Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo is the most qualitatively outstanding and memorable legend of Nigerian politics and governance since the 1940s. He is the one whose role in politics and governance can still be a reliable guide for Nigeria even though Nigeria lost the opportunity of having him as its President”.
“He knew how to be relevant both in government and in opposition. When he ceased to be the Premier of the old Western Region, he became a credible and dependable opposition leader. If his policy of free, qualitative, and functional education, for instance, had been implemented and sustained throughout Nigeria, the 40 -year gap in educational development between the North and the South, which inevitably makes the North stand more in the way of peace and national unity would have been avoided” – Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Kaduna state governor, at the 2012 Awo Foundation lecture.
One of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s most cryptic sayings, call it prediction, was that the North will, in future, be the nemesis of Nigeria.
With all that is happening in the North today, with the daily gnashing of teeth, and given the billions of Naira government has been spending, these many years, to pacify an absolutely restive North, the time predicted by Awo has, indeed, come and the Avarar could not have been more prescient.
To put the event at which Alhaji Balarabe Musa made that speech in proper perspective, it had in
attendance, about the most eminent royal fathers in Nigeria, among them:the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, Emir of Zauazau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Suru Gambari, King Edmund Daukoru, Amayanabo of Nembe, King Dandeson Douglas, Jaja Amayanabo of Opobo, and King Mujakpero, Orodje of Okpe.
Put in other words, the iconoclastic Balarabe Musa knew the gravity of what he was saying – especially his reference to “the 40 – year gap in educational development between Northern and Southern Nigeria”, as well as its consequences.
If you ask me, I would wager that he deliberately wanted to lay bare to the eminent Northern royalties present, what roles they played in bringing that gap about, because it was feudalism – denial of education, for so long to the citizenry, especially the children of the poor by the rich and privileged Northern elite. It was through that unkind denial, that Nigeria is today harvesting, among other things: illiteracy, 15 million plus out – of – school children in the North, kidnapping, Boko Haram and such other blood- sucking vermins Nigeria has had to contend with since around 2009. Nigeria, especially Northern Nigeria, has consequently been turned to worse than Armaggedon, given the incidence of daily kidnappings, killings etc. These are, of course, now spreading southwards.
Akinwumi Adesina, the ADB President, once appropriately described the millions out – of – school – children in the North as the super market of terrorism. And as recently as during the defence of his ministry’s budget, Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, told the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals that a lot of the banditry, terrorism, and insecurity associated with the sector are sponsored by some powerful people who are involved in illegal mining. These are the men who daily patronise that “super market”, and because of who they are, the last administration, for ethnic and religious reasons, just couldn’t touch them.
Had these illiterates in that ” super market”, the benefit of education, it is doubtful if any of them would choose death, over living, just because he was promised a dubious seven virgins in heaven.
It was obviously in appreciation of the place, and role, of education, as well as the consequences of lack thereof, that President Tinubu,
in his address to a visiting delegation of Jam’iyyatu Ansaridden this past week said as follows:”There is no weapon against poverty that is as potent as learning. I can assure you that we are here to change the lives of our people. We are here to promote peace, stability, and economic prosperity. We are dedicated to building a lasting peace with a focus on the comprehensive education of our children”.
That is the very ingredient Northern leadership denied the people, especially the children of the poor, just so they could continue to use them as serfs.
Today, those serfs of yester years have become objects of terror in every part of Nigeria. These bandits and terrorists are no longer ready to hide in bushes, or wait for their prey on highways. They now head straight into homes to sieze the entire members of a family some of who they gruesomely murder, while awaiting payment of ransom.
That precisely was the ill- luck that befell Nigeria this past week but, in particular, the families of Alhaji Mansoor Al- Kadriya and that of Lawyer Oladosu Ariyo. The details are so gory, empathy and decency will not permit me discuss the events any further.
Suffice to say that security in Nigeria has sunk so abysmally, kidnappings and murder have birthed right in our homes and streets. It is no longer enough to start chorusing ‘not my portion’ as the situation calls for only much tougher actions on the part of government can answer appropriately to this epidemic .
