Magnus Onyibe

In the very popular Bob Marley song: Redemption Song. The lyrics go thus; “how long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look? “

If you substitute the word prophets for masses in the music maestro’s scintillatingly and solemnly rendered lamentation song, he might have been singing about Nigeria of today, even though the music was sung and released in June 1980-some forty years ago.

And the reason the lyrics of the song would resonate in Nigeria is owed to the reality of the fact that a similar circumstance of life at its most horrific level- slavery and colonialism that prompted Marley to sing his song of agony is here with us in Nigeria, the land of our birth which has been transformed into a killing field. Unlike white oppression that Marley was wailing about, the misery is not being brought upon us by external forces. But by our own people with extremist views and therefore at war with society by committing atrocities that debase human lives and demonstrate complete loss of value of life as our country has become a sort of war zone. And this season of weeping and gnashing of teeth has come upon the entire nation like a boar constrictor, that has wrapped its body around its victim and it is squeezing breathe out of him/her, at the same time breaking all the bones in the victim’s body, which by any measure can only be excruciatingly painful and gruesome.

While in Bob Marley’s song he wailed about prophets being killed, the current reality in Nigeria is that the innocent and hard-working masses are being butchered in droves in the past ten (10) years or thereabouts of the malaise being brought upon us.

And it would appear as if the outlaws- terrorists, bandits, known and unknown gunmen are getting bolder in their evil enterprise as they are currently setting their eyes on leaders,(of the political hue) currently being killed by the violent elements.

And the evidence of the ugly phenomenon evolving is the recent assassination of a commissioner/ cabinet member of Katsina state government, Dr. Rabe Nasir Bindawa a fortnight ago. Barely a week after that incident, a lawmaker from Kaduna state, Mr. Rilwanu Gadagau was also murdered by terrorists as he traveled between Kaduna to Zaria. As the festive seasons of Xmas and New Year are now upon us, politicians that have been dwelling in the safety of Abuja would be going back to meet with the long-suffering members of their constituents in their homesteads where intense acts of terrorism, in the dimension of hurly-burly, is being unleashed on the defenseless masses.

In the light of the two recent killings of members of the executive and legislative arms of government in both Katsina and Kaduna states highlighted earlier, it is not beyond the marauding outlaws to seize or kill a governor very soon.

The suspicion that politicians are being targeted is not being made up by me. The Directorate of State Services, DSS recently issued that alert via a press release.

The merchants of death, for lack of a better terminology to characterize them, might have failed in the past attempts to take the lives of professor Babagana Umara Zulum and Mr. Samuel Ortom, both of whom are governors of Borno and Benue states respectively that were attacked in the recent past.

And they only escaped by the whiskers from the dragnets of the bandits now officially branded terrorists by the authorities in Abuja.

But the terrorists are getting bolder.

Having not been able to kidnap or kill a governor or other high ranking politicians by ambush on the road or while attending a public event, as was the case of professor Chukwuma Soludo, governor-elect of Anambra state whose police aides were killed in an attack during his campaign for office and Mr. Hope Uzodinma, governor of lmo state whose country home was recently razed down by arsonists that after his life, they may even soon attack a governor’s lodge or government house in the north or southeast.

The reasoning above is also not far-fetched.

And it is underscored by the fact that if they succeeded in attacking Nigerian Defense Academy, NDA-the premier military training institution in Nigeria that is supposed to be as impregnable as Fort Knox and abducted a serving army major, after killing a couple of other residents, why won’t they attack a government house or governor’s lodge? Terrorists are on record to have also shot down a Nigerian air force fighter jet from which a brave pilot successfully ejected and managed to return safely to base after a search and rescue team scouted the forests for him.

Did someone not reveal that the army paid the terrorists a huge sum of money to retrieve from them, a rocket-propelled weapon that could bring down airplanes?

The military reportedly has been so worried about the suspicion that terrorists possess such a weapon that poses a grave threat to the president and commander in chief of the armed forces of Nigeria who travels frequently on that route to his homestead in Daura, that it paid a huge sum of the money to get the ‘bazooka’ off their hands.

