Professor Wole Soyinka’s concern that Nigerian may be plunged into destruction and not be able to celebrate another June 12 Democracy Day, if the government is not decentralised, made our pick in this week’s Politics Roundup.
The attack on former President Olusegun Obasanjo by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, which many described as disrespectful and other stories also made our selection.
Read through to find out the implications to these stories on the nation’s growth and why they should not be ignored.
1. Soyinka’s worries
Professor Wole Soyinka, in an interview aired on Monday, June 14, said that Nigeria may not celebrate another Democracy Day if the system of government is not decentralised.
The Nobel laureate, during the interview with Arise News, said the feeling that the nation is plunging into destruction is the reason people defy police warnings and still went ahead with the June 12 protest.
“And that is what’s happening to people on the streets. That’s why they are moving, that’s why they are demonstrating; that’s why they are defying even threats from the police and the government – If you demonstrate, we will do this, if you do this, we will deal with you, we will talk to you in language which you understand – it does not wash with anybody any longer.
“I am saying this whole nation is about to self-destruct and I am not the only one saying it, except Buhari and his government listen and take action, we would not celebrate another Democracy Day come next year.”
Implications
The concern raised by one of Nigeria’s brightest raises a question if Buhari’s regime is really aware of the obvious dangers confronting the continuous existence of the country as one nation.
This fear expressed by Soyinka is not one that should be wished away. It is important Buhari take note of this worry and act now before it will be too late.
Certainly, playing deaf to the advice and other similar pieces of advice cannot be a panacea to the ever-widening division in the country. It is high time the Presidency stopped speaking and listening to itself. It is always wise to listen to wise counsel.
2. ‘Disrespectful’ Adesina
On Friday, June 18, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, launched a vitriolic attack on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of contributing to the current crisis in the country.
Obasanjo in a recent letter to Buhari had accused the Buhari-led administration of paving the way for the crisis between farmers and herders in the country.
But in a piece titled, ‘Nigeria’s Unity and All The Iberiberism (stupidity)’, Adesina decried the prediction of Nigerians disintegration in every administration including in Buhari’s government.
He said, “And what of Olusegun Obasanjo, a civil war hero. Despite all that he has contributed to the current upheavals by his actions and inactions, words and bile, he says it is idiotic to wish Nigeria disintegrating now. Good. But let us put our money where our mouth is. Let Baba mind his thoughts and his language.”
Implications
The constant display of anger and attacks on critics of Buhari’s government by the president spokesmen portrays the administration as intolerant of informed views.
How Adesina and other image-makers of the president keep playing the Ostrich by pretending that all is well is disturbing.
One fact the presidency has to accept is that the current conditions in the country are very obvious to deny.
Nigerians know the challenges they have before they elected Buhari. And one of the reasons for electing him is to solve these problems. The presidency should not expect Nigerians to be clapping for Buhari when things appear to be getting worse and the fault lines becoming increasingly too apparent.
Buhari image-makers should drop the idea of insulting and attacking informed Nigerians who genuinely want the government to sit-up and stop the country from a clear threat of disintegration.
3. Social media mantra
On Wednesday, June 16, the Federal Government asked the House of Representatives to enact a law to regulate social and online media in Nigeria.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed, at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values called on the lawmakers to amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act to empower the agency to regulate social and online media.
Mohammed said, “I want to add here specifically that internet broadcasting and all online media” to be included into Section two (b) of the NBC Act, which states that: “(1) The The commission shall have [the] responsibility of: Receiving, processing and considering applications for the establishment, ownership or operation of radio and television stations, including (i) cable television services, direct satellite broadcast and any other medium of broadcasting.”
According to the minister, “this is because we have a responsibility to monitor contents, including Twitter.”
Implications
From being branded platforms that aid fake news, to platforms that support messages meant to disintegrate the country and other mantras against social media by the Buhari-led government, one thing that is clear to many Nigerians is that the government insistence on checkmating activities on social media remains suspicious.
With Twitter already suspended and the government refusing to listen to many of its citizens and foreign countries to reverse the suspension shows the administration to be jittery over the rising voices of dissent.
While there maybe reasons to regulate the social media, the body language of the ruling APC-led government suggests that the administration, should it succeeds in regulating social media, may stop at nothing to suppress freedom of speech and the media.
The fear that the move to regulate social media is a plot to clamp down on people who condemn wrong actions and policies of the government is deeply seated in the mind of Nigerians. The government needs to sincerely address these fears.
4. PDP gov’s warning
The Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum on Monday, June 14, warned President Muhammadu Buhari not to relegate his constitutional to them.
Buhari had recently claimed that the governors were responsible for the security situation in their respective states.
But the PDP governors in a communique issued at the end of the forum’s meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and read by its Chairman, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, said:
They disagreed with Buhari, who had claimed
“Mr President seems not to be aware that the coercive instruments of State security is firmly within his hands and not the governors, considering his recent media interview on the subject.
“Mr President has ultimate authority under the Constitution over security organisations, even though the states have a role to play.”
Implications
Buhari’s position that the governors should be responsible for the security situations in their various states shows the confusion among the leadership of the country.
It also shows a failure of governance and why insecurity in the country continues to get worse by the day as it is clear that the president does not see insecurity indifferent states of the country his primary responsibility.
President Buhari blaming the governors for a responsibility bequeathed on him by the law of the land is unfortunate. It is equally unfortunate that the governors have continued to rely and wait on a president who does not see the insecurity in their respective states as his primary duty.
5. ‘Rotten’ civil servants
The Chairman of Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), Senator Matthew Urhoghide said in an interview published by Punch on Saturday, June 19 that civil servants in Nigeria are more corrupt than politicians.
He said, “Everybody believes that any evil that happens in Nigeria is perpetrated by the politicians or the political class but we keep telling them that all the political parties put together, in terms of membership, are not up to 10 per cent of the Nigerian population. So, we do not form the greater majority of our population as a country.
“Findings by our committee have revealed that the public wealth stolen from the system were not stolen by politicians.
“We have uncovered billions of monies spent without due regard to extant Act and regulations. We are not at war with anybody but Nigerians too must know that the greatest misuse of public funds is perpetrated by people from the civil service.”
Implications
The revelation by the Senate committee only reveals why Nigeria ranks among the highest corrupt country in the world and remains the world capital of poor people.
Even the high level of crimes and insecurity in the country have their roots directly or indirectly on the level of existential corruption among officeholders, political and in the civil service sector.