Israelite plague

By Olakunle Abimbola

In his Easter strafing-from-the-pulpit, Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, swore glory had departed from his country, after the tragic story of Ichabod.

Ichabod’s birth was triggered by the news of the slaying, in battle, of his father, Phinehas; and uncle, Hophni, both notorious sons of Prophet Eli.

Eli too, priest-ruler of Israel, heard the shattering news, together with the Philistine capture of the Ark of Covenant, and instantly dropped dead.

This chain of tragedies forced Ichabod’s mother into premature labour.  She too would die shortly after childbirth.

But before she did, crushed at the death of her husband, brother-in-law and gentle father-in-law, she bitterly named the newborn Ichabod — meaning: glory has departed from Israel!

That was Bishop Kukah’s parallel at Easter: glory had departed Nigeria.

The Reverend Supo Ayokunle, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president, just joined Father Kukah in his dire jeremiad.  He prayed Nigeria would not be like Chad, where bandits killed the president!

In times of crisis, Freudian slips, malediction and benediction come with the frazzled territory!

Blessed are those imbued with holy ire!  They spew sacred toxins, yet the people feel beatified by their blessed curses!

Read Also: Presidency, Kukah clash over ‘Nigeria a killing field’ claim

In truth, Nigeria is in a security bind; and neither patrician nor plebeian would appear safe.

News of gruesome deaths from an attack, by terrorists, on the Omuoma country home of Imo Governor, Hope Uzodimma; and bandits’ heartless killing of three of the kidnapped 23 of Greenfield University, Kaduna, shows the current insecurity is no respecter of anyone, noble or rabble.

Still, these terrible news are part of a mix.  Kidnapping, banditry, insurrection and terrorism are a direct product of past corruption and injustices.

But as that tragedy plays out in lost lives, hewn limbs, a lot too is going on to correct these past injustices.  That comes with the massive investment in infrastructure, physical and social, in a period of acute cash: to re-start the economy, knock off the economic bases of these social crises, and offer citizens fresh hope and relief.

Which is why Father Kukah’s hectoring and Reverend Ayokunle’s subversive prayers rather echo the Israelites’ complex: that gruff sub-zero tolerance to any discomfort, should all-powerful Jehovah not act on the double; taken out as scurrilous attacks on their leaders, spiritual or temporal.

That prolonged their 40-day Egypt-Cannan journey to 40 years.  Even after David had established Israel, that “stiff-neck” (in Bible-speak) would disperse them all into the diaspora (from 8th to 6th century BC), which horror climaxed with Adolf Hitler’s Jewish holocaust during World War 2 (1939-1945 AD).

But back to Father Kukah’s glory-had-departed theory — which segment of the elite can throw the first stone?

CAN and the Christian lobby?  In fairness CAN did a bit to counter President Olusegun Obasanjo’s narcissism and vain glory, which earned it the sharp rebuke of “CAN my foot!”, from the messianic Baba Iyabo.

But post-Obasanjo, particularly under President Goodluck Jonathan, CAN and the Christian lobby had churned out a slew of court Rasputins, in unvarnished support of that spendthrift government, that earned a lot but blew everything.

The Muslim lobby?  Those snared selves during the June 12 crisis; backing ringing injustice in the IBB cancellation of the MKO Abiola mandate, though both were professed Muslims; and the winning ticket was a Muslim-Muslim one.  That prolonged ruinous military rule by six long years!

The Judiciary?  In two cases which could have marked a big victory for the anti-graft war, Nigeria’s all-wise higher courts merrily pushed technicality to trump substantive justice, thus springing high-calibre convicts, in a cynical gaming of due process.

One of the two now claims the state cannot retry him, though he was duly found guilty before getting off through crass technicality.  What audacity!

The media?  The press galloped, everyone in tow, after “Fulani herdsmen”, after every crime.  But as all went on a wild goose chase, the real bandits and kidnappers got more organized and more emboldened.

But a more clinical media would have figured that outgunned felons, fleeing the Boko Haram vortex but escaping with small arms, could cause big trouble for the five other geo-political zones.  That is the costly present reality.  A stiff price to pay for sweet, crime-pushed ethnic profiling!

The Muhammadu Buhari Presidency?  Security is not its greatest scorecard right now.

Read Also: Soyinka: Kukah’s position on state of nation in order

To be fair, the Boko Haram menace appears somewhat reduced, safe for terrorists’ attacks on civilian soft targets; and sabotage of military formations.  Yet, that initial insurrection has snowballed into massive kidnappings in the South West, insane banditry in the North West, further herder-farmer tensions in the Middle Belt and IPOB-powered Igbo-on-Igbo violence, aside from wanton attacks on police stations and patrol troopers in the South East and South-South.

So, Father Kukah’s theory appears a shared plague; not an  exclusive government contagion, meriting puritanical finger-pointing.  Still, the buck stops on the government’s table.  If the president doesn’t act fast, it risks insecurity defining its tenure.  That would be unfair, given the hard work the government does in other areas.

Which is why the president and his (wo)men could (and must) do much better — formalizing state police to start with; and moving fast to federalize the political economy, such that states have greater control of their resources.  Both would give security and the economy a sweet jab in the arm.

Still, President Buhari is doing much more than any president since 1999, to attack the root of the crisis: investing in crucial infrastructure to re-create the real sector and reverse mass poverty.  Aside from welcome strides in agriculture, the massive investment in various other sectors is clear: power transmission lines, gas pipeline network, rail modernization, bridges and roads nationwide — despite scarce cash.

While a General Muhammadu Buhari throttled the Lagos Metro Line and a President Olusegun Obasanjo killed the Tinubu-era Lagos Independent Power Programme (IPP) and tried to stonewall Lagos urban rail, a Saul-turned-Paul President Buhari is giving fresh life to the Lagos rail dream.  By removing the rail right-of-way bogey, two Lagos rail lines, Blue and Red, are due for delivery by December 2022.

Such rail and general infrastructural forays should enjoy due and fair attention, to drive up hope in a difficult time, even as there is abiding concern on the security situation.

Anything short would doom even the most legitimate query as serious frivolity, reminiscent of the Israelites’ penchant for eternal jeremiads.

That balance is where critics, temporal and spiritual, can do far better.  It is their bounden duty too, to  co-mobilize a stressed people, towards post-crisis sanity.