It is particularly galling that this is happening after about a decade, and a half, since our gallant security forces have been battling the satanic forces with not a few of our service men and women paying the ultimate price.
May God Almighty rest them and comfort the families they left behind.
Unfortunately, their gallantry and sacrifice were not appreciated by Nigeria’s political leadership, especially during the last administration which treated the killers with kid gloves because of religion and ethnicity . For instance, despite the thousands of school children kidnapped in the North, you would count less than 20 kidnappers who were tried and jailed for their heinous crimes. Even when a foreign country handed over names of terrorism sponsors to the Buhari government, it still could not muster the political will to try them, all for the twin reasons of religion and ethnicity.
It is this same powerful people who have stood, ramrod, against the creation of state police. On several occasions, Northern state governors claimed, publicly, to have endorsed state police. But once they depart the public shows – for that’s what they are – they chicken out and end up doing nothing. Below is a newspaper report, dated 14 September, 2022 announcing their usual meaningless endorsements:”The 19 governors under the aegis of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) unanimously expressed support for the establishment of state police in a bid to tackle the activities of insurgents, kidnappers and other criminal activities across the country. The Northern Governors’ stance was contained in a communique issued at the end of the meeting with the Northern Traditional Rulers Council held on Monday in Abuja, organised to “review the state of security in the North and other matters relating to its progress and the development of the region.” “While reading the communique, NGF chairman and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said the meeting reviewed the security situation in the North and other matters relating to its development and resolved to support further amendments of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in the bid to accommodate the establishment of state police”.
End of story.
Not a word of it was heard again because some in the North actually believe that these evil perpetrators are out to promote their religion through Sharia which they proclaim in conquered spaces.
Even though it is common knowlege that the Nigerian Police lacks the wherewithal to successfully fight these terror groups, yet the North, with all its executive power and overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, still failed to see creation of state police passed in the National Assembly. It was, in fact, alleged to have been deliberately killed out of respect to Northern oligarchy which is believed to be not well disposed to it. It is for this same reason restructuring Nigeria has become a no go area.
It is now far past the time for buck
passing. The Federal government must now, knowing how much insecurity can imperil its economic programmes, especially its drive for foreign investors, put in place appropriate measures to nip this terrible situation in the bud.
The place to start, however, will be to seek the support of both the Northern elite and its traditional authority, both of which have demonstrated unbelievable equanimity in the face of massive insecurity in that part of the country.
This could not have been happening in other parts of the country without the people getting thoroughly agitated and showing appropriate concern. It is time they are roused from their lethargy, even if it will mean the President having to specially appeal to them.
Enough is truly enough.
Also, it is true that the President has met severally with the Service Chiefs especially in the past few days, demanding concrete action from them to put an end to an insecurity that has gone beyond description. But nobody can forget that President Buhari also had similar meetings but with little or no positive result since the real enemies are very powerful people who would do anything to protect their hugely profitable business.
This means that President Tinubu is doing the same thing as his predecessor, which should not be since it yielded no positive result. I will suggest that he seeks additional help from wherever; persons, organisations or even foreign countries, who are knowledgeable, or had practical experience in these matters so as to be able to fashion out new ways of confronting, and defeating, the menace.
Below are Five (5) things government should consider doing:
(1) Introduce and properly fund an aggressive education policy in the North as the millions of out -of – school – children are a waiting time bomb;
(2) Create state police;
(3) Begin a massive recruitment in to all arms of the security services;
(4) Introduce a massive infusion of appropriate technology into each arm of the security services,
and
(5)President Tinubu must decide to get to the very bottom of those fueling insecurity in the country.
Fortunately for him, and unlike President Buhari, he has no cultural or religious reasons to impede his doing so.
Until this is done, Nigeria will only be fighting insecurity on the surface and going round in circles.
It is time those behind insecurity in Nigeria are outed.
