Nigeria’s political scene last week, like the preceding ones, was full of ridiculous and intriguing stories. Among them include bandits’ assault on Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna and Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom’s daring shot at President Muhammadu Buhari.
The bombshell by a former Military Intelligence top brass, Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi (rtd), and other events were also considered.
As usual, we draw attention to these stories not just to refresh your memories but to point out some of their implication to our national development and why they call for concerns.
1. Bandits’ assault on NDA
On Tuesday, August 24, suspected bandits attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, the country’s premier military university, killed two officers, injuring many and kidnapping a Major, Christopher Datong.
The bandits were said to have stormed the NDA permanent site in Afaka, along the Kaduna Airport Road in Igabi Local Government Area at about 1:00 am.
The bandits said to be dressed in military fatigues allegedly overpowered the guards at the institution’s gates and made for the officers’ quarters, where they launched an attack on the inhabitants.
Implications
The attack on NDA shows that nowhere is safe in the country anymore. It also points to why there is an urgent need for an honest review of the various claims of sabotage in security formations in the country.
It equally calls for a sincere inquiry of the state of fitness of the Nigerian military and serves as another reminder to Buhari’s leadership of the urgent need to fathom a new way out of the impending state of anarchy in the North.
2. Ortom’s daring shot
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom on Tuesday, August 24 accused the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of a hidden agenda to ‘Fulanise’ Nigeria.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television, Ortom said, “Mr. President is pushing me to think that what they say about him, that he has a hidden agenda in this country is true.
“Because it is very clear that he wants to fulanise, but he is not the first Fulani president.
“Shagari was a Fulani President, Yar’ Adua was a Fulani President and they were the best in history. But President Buhari is the worst president when it comes to issues of security and keeping his promises.”
Implications
Ortom simply re-echoed what former President Olusegun Obasanjo and some other Nigerians have also accused the Buhari administration of.
The direct hit at Buhari by Ortom also speaks to the frustration of most Nigerians over the president’s manifest tribalistic and nepotistic tendencies.
The pains voiced by the governor also point out how dangerous the country’s fault lines continue to widen overcareful pursuit of primordial sentiments of ethnicity and religion.
Rather than attacking and vilifying Ortom, Buhari and his presidency should instead address the concerns raised by the Benue State governor, which is also shared by many other Nigerians.
3. Olawunmi’s bombshell
A former Military Intelligence top brass, Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi (rtd), on Wednesday, August 25, shocked the nation when he claimed that sponsors of Boko Haram terrorists are in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
According to him, some serving state governors, senators, and Aso Rock officials have remained the major sponsors of the terrorists in the country.
Olawunmi, currently a professor of Global Security Studies at Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said during an interview on Channels Television ‘Sunrise Daily’:
“… we cannot resolve issues of sponsors of Boko Haram that were in Buhari’s government that we know them. That was why we couldn’t pursue that aspect that could have resolved the issue because we need to arrest people.
“You remember this Boko Haram issue started in 2012 and I was in the military intelligence at that time. We arrested those people. My organization actually conducted interrogation and they (suspects) mentioned names. I can’t come on air and start mentioning names of people that are presently in government that I know that the boys that we arrested mentioned. Some of them are governors now, some of them are in the Senate, some of them are in Aso Rock.
“DSS has information on terrorism sponsors but can’t act without Buhari’s order.”
Implications
Olawunmi’s bombshell goes to support speculations by many Nigerians that banditry and insurgency in the North have become a big business.
It also gives some credence to the position of some Nigerians that the country’s security architecture has collapsed in the area of intelligence gathering.
The unsavory disclosure also cast serious doubt on the willingness of President Buhari’s administration to tackle the troubling insecurity in the country.
More importantly, the revelations should serve as a trigger for a comprehensive probe of those sponsoring terrorists in the country as well as how the billions of naira poured into the insecurity fight is being spent.
4. Bakare Buhari’s govt as a six-year-old child
The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Tuesday, August 25 likened President Buhari’s administration to a six-year-old child moving on its buttocks, not running and not working.
Bakare spoke during an interview on Channels Television saying that he is not just surprised at what is happening in Nigeria under the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government but “terribly shocked about the things that are happening.
I never envisaged them.”
He then went ahead to compare Buhari’s administration to a “six-year-old child that is still crawling. You want to examine or call the doctors to come in or a pediatrician, you say that this child was born six years ago but it is crawling, just moving on its buttocks, not running, not walking, something is wrong. If we are going to assess, we need serious political medicare. There is no problem that is devoid of solutions.”
Implications
Bakare’s assessment of Buhari’s performance is his personal opinion but there is obvious evidence that many other Nigerians share a similar perception about the current government.
The cleric’s commentary, indeed, speaks to the manifest display of incompetence and perceived failures of the Buhari’s administration in the management of Nigeria’s immense human and material assets.
5. Matawalle’s state of emergency call
Worried by raging insecurity in northern Nigeria, Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle, on Wednesday, August 25, called for a state of emergency to be declared in the region.
Speaking after a meeting with an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Ali Janga, at the Government House in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, Governor Matawalle said:
My dear people of Zamfara State, following the recent upsurge in banditry attacks in some parts of our dear State, I feel compelled to address you on the new steps being taken by my administration to contain the situation.
As we all know, the primary objective of the state is to provide security for the lives of the people and their property. My primary motivation for running for the office of governor in 2019 is to devote myself to address the enormous and protracted security challenges faced by our dear state for over a decade.
I wish to express my profound sympathies to all those who have lost their loved ones, property, and those who have been displaced and separated from their family. My heart goes to the women and children who have been forced to live in deplorable conditions of being widows, orphans, and displaced as a result of the bandits’ constant onslaught.
Implications
The cry by Governor Matawalle seals any propaganda woven by the Nigerian government to cover up the near state of increasing level of anarchy in the northern parts of the country.
Matawalle is clearly saying that security in the North, if any exists, has collapsed and that the Federal Government has failed to deliver on the primary expectations of citizens, which is the protection of lives and properties.
The call also exposes the lies in the constant claims by the Nigerian government that its security forces are winning the war against terrorism and bandits in the North.
The governor’s cry calls for concerns.