Since the claim was reported in the media, the military has repudiated it. Perhaps because it is inelegant, or it may be a mere ruse. But the suspected development is very disconcerting simply because, as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. Also, perception can sometimes become reality.

The Katsina State Governor and Chairman, North West Governors’ Forum, Aminu Bello Masari, who in the face of unbridled killing, raping, and maiming of defenseless and innocent indigenes of his state by terrorists, had advised his compatriots to arm themselves up to defend themselves. Because bearing of a firearm by nonmembers of the armed forces was against the laws of our country, there was a public condemnation of the proposition by the governor who was obviously compelled to float the idea as a reflection of his desperation, to save his people since the armed forces whose duty it is to protect life and property has failed them. Following the renewed onslaught by the outlaws, Masari has again doubled down on his call on citizens to bear arms in self-defense to curb the overwhelming security threat, particularly in northern Nigeria, and which is also rapidly taking hold in southeast Nigeria.

His Sokoto State counterpart, Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has also, perhaps arising from a sense of desperation after 23 (by another account, the casualty number is higher ) innocent passengers in a transport bus were shot by terrorists and set ablaze inside the bus in which they were traveling,  also told a delegation of security apparatchik from the presidency that government should bring back South African mercenaries, who former President Goodluck Jonathan had contracted to flush out Boko Haram

insurgents from their Sambisa forest base, where they first made their home.

In the same bid to combat terrorism, but from a different perspective, Kano

State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who has identified reserved forests in the northern part of the country as home to the criminal elements, also called for the reclaiming of forests by governments through what he characterized as full ownership. The Kano governor’s proposition about taking over forests is in tandem with the sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Saad Abubakar’s suggestion that the military should make deliberate efforts to occupy all the forests so that they would cease to be a haven for terrorists. And that position reinforces my plea in a previous media intervention that all forests should be converted to farms not only for the purpose of preventing terrorists from converting them to their abodes but also as a verifiable source of food for the masses through active cultivation of the wild forests as farms to feed the nation.

Not many of us consider taking ownership of the forests from the prism of its playing the dual purpose of solving the problem of insecurity and at the same time taking care of another critically important challenge-food insecurity, which is a corollary to the scourge of insecurity of lives and properties afflicting a critical mass of Nigerians.

Here is how l made the case in an article titled “Pastoralists and Farmers’ Conflicts in Nigeria: Time for Fulani Capitalism, Not Herdsmen Terrorism” which l wrote and published widely in the mass media on February 15, 2021, by Vanguard and other platforms.

“Before proceeding to the nitty-gritty, permit me to introduce you to the concept of Fulani-Capitalism, which is a variant of AfriCapitalism – a pseudo or hybrid business/social investment model being promoted by Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings.

As earlier stated, the underpinning philosophy behind Fulani- Capitalism is similar to the raison d’être for Africapitalism, which is the creation of job opportunities for Africans by Africans in ways that the host communities of the business are not exploited but empowered by the presence of the corporate entity – A sort of symbiotic relationship

between entrepreneurs and host communities.

Fulani-Capitalism is conceptualized to catalyze and drive the

concept of cattle ranching to discourage or displace the current nomadic practice of animal husbandry. It is so named because it is the Fulani that is undeniably, inherently the predominant pastoralists in Nigeria.

The whole idea is to overtly or covertly persuade the well-heeled or deep pocket Fulani men and women to strategically invest in ranches to facilitate the change of the lifestyle of the nomadic herdsmen and offer them more reliable as well as better return on their investments and efforts.

Given the strategic role that cattle ranches, (as opposed to nomadic animal husbandry) can play in stemming the ugly side of human carnage arising from herdsmen killings, investing in ranches (confining animal husbandry within a farming space) by successful men/women of Fulani extraction needs no further elucidation because it is both a social and economic investment.

By this, I mean that rather than wait for the government to set up ranches, Fulani men and women of means (who are in their legions) should make deliberate and conscious effort to invest in ranches, which would serve as sanctuaries for cows and those who tend them because it is financially rewarding.

Aside from the financial returns, it would serve as a veritable means for safeguarding the livelihood of their people whose mainstay is animal husbandry, and which they are still practicing in the same nomadic and primitive manners that their forebears did centuries ago and now constituting a threat to peace and security.

