Last January, former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari warning that Nigeria risks going the Rwanda way, and six months later, has written an open public letter alleging weighty issues bordering on spate of insecurity and that the nation is headed for the precipice. PATRICK ANDREW compares their letters.
The reply
But a Second Republic Senate President, Senator Ameh Ebute has dismissed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s observations and worries saying he was championing a conspiracy campaign to destabilise the nation and undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. In his own letter to President Buhari, he opined that Obasanjo’s assertions were “absurd, farcical, emotional, self-serving and lamentable expression of his emptiness on affairs of Nigeria in blind fury.”
He insisted that the issues raised by Obasanjo in his letters, “only belittles his status and confirms his egoistic subservience to personal agenda, instead of the collective progress and development of Nigeria which we all sacrificed our comfort and pleasure to pursue”, and urged the president not to be deterred by Obasanjo and his veiled agents desperate to return Nigeria back to the old, gloaming days.
Obasanjo’s worries, pains
I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue is very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians. One of the spinoffs and accelerants is the misinformation and disinformation through the use of fake news. A number of articles, in recent days, have been attributed to me by some people who I believe may be seeking added credence and an attentive audience for their opinions and view-points.
Obasanjo looking for relevance- Ebute
The issues raised by Obasanjo in the latest letter to you, in my understanding, only belittles his status and confirms his egoistic subservience to personal agenda, instead of the collective progress and development of Nigeria which we all sacrificed our comfort and pleasure to pursue.
Your Excellency Sir, without a doubt in my mind and having gone through series of commentaries and replies to Obasanjo from Nigerians who love, cherish and hold Nigeria dear to their hearts; and those who believe in the unity and indivisibility of our country, the dominant voices dismissed the contents of Obasanjo’s letter as irritating hogwash.
Therefore, Mr. President and leader of our nation, it may interest you to know that Obasanjo has been isolated, ostracized and indeed, stands alone like someone marooned on an Island, because majority of Nigerians have expressed in words and actions their unwillingness to toe his inglorious line, polluted thoughts and destructive antics.
Boko Haram
As you know very well, I will always boldly own what I say and disown what is put into my mouth. But the issue I am addressing here is very serious; it is the issue of life and death for all of us and for our dear country, Nigeria. This issue can no longer be ignored, treated with nonchalance, swept under the carpet or treated with cuddling glove. The issue is hitting at the foundation of our existence as Nigerians and fast eroding the root of our Nigerian community. I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay.
Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand, I hope, why I am so concerned. When people are desperate and feel that they cannot have confidence in the ability of government to provide security for their lives and properties, they will take recourse to anything and everything that can guarantee their security individually and collectively.
For over ten years, for four of which you have been the captain of the ship, Boko Haram has menacingly ravaged the land and in spite of government’s claim of victory over Boko Haram, the potency and the activities of Boko Haram, where they are active, remain undiminished, putting lie to government’s claim. The recent explanation of the Chief of Army Staff for non-victory due to lack of commitment and lack of motivation on the part of troops bordering on sabotage speaks for itself.
Say what you will, Boko Haram is still a daily issue of insecurity for those who are victimised, killed, maimed, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and forced into marriage and for children forcibly recruited into carrying bombs on them to detonate among crowds of people to cause maximum destructions and damage. And Boko Haram will not go away on the basis of sticks alone, carrots must overweigh sticks. How else do you deal with issues such as only about 50 percent literacy in North-East with over 70 percent unemployment?
Obasanjo as a veiled agent- Ebute
It smacks of childishness for the same Obasanjo, who glowingly commended your government for its winning streaks in the battle against Boko Haram insurgency and the anti-corruption campaign, in his first open letter to you in 2018, would turn around to recant his words today on same issues. It was the same Security Chiefs and troops who performed the marvelous feats he previously praised glowingly.
This sudden U-turn is not ordinary, and it gives me the strong suspicion that Obasanjo must have aligned himself with the internal and external forces clandestinely plotting the destruction of Nigeria, whilst he embarks on his usual manner of intermittently gauging public mood by pontificating his fake sanctimoniousness.
Obasanjo truly needs the prayers of all Nigerians to regain himself because he has veered too far off the track of wisdom and reason. It is our hope that despite all the Almighty God will find a place to forgive him his sins and all the wrongs he has done to Nigeria.
Mr President Sir , it is not controvertible that anyone who does or have not seen your efforts in these past four years in the impactful reforms being carried out in the military in order to give to Nigeria a loyal and patriotic Armed Forces that will its best to the nation is bewitched by Obasanjo’s haunting “disease” which I prefer to classify mildly as senility.
Obasanjo and his dozens of veiled agents want to return Nigeria back to Egypt and thus, saddened that the Armed Forces are apolitical, and no more the politicized Military like his leadership gangsters reduced our Armed Forces and Security Chiefs in the immediate past. Such Nigerians are like “coupists” and must be watched closely before they derail the progressive transformation agenda of your administration.
