Security: Buhari, walking the talk?


Perhaps, looking at the current deplorable state of security in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari should have sounded his warning long before now. However, it is said that it is better late than never.
This week, the president warned that his administration would deal decisively with those causing violence and social unrest in the country, and there exist many of them.
Speaking during the maiden celebration of June 12 as Democracy Day in Abuja, the president also said that those who are corrupt would also be dealt with according to the provisions of the law.


Of course, the relationship that links sponsors of violence, corruption and economic development in the country cannot be underestimated. While corruption is responsible for the shortcomings and poor performance of the Nigerian economy, armed violence is sponsored, perpetrated and promoted by the corrupt politicians, who disguise themselves as opposition, mainly to distract attention of the government and continue with their dastardly acts and enjoyment.


No doubt, armed violence constitutes an extraordinary developmental challenge for Nigeria. While its effects are especially concentrated in lower and middle-income settings, rich and poor alike are killed and injured in suburbs, towns and pastoral areas.


While perpetrated and experienced predominantly by young men, armed violence affects males and females. The consequences of armed violence in Nigeria is sobering. In about 10 years now, from when the Boko Haram insurgency began, hundreds of thousands people have died, directly or indirectly, as a result of armed violence.


A relatively small proportion of these deaths – approximately one third – can be attributed to armed conflicts and preventable illnesses affecting the vulnerable in crises zones. Irrespective of where armed violence occurs, victims and survivors are likewise affected by pain, suffering and trauma long after the shooting stops.
No doubt, the warning issued to troublemakers by President Muhammadu Buhari highlights or demonstrates how armed violence obstructs development across many fronts in our country. 
In a sentence, violence severely compromises the skills and assets that are essential to build the economy of Nigeria and productive life of its citizens, and shortens planning and investment horizons of the present administration.
But the issue goes further than that because, underdevelopment – expressed as unemployment or income inequality – whose rate is high especially among youth, tends to be correlated with higher rates of armed violence.


No nation desirous of making progress can tolerate the level of violence now seen in Nigeria and, like the president, the government would not tolerate actions of any individual or group of individuals who seek to attack the nation’s way of life.
The government, therefore, should crack down on those who incite innocent people to engage in acts of violence and other forms of social unrest because they are enemies of people and their nation. Like the president said, such peoples’ actions, the government should ensure, are met with the strong arm of the law.
Nigeria, agreed, is a country in need of quick development but, again, like the president said, nation building takes time. Thankfully, “this country, our country, has everything we require to make Nigeria prosper” but we, especially politicians, must eschew violence and all tendencies that tend to divide us as people and nation.
And, lastly, Nigeria must be put back on its feet! M.K.O. Abiola National StadiumAbuja For the late acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief M. K. O. Abiola, recognition came very late, indeed. President Muhammadu Buhari, this week, renamed the Abuja National Stadium after the late politician.


The president made the announcement in an address during the maiden celebration of June 12 as Democracy Day at the Eagle Square in Abuja.The president, who frowned at the injustice meted against winners of the cancelled 1993 general elections, said his administration would continue to correct injustices in the society.
“…correcting injustice is a pre-requisite for peace and unity,” he said. And, rightly, the president approved the recognition of June 12 as Democracy Day and invested the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola and his running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, with the national honours of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), respectively.
The president said the gestures extended to the late Abiola was meant to, partially, atone for the damage done to him by the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in annulling the presidential election which he was believed to have won.
But who was Abiola and does he, in death, merit these gestures extended to him, posthumously, by the Buhari-led administration? The answer, put simply is Abiola was a great man who worked very hard to get what he is getting now.The late Abiola was born on August 24, 1937, and died on July 7, 1998. Often referred to as M. K. O, he was a popular Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and aristocrat of the Egba clan born in Abeokuta, Ogun state.


He showed entrepreneurial talents at a very young age. He would wake up at dawn to go to the forest and gather firewood, which he would then cart back to town and sell before going to school, in order to support his old father and siblings
He later established a band at age fifteen where he performed at different functions in return for food. He, in the end, came to be acclaimed enough to begin requesting money for his exhibitions and utilised the cash to uphold his family and his optional instruction at the Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta, where he outperformed.
He was the editor of the school magazine, The Trumpeter, Olusegun Obasanjo was deputy editor. At the age of 19, he joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons apparently as a result of its container Africanist office, inclining toward it to the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group’s keep focus on investment and educational advancement for the Western Region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba were in the majority.
In 1956, Abiola started his professional life as bank clerk with Barclays Bank plc in Ibadan. After two years, he joined the Western Region Finance Corporation as an executive accounts officer before leaving for Glasgow, Scotland, to pursue his higher education.


In Glasgow, he received 1st class in political economy, commercial law and management accountancy.
He also received a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. On his return to Nigeria, he worked as a senior accountant at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, then went onto Pfizer, before joining the ITT Corporation, where he later rose to the position of Vice President, Africa and Middle-East of the whole partnership, which was headquartered in the United States of America.
Thus, Abiola invested a considerable measure of his time and money in the United States of America, whilst holding the post of executive of the corporation’s Nigerian subsidiary. Abiola invested heavily in Nigeria and West Africa.
He set up Abiola Farms, Abiola bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria, Wonder bakeries, Concord Press, Concord Airlines, Summit oil international ltd, Africa Ocean lines, Habib Bank, Decca W.A. ltd, and Abiola football club.In addition to these, he also managed to perform his duties as Chairman of the G15 business council, President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation.
Abiola sprang to national and global prominence as a consequence of his humanitarian exercises.
The June 12 election is considered one of the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history. It is believed to have been won by the late Abiola and his running mate Kingibe.
The election was annulled before final results were officially announced. Abiola was eventually jailed by the equally now late General Sani Abacha for seeking to actualise his mandate. He died in prison in 1998.
However, while President Muhammadu Buhari deserves commendation for honouring the late Abiola, there are issues that remains to be addressed so that the world and, Nigerians, in particular, can be greatly pleased that the late Abiola is, indeed, truly compensated and rewarded for his services even in death.
In line with this, it will be to the glory of the Buhari-led administration if the president orders the INEC to announce the results of the June 12, 1993 and declare the winner.


Above all, the Buhari-led administration should go a step further than it has to make life meaningful for ordinary Nigerians through ensuring security and improving their living conditions. After all, what the late Abiola stood for, if it could be put in few words, was prosperity for everyone.

Leave a Reply