So far, the balance of loss of human lives is in favor of the herdsmen who are rampaging all over the country, particularly the Sahel and plateau (for their green pastures) and leaving sorrow,

blood, and grief in their trail. But the first mover advantage which the herdsmen are currently enjoying would not be perpetual, if and when their victims begin to fight back.

In light of the frightening prospect of the conflict escalating to unimaginable proportions, how do we avert what seems like an inevitability if the killings by herdsmen go on unabated? I’m convinced that Nigeria can move from the current state of chaos to community through a strategy of shared social investments. That’s assuming we are ready to change how animal husbandry is practiced by leveraging science, technology, and capitalism.”

It is rather heartening that northern states governors seem to be paying attention and taking my advice to heart by establishing or being in the process of establishing ranches as recommended which is why herdsmen-farmers bloody clashes have somehow abated lately.

Hopefully, taking full ownership of the forests would entail inviting not only South African mercenaries to combat the criminal elements, as Tambuwal has demanded, but also South African, Zimbabwean, Brazilian, and even Israeli farmers (Muslims in UAE are partnering with Israeli tech experts in Jebel Ali port) to convert the forests into farms to take care of the growing food insecurity also ravaging the masses in our country.

It is rather intriguing that barely a decade after the violent resistance to authorities by religious extremists led by the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf somewhere around Maiduguri, Borno state, northeast Nigeria, the religious insurgency has like a malignant tumor metastasized into unmanageable cancer which is gnawing not only at the core of the northern region where it was originally confined; but also the eastern part of our country that has also lately assumed the nature of a cauldron of sorts. And the violence in the South Eastern flank of the country driven by secessionism is also exacting a high death toll. Alarmingly, it is also aping the pattern in the north, as separatism has degenerated into sundry criminal activities by known and unknown gunmen crippling the southeast region which it is holding by the jugular.

Considering the persistent scourge of murdering of traditional rulers in cold blood (which l understand is a sort  of reprisal against them for betraying their members to security forces) in addition to the assassination of prominent figures ostensibly for defying the separatist’s rules, culminating in the dastardly act of beheading two active-duty policemen, and touching of police stations as well as  similar government infrastructure and facilities like INEC office; the eastern part of our country has invariably become the hotbed of anarchy of unprecedented dimensions, except for the period of the civil war (1967-70.)

At this juncture, it is worth pointing out that escalation of violence in the north via Boko Haram, mimics the trajectory of the Niger delta militancy which degenerated after authorities failed to invite for negotiations, the intellectual and genuine environmental rights agitators such as Ken Saro-Wiwa. Rather than dialogue, he has executed alongside other Ogoni leaders as felons.

Similarly, instead of having a conversation with the leader of Boko Haram whose members reportedly refused to comply with the state government’s directive to wear helmets for their own safety while riding motorbikes, he was allegedly murdered by the authorities, setting off an armed revolution threatening to overwhelm not only that of the north but entire the country. And the current resort to the use of force instead of negotiating with the nation of Biafra agitators like Nnamdi Kanu, and Oduduwa nation proponent, Sunday Igboho; the current occupants of Aso Rock Villa seat of power seem to be treading the same path of perdition trodden by past leaders through resort to brute military force as their preferred crisis management tool, as opposed to applying the instrumentality of negotiated settlement.

Taking all the listed mayhem and human carnage in our country together, it is clear that the masses and our leaders at the subnational level have reasons to have lost faith in the ability of the military to protect them because, as a nation, we appear to be losing the war to the terrorists and secessionists. If nothing else, the twin demons have attracted opprobrium, locally and internationally to our country as we have been besmirched by the ugly news of mindless killings and the concomitant human rights abuses. 

And nothing reflects the rapid erosion of the confidence of the masses in the ability of the military to win the war against the terrorists, more than the fact that citizens have accepted to be paying tax to terrorists that have become more brazen by hoisting their flags, (not just in far-flung locations in the forests) in locations as close as Niger and Nasarawa states, all of which are adjacent or contiguous to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT- Abuja.

Again, this is not made up by me but based on public complaints by victims and the admission by the state governments in statements available in the open media space. 

