Tag: Coalition of United Political Parties

It is the age of the alliance. As the nation hurtles towards the 2019 general elections, more Nigerians are discovering that there is power in making common cause on political issues.

First, it was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) corralling more than 30 other parties into the contraption called Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), whose sole aim is toppling President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

Then last Wednesday, an ‘Extraordinary Summit of Leaders and Elders of Nigeria’ was convoked in Abuja at the instance of Professor Ango Abdullahi’s Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Aside the grand title of the event, the list of attendees was equally impressive.

It is not every day that you gather the NEF, Ohaneze N’digbo, Afenifere, Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and sundry others in one room, and emerge with an agreement. For each of these groups set their stall as ethnic and religious champions whose interests hardly cohere.

Into the midst of these sectional leaders, the conveners parachuted Buhari’s bete noire former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who loves to posture as the arch-nationalist, as guest speaker – thereby setting the stage for what you would have expected to be a fractious gathering.

But agree they did. In a communique titled: ‘State of the Nation: The Rising Spate of Killings Must Stop’, the leaders and elders condemned the bloodletting, called for the emergence of a new dynamic and visionary leadership, as well as resolved to work towards the restructuring of the country.

The communique must have made for grim reading at the Presidential Villa as the summit returned a damning verdict on Buhari’s stewardship with regards to the economy, security and corruption – the three pillars of his 2015 election campaign. On each item they handed him a failing grade, rounding it up by dismissing his performance as incompetent.

Their call for a ‘new visionary and dynamic leadership’ to lead Nigeria out of its present crisis was certainly no endorsement of the president’s second term bid.

The Presidency hit back in a cutting response by Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, which dismissed the gathering as an unholy alliance of selfish leaders motivated by hunger.

HeHHe accused them of shedding crocodile tears because they felt alienated by an incumbent who had introduced a transparent and accountable system which disrupted their disproportionate survival on resources of the state.

Shehu then reels off a number of ongoing security interventions in Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kaduna and Niger States to debunk the suggestion that his principal was merely sitting on his haunches while the country bled to death.

With the battle line between Buhari and the old political elite – north and south – sharply drawn, it is tempting even if you are not a presidential spokesman to question the motives of the summiteers. Many have been active participants in government at all levels from as far back as the 70s. They, Obasanjo included, had every opportunity to move the country in a better direction but blew their chance.

They could have restructured the country economically and politically but were among some of the most vociferous voices that have pushed for the sustenance of our virtually unitary system of government. They could have been visionary and foreseen signs that the minor economic and sectarian problems they left to fester would one day threaten to break up the country.

So, Shehu may have a point that a lot of the finger-pointing is hypocritical coming from many who helped to create the mess that now requires cleaning. The downside for the president and his team is that, our history notwithstanding, they were elected to clean it all up. It is too late in the day to moan about the scale of the exercise or the motivations of the ever-present army of faultfinders.

No matter how unfair the critics may be, Buhari and his team must ask themselves whether, in the context of what the nation is passing through, their solutions are enough? Defensiveness would not do. Saying that the killings didn’t start under your watch, or that the body count was higher under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, is a totally unacceptable position.

Although Shehu listed several ongoing military operations, it should alarm everyone that in spite of all he says is being done, so much bloodletting continues. It really goes beyond effort; it is all about the efficacy of what is being done. When Boko Haram was bombing major cities back in 2013 and 2014, the Jonathan administration also regaled us with all it was doing to battle to sect.

To be fair, the Buhari government has done well with blunting the insurgency. The Islamist group is no longer the frightening force it was in 2014/2015.  The government equally deserves commendation for the number of Chibok girls it has rescued, as well as its quick response that led to the return of almost all the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls – leaving only Leah Sharibu as a sore point.

Boko Haram maybe on the wane, but the overall security picture is bad news for the government. In terms of numbers and perception, the bloodshed of the last few years clearly surpasses any other period in recent peace time Nigeria.

Herdsmen killings in the Middle-Belt, savage banditry in the Sokoto-Zamfara axis, and the swarm of kidnappers around Kogi, Abuja, Kaduna and many others parts of the country, have obliterated whatever feel-good dividend Buhari expected to reap from his successes in the Northeast.

Indeed, the gravity of the situation was captured recently by former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa who said the kidnappers had become so evil they have taken to abducting poor Almajiris from isolated farms and asking for ransom as low as N3,000.

A person who would abduct another human being for as low as N3,000 is really not much of a kidnapper; he’s just a desperately hungry fellow whose only solution is base criminality.

One direct consequences of the abduction epidemic is that farming takes a hit. The herdsmen killings also have the same effect – compounding poverty and the country’s larger economic problems.

What is happening is very complex and cannot be easily attributed to just one or two reasons. Clearly, the parlous state of the economy is a major factor. A clichéd expression speaks of the devil finding work for idle hands.

There are environmental problems at play as desertification forces herdsmen down south where their unrestrained encroachment on farmlands sparks conflict and killings.

There are the x-factors. Many of Nigeria’s immediate neighbours to the east and north are seething with conflict: from separatist groups in Cameroun to the untamed regions of Libya, there is unceasing flow of small arms that end up in the hands of criminals.

The president and his team would also have us believe that some of the killings are sponsored by politicians. My problem with this is that the government with all its powers has not moved against those it accuses. That is hard to understand.

At different times agents of government have highlighted these points. But to my mind the biggest challenge remains economic. Until the economy is sorted out, a thousand military taskforces would not pacify this land. We would never have enough soldiers and policeman to keep watch over isolated villages, farmlands and highways north and south.

The Elders Summit communique mentioned new statistics that claim Nigeria now has more poor people than India. It should surprise no one that this dubious distinction coincides with the nation’s serious security crisis.