see is rooted in your own identity, that becomes difficult or impossible.” (Eli Pariser)