That a de facto government set up by outlaws is demanding loyalty from indigenes and receiving the same with full compliance from our fellow compatriots who are reportedly being treated like prisoners of war, is an existential reality that is very unnerving.

Obviously, the Nigerians being oppressed in those locations, perhaps feel better off than those in internally Displaced Peoples, IDP camps, or in their early graves for failure to comply with the terrorists.

Put succinctly, there is the rule of the bandits in the captured areas instead of rule of law in the cities, probably yet to fall to the arsonists, if action through a different and aggressive approach is not adopted sooner than later.

Now, before our beloved country’s degeneration into what looks like an active war theatre, Nigerians were regaled with the allegations that the funds (to be precise $1.2b) meant to have been applied in purchasing arms and ammunition to fight Boko haram was converted into campaign slush funds by the National Security Adviser, NSA to the former president, Col Sambo Dasuki for the re-election of the former ruling party, PDP, hence our military was ill-equipped to successfully take on and defeat Boko insurgents. The impression was created that, as soon as the requisite strategic weapons were acquired, the terrorists would be wiped out.

But six years into the eight years tenure of the regime that defeated the one that allegedly misappropriated the funds budgeted for the procurement of weapons to defeat the terrorists, our military has not been able to flush out the increasingly menacing terrorists to justify the huge sums of money that have recently been invested in the acquisition of sophisticated weaponry, including hardware like the super Tucano jet bombers, that have been deployed without changing the game in any significant way? That to me suggests that lack of weapons may not be the overarching reason for our country’s inability to defeat religious insurgents and separatists. To demonstrate how super-equipped the military has become, it should be noted that some armaments which Western countries had initially resisted selling to Nigeria’s military for fear that they may be used to perpetrate human rights abuses have now been made accessible to them. Yet insecurity has not abated. Rather our country has witnessed an upsurge in a bloodbath that has made the earth around the country crimson by the blood of the innocent Nigerians being murdered on a daily basis.

What this dire situation suggests to me is that the failure to succeed in preventing the raging religious insurgency that started about 2009/10 which is about ten (10) years ago and has like a vicious virus mutated into variants, does not stem from a lack of military weapons, as politicians would like the masses to believe. And it is neither a fall out of the weather-induced arid condition in the Sahel that has made competition for land for farmers and herders more fierce; not even the inflow of small weapons from failed states like Libya, Mali, Somalia, etc, which authorities allude to. All of the identified factors are simply symptoms of the challenge. But the real problem is the lack of robust and broad-minded strategy by authorities to tackle the identified multiple challenges earlier highlighted.

Simply put, our country’s political leadership has been too narrowed minded in tackling insecurity where it should have been broad-minded hence the military has had feet of clay. 

It is important to keep in mind that l am not dwelling on the forgoing historical facts to spite the government in power or shame and diminish the military.

But my intention is to remind us of where we are coming from on the seemingly intractable crisis of insecurity that has engulfed our country like a wildfire in harmattan. Rather, I’m seeking to put the causative situation into perspective with a view to plotting the way forward through the creation and deployment of new strategies to win the war against terrorism.

In my view, it is about time we as a nation pivoted the apparently intractable crisis of insecurity that has obviously overwhelmed the military and government from the exclusive realm of politicians who are weaponizing it, (as reflected by the trading of blames between the current ruling and former ruling parties, APC and PDP) in the last decade to a multi-prong,  multi-sectoral and departmental effort involving both military and nonmilitary expertise.

Already, the military has co-opted vigilante groups into its operations like civilian JTF very active in the north and civil defense formations such as Amotekun covering the southwest states and EbubeAgu in the southeast states evolving around the country. But it appears to me as if they are just being used for guard jobs and perhaps inadvertently as cannon fodders, particularly around the numerous IDP camps in the north.

And they have suffered a significant number of fatalities which may be unsustainable for a longer period.

Another group that has been co-opted by the military is hunters.

They too have basically served as a compass for the military in the forests where hunters are more at home owing to the knowledge acquired in the course of their hunting expeditions.