Mr President Sir, your defeat of Boko Haram insurgency and its taming to a very weak ragtag group that can only carryout ambushes and attacks on obscure soft targets is legendary. It remains the best thing your administration has done for Nigeria, ditto for the extinction of other armed insurrectional sects
Herdsmen/farmers
Herdsmen/farmers crises and menace started with government treating the issue with cuddling glove instead of hammer. It has festered and spread. Today, it has developed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country. The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more unfortunately, many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship.
Perception may be as potent as reality at times. Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis, if any, they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate, be addressed; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue.
The gathering cloud
The main issue, if I may dare say, is poor management or mismanagement of diversity which, on the other hand, is one of our greatest and most important assets. As a result, very onerous cloud is gathering. And rain of destruction, violence, disaster and disunity can only be the outcome. Nothing should be taken for granted, the clock is ticking with the cacophony of dissatisfaction and disaffection everywhere in and outside the country. The Presidency and the Congress in the US have signalled to us to put our house in order. The House of Lords in the UK had debated the Nigerian security situation. We must understand and appreciate the significance, implication and likely consequences of such concerns and deliberations.
Hate speech
No one can stop hate speech, violent agitation and smouldering violent agitation if he fans the embers of hatred, disaffection and violence. It will continue to snowball until it is out of control. A stich in time saves nine, goes the old wise saying.
With the death of Funke, Chief Fasoranti’s daughter, some sympathetic Nigerian groups are saying “enough is enough”. Prof Anya, a distinguished Nigerian merit Laureate, has this to say “We can no longer say with certainty that we have a nation”. Niger-Delta leaders, South-Eastern leaders, Middle-Belt leaders and Northern Elders Forum have not remained quiet. Different ordinary Nigerians at home and abroad are calling for different measures to address or ameliorate the situation. All the calls and cries can only continue to be ignored at the expense of Nigerian unity, if not its continued existence.
The core issues
To be explicit and without equivocation, Mr. President and General, I am deeply worried about four avoidable calamities:
1. abandoning Nigeria into the hands of criminals who are all being suspected, rightly or wrongly, as Fulanis and terrorists of Boko Haram type;
2. spontaneous or planned reprisal attacks against Fulanis which may inadvertently or advertently mushroom into pogrom or Rwanda-type genocide that we did not believe could happen and yet it happened.
3. similar attacks against any other tribe or ethnic group anywhere in the country initiated by rumours, fears, intimidation and revenge capable of leading to pogrom;
4. violent uprising beginning from one section of the country and spreading quickly to other areas and leading to dismemberment of the country.
It happened to Yugoslavia not too long ago. If we do not act now, one or all of these scenarios may happen. We must pray and take effective actions at the same time. The initiative is in the hands of the President of the nation, but he cannot do it alone. In my part of the world, if you are sharpening your cutlass and a mad man comes from behind to take the cutlass from you, you need other people’s assistance to have your cutlass back without being harmed. The mad men with serious criminal intent and terrorism as core value have taken cutlass of security. The need for assistance to regain control is obviously compelling and must be embraced now.
But the rantings are inconsequential- Ebute
Mr President, believe me or not, but Chief Obasanjo has vengefully and unapologetically spoken for the vested interests which are angling to destabilize the country. It is obvious because the masses revolted through the ballot and thwarted the success of his preferred candidate for the 2019 Presidency and the palpable, unjustified anger against your leadership.
The sustained killing of security agents, innocent Nigerians and destructions to public properties by members of the repulsive fanatical IMN sect must be brought to an end by your government by whatever means possible.
I am happy you are also thinking along this direction with your warning in the aftermath of the latest incident that the Shiites are pushing you to the wall and they should not tempt you any further. The Nigerian people whom you swore to defend and protect are eagerly yearning for a decisive action that will bring these traitors and enemies of human freedom to book.
No Nigerian with the genuine interest of our country at heart will dispute the fact that IMN is a terrorists sect, which has mushroomed in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheik Ibraheem EL-Zakzaky without lawful registration for over 40 years, but operates illegally as a religious body, which publicly proclaims allegiance to the Republic of Iran and vows disobedience to Nigeria’s laws and constituted authority.
What needs be done?
The President must be seen to be addressing this issue with utmost seriousness and with maximum dispatch and getting all hands on deck to help. If there is failure, the principal responsibility will be that of the President and no one else. We need cohesion and concentration of effort and maximum force – political, economic, social, psychological and military – to deal successfully with the menace of criminality and terrorism separately and together. Blame game among own forces must be avoided. It is debilitating and only helpful to our adversary. We cannot dither anymore. It is time to confront this threat headlong and in a manner that is holistic, inclusive and purposeful.
For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, I pray that God may grant you, as our President, the wisdom, the understanding, the political will and the courage to do what is right when it is right and without fear or favour. May God save, secure, protect and bless Nigeria. May He open to us a window of opportunity that we can still use to prevent the worst happening. As we say in my village, “May God forbid bad thing”.
Buhari must stand firm- Ebute
Mr President Sir, you must stand firm at this hour and never yield to the gang -up by those who want to take Nigeria back to Egypt. Nigerians are solidly behind you!
Conclusion
It is obvious both leaders have the nation at heart but their perspective for addressing the challenges facing the nation seems antagonizing and perhaps influenced by political colouration.