Again, l have tried to give context to the effort that the military has made in expanding the execution of the war against terrorism beyond its horizon, in order to prove that it recognizes that it has been overwhelmed by the dynamic shapes and forms in which the war on terrorism has evolved over the past decade. Again, the aim is to validate the need to expand the scope of the government agencies and departments engaged in the war that has turned out to be the greatest threat to the continued corporate existence of our country, from solely a public sector function into a public/private sector challenge which it truly is.

After all, is it not often said by top Security functionaries that security is not the duty of government alone?

At a recent lecture held in commemoration of the 60th birthday of Akin Osuntokun, (who fits the textbook definition of a public intellectual) titled: Consistency In Public Intellectual Advocacy: A Nigerian Case Study” which was delivered by Rueben Abati, a Thisday newspaper columnist and Arise, tv anchor, professor Anya O Anya,

an erudite scholar and one-time chairman of Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, a man who has profound knowledge of what is wrong with Nigeria, in his contribution to the discussion pointed out that we have as a nation passed the stage of blaming our leaders for our woes. According to him, what we should be doing right now is to ask: what do we do?

I align with the elder statesman’s position.

Indeed, we as a people can do something by setting up a task force with a specific mandate to end insecurity in the country in the manner that the presidential Task Force to end the COVID-19 pandemic was set up in 2019 by President Buhari and headed by Boss Mustafa, Secretary to the government of the federation with active participation by the private sector, and driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of the governor, Godwin Emefiele.

It needs no repeating that the founding of CACOVID, a coalition of captains of industry or club of multi-billionaires who injected not only billions of naira in funding but also came up with strategies and implementation methodologies in the fight against COVID-19, contributed a great deal in stemming the spread of the deadly disease that has been on rampage globally in the two years.

It is still puzzling to experts in the Western world like Mrs. Melinda Gates who had predicted that Nigerians would be dying on the streets like house flies from COVID-19 complications. But less than 3,000 lives have been lost in Nigeria to the pandemic in the nearly two years of its ruinous siege on humanity.

If you compare that paltry number (every life lost is one too many) to about a million lives lost to the same disease in the same period in the USA with an estimated population of about 320 million as against Nigeria’s 200 million where less than 3,000 died; it would be clear that the public, private sector partnership CACOVID was indeed an efficacious intervention responsible, in part, for substantially reducing the negative impact of Covid-19 in Nigeria.

There may be a need and justification for the current standing COVID-19 public /private sector Task Force to be transformed into a National Security Task Force to address the twin monster of terrorism and secessionism that have the capacity to and is fast ripping our country apart. In the United States of America, USA there is a law called the Patriot Act which empowers the government to compel corporations to yield or their facilities towards producing war armaments. The law was recently invoked to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by former President Donald Trump. Although that is not what l am advocating, corporate Nigeria had voluntarily yielded their financial resources towards the battle against the covid-19 pandemic here.

Without a doubt, the CACOVID team is not only a collection of billionaires but also a formidable repository of the best strategists in Nigeria. They may not be a repository of military skills, but war is about strategies and successful businessmen/women are basically proven strategists, hence they are able to come into the humongous wealth that they control. While the military prosecutes the war, the CACOVID team of wise men/women can look at other ways (including negotiations) of restoring sanity and sanctity into our beleaguered polity and highly distressed society.

It is a plus that private sector involvement in security is not novel in Nigeria.

Lagos state government partnership with the private sector, (especially the financial services sector) to enforce security in the bustling city of Lagos, is instructive. It is therefore a model that could be adopted because it is largely responsible for the relatively high level of security of lives and properties from terrorists and bandits in the state-a reason Lagos seems to be insulated from the current bedlam.

Now, if the COVID-19 pandemic posed enough threat to lives such that it warranted the setting up of CACOVID to mitigate the risk to human capital, (essential for the sustenance of businesses) then insecurity of lives and properties that would constrain growth and also hobble the inflow of foreign direct investment that could have a direct negative impact on the fortunes of the billionaire club members; must be a compelling reason for the team that made CACOVID a game-changer in the war against COVID-19 pandemic, to join in the war against insecurity that has driven our country to the point of tipping her over, unless extraordinary measures are adopted.

I am not unaware that the private sector may loathe the idea of being involved in such a highly combustible matter of joining in the fight to save our country from collapse owing to the onslaught of religious insurgents and secessionists? Whereas the concern that corporate sector involvement in national security has the tendency to trigger negative backlash which may be consequential to brand image is real, the potential benefits of winning the peace in our country, in the long run, outweigh the risk.

Comparatively, helping to save lives through strategic interventions via the contribution of financial resources and strategy which CACOVID is about, is less contentious because it would rub off positively on the brand simply because doing good can be categorized as a cause-related marketing strategy which evinces empathy that can be converted into brand love and loyalty.

Nevertheless, some situation requires that leaders sometimes make conscious efforts to think out of the box by choosing the road less traveled.

Helping save the country is one of the hard choices that the corporate world or club of billionaires would have to make. And choosing to save their businesses which would not thrive in an atmosphere of anarchy that our country is fast descending, is clearly one of those difficult, but necessary choices that they must make.

Again, it is apropos to reiterate that this call for private sector involvement in what is traditionally the purview of the military is not meant to be an indictment on our courageous men/ women in uniform that have acquitted themselves creditably in multiple local and international war theaters. And it is expected by human nature that the initial reflex of the military may be unwillingness or reluctance to share their constitutionally assigned role with ‘bloody civilians’ as soldiers like to refer to us fewer mortals.

But as it takes courage to make changes, ego or what some would characterize as foolish pride, and which l would like to refer to as profitless pride, the military has to accept to share space in a multi-agency and multi-sectoral partnership to save our dear country.

The assertion above is underscored by the fact that we live in strange times. So we need to introduce extraordinary measures to triumph over certain obstacles.

The simple truth is that the private sector can no longer afford to take a laid-back approach to the challenge of insecurity wracking our country, so it must take action to save Nigerians and thus protect itself-businesses.

With the foregoing narrative which is meant to shine a light on the state of the nation, in terms of security, l expect that by now we would all ( politicians, military, and captains of industry) be on the same page on this matter of terrorism, secessionism, and criminality threatening to rip our beloved country apart.

Hopefully, it would be a new year’s gift to Nigerians when the critical stakeholders highlighted earlier join in the struggle to pull our country back from the brinks.

ONYIBE, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, development strategist, an alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and a former commissioner in Delta state government,  sent this piece from Lagos.    

It is what was said and not said by the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami to journalists at a press conference held on November 9 in Abuja that first indicated to me that the ice in the frosty relationship between the Igbo and Yoruba nationalities with respect to separatist agitations and the government at the center with president Mohammadu Buhari at the helm is about to thaw. l second-guessed Malami when in response to a reporter’s question about the possibility of a political solution to federal government’s prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday lgboho, he stated that a negotiated settlement for the unshackling of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader, and Oduduwa nation movement leader, was not off the table.
Without being combative, the minister of justice took time to paint the conditions precedent to such settlement.
“So, it is not a conclusion that one can outrightly make without juxtaposing associated facts relating to the reconciliation; there has to be an approach and then a counter consideration.”
It is a no brainer to figure out that ‘the approach’ that Malami was hinting at is the subsequent visit by the high profile lgbo elders, politicians, and cultural leaders as well as the clergy to president Mohammadu Buhari in Aso Rock Villa on Friday, November 19, 2021, which is about 10 days after.
It is also needles pointing out that at that stage, both the expressed and unexpressed views of the minister of justice at the Wednesday press conference confirmed my haunch that it had been concluded that a political settlement of the political storm arising from the crisis of separatism rocking our country, was ipso facto.
Everything else is a mere formality.
Ostensibly, the impending resolution is owed to entreaties from leaders from the Igbo and Yoruba nations. But in reality, it may actually be influenced by leaders in the international communities who always use back channels and side meetings during global conferences to press fellow leaders to uphold certain democratic norms and ethos such as the universally acknowledged right of self-determination by individuals or groups.
The peace emissary branded as “Highly Respected Igbo Greats”, led by 93 years old Amaechi Mbazuluike, minister of Aviation in the first republic and ex parliamentarian, along with ex Anambra state governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, as well as Goddy Uwazuruike, a former president of Ala Ikenga, (an Igbo cultural group) plus Sunday Onuoha of the Methodist church and Tagbo Amaechi, was weighty enough to soften president Buhari’s heart to the extent that he has promised to do what he has informed Nigerians that he had not done in his six years of stewardship as President of our great country.
Here is how President Buhari couched his willingness to do the ‘unusual’ for peace to reign by freeing Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho:
“You have made an extremely difficult demand on me as the leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious.
In the last six years, since I became president, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the judiciary. God has spared you and give you a clear head at this age, with a very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already.
But the demand you made is heavy. I will consider it.” 
In my calculation, the visit and president Buhari’s response signal the beginning of the end of incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu and perhaps Sunday Igboho, both of whom have been declared the enemy of the country for their alleged roles as catalysts for the destabilizing and debilitating activities of angry Nigerians currently threatening the unity of our dear country.
And the current rapprochement which heralds the era of dialogue with, and between all the member ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria has the potentials to ultimately foster an atmosphere of inclusiveness which is the indisputable panacea to the current ethnic and religious crisis occasioned by the alleged exclusion from the governance of, or canceling out of nonmembers of the ethnic origin and religious belief of the present occupants of Aso Rock Villa which is a concern that has pushed our country to the precipice.
Given that president Buhari has been hobnobbing with fellow heads of governments in the course of attending a plethora of international events held overseas: ranging from the United Nations Climate submit (with all the major presidents and prime ministers in attendance) in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31; which was after he had attended an investment summit organized by Future Investment Initiative institute in Saudi Arabia on October 25 within the same period of which mr president Buhari had also attended the Parish Peace Forum held in Paris, France from November 11, before participating in the Intra African Trade Fair that took place in Durban, South Africa from November 15: it won’t surprise me if he gave positive listening ears to his colleagues.
All of the above-frenzied engagements abroad were crowned by the visit of the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Bliken to Aso Rock Villa on Thursday 18 November.
Curiously, the aforementioned flurry of diplomatic and international trade engagements by president Buhari happened between October 31 -November 19 when “The Highly Respected Igbo Greats” went on the peace mission to Aso Rock Villa.
Instinctively, my training in diplomacy has led me to believe that President Buhari’s colleagues across the globe must have weighed in with one or two words of advice with respect to how his administration could make some concessions by allowing the separatist agitator’s crisis to be settled politically with the aim of lowering the prevailing hyperactive political temperature in Nigeria especially as the country approaches the next election circle in 2023.
In case anyone is at sea as to why the world would be investing efforts to ensure that peace reigns in Nigerians, such persons should be apprised of the fact there one in 5 Africans is a Nigerian. In the event that there is an outbreak of war in Nigeria, refugees from Nigeria would overwhelm the continent.
That is one of the justifications for the global concern about the state of peace in Nigeria.
In doing what diplomats know how to do best, Nigerian foreign policy technocrats, with the chief of staff to the president, Ibrahim Gambari, a veteran diplomat as the arrowhead, must have also sought and extracted some concessions from the concerned global leaders and friends of Nigeria seeking a political solution to the crisis.
And the removal of Nigeria from the list of religious freedom violators by the US may be one of such quid pro quo. Let’s be clear. There is nothing untoward about the action if indeed that is the case simply because such practice is the norm in the world of diplomacy.
Now, for too long, authorities in Aso Rock Villa have failed by omission or commission to apply the democratic ethos of accommodating dissenting voices and application of the concept of negotiation in conflict resolution which is a proven and invaluable tool for effective leadership in both public and private sectors.
Although it has proven to be an efficacious process for resolving conflicts since the evolution of mankind from savagery to civility, our country’s leaders seemed to have been impervious to the positive attributes associated with negotiations, hence the agitations from the easterners for a renegotiation of their membership of the Nigerian union seemed to have been falling on deaf ears, with avoidable catastrophic consequences.
While it is true that a secessionist clause that could have made it constitutionally lawful for the Igbo nation or any other ethnic nationalities to seek to separate from Nigeria is not in the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, (as amended) because leaders of the three ethnic nationalities, Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa/Fulani had rejected the inclusion of the clause at different points when the Nigerian nation was being formed, other avenues or windows for negotiating the continued unity of the multiple ethnic groups that constitute our country have always existed.
But our political leaders since the return of multi-party democracy, after the unfortunate military incursion into political leadership in 1966, and the jettisoning of parliamentary system of government bequeathed to us by the British colonialists, (following the adoption of American style presidential system of government in 1979) have failed to emulate the premiers of the regions in the first republic-Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Amadu Bello and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who held regular conferences to iron out their differences whenever any source or sources of conflict were identified.
It may be recalled that it was during such meetings that each leader on different occasions proposed the inclusion of referendum or separatist clause in the statutes book and their counterparts opposed the proposal depending on the optics of the various ethnic nationalities at different points in time, on the viability of Nigeria as an entity.
Based on historical records, the list of those that proposed or opposed the inclusion of freedom of any of the four regions that make up our country from withdrawing their membership of the Nigerian nation range from eastern region premier, Micheal Okpara, Anthony Enahoro of
Midwest, the western region premier, Obafemi Awolowo, as well as northern region premier, Ahmadu Bello. For lack of space and time l would not bore readers with the details. Nevertheless, to buttress the case that l am trying to make, it is apropos that l share the following quotes attributed to our political leaders at the formative stage of our country to validate the truism that the founding fathers of our country also had doubts about the viability of our country at its infancy.
Sir Tafawa Balewa, who later became the
Prime Minister of Nigeria was recorded in historical archives as having made the following statement before Nigeria was granted independence by the colonialist:
“Since the amalgamation of Southern and Northern Provinces in 1914, Nigeria has existed as One Country only on paper, it is still far from being united. Nigeria’s Unity is only a British intention for the country.”
Similarly, the man who became western region premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo also has the following statement contained in his 1947 book attributed to him:
“Nigeria is not a nation, it is a mere geographical expression. There are no “Nigerians” in the same sense as there are “English” or “Welsh” or “French”. The word Nigeria is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not.”
The above comments credited to two of Nigeria’s revered leaders of yore attest to their initial skepticism about the feasibility of Nigeria as one united country after the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates of British colonies in 1914.
You can imagine if the British colonial authorities clobbered on the head our now revered and iconic leaders, Balewa and Awolowo for expressing antagonistic sentiments about their unilateral merger of the northern and southern protectorates with disparate cultures and distinct religions, as authorities in Abuja are currently doing to both Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday lgboho who are patently fighting for the rights of their people for self-determination.
The reality is that those that we hold dear as our heroes past as portrayed in our national anthem would not have been able to secure Nigeria,s independence in 1960 if the politicians (our forebears that we idolize today)had not been outspoken about the desire to be free from the clutches of the colonialist and if the colonialist was not forbearing.
Put succinctly, the above de-amalgamation sentiments expressed by our past leaders underscore the fact that before the advent of modern-day advocates of separatism such as Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB in Igbo land and Sunday lgboho, driving the movement for the creation of Oduduwa Nation in Yoruba land, our past leaders also resented the concept of one Nigeria as forged by Fredrick luggard, (the British merchant that metamorphosed into an agent of imperialist Britain) after he sold to Queen Elizabeth’s government the ‘smart’ idea of merging both northern and southern protectorates for the selfish mercantile interest of the European country.
It also underscores the inalienable rights rooted in the natural instinct for a people or nationalities to express dissent when they are not comfortable with an existing arrangement as is currently the case with the Igbos and the Yorubas whose dissatisfaction with the present circumstances of their existence in Nigeria, is being conveyed by Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igbo on behalf of their respective ethnic nationalities.
But unfortunately, authorities always hate such good people -perhaps, justifiably owing to their ability and capacity to disrupt the status quo and make leaders uncomfortable. That is the space in which Kanu and lgboho find themselves today.
Contrary to the de-amalgamation sentiments expressed by both northern and western premiers, Tafawa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo, as earlier highlighted, Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo centrist took the following unique and contrary position to that of his colleagues.
He is credited with the following comment:
“In my personal opinion, there is no sense in the North breaking away or the East or the West breaking away; it would be better if all the regions would address themselves to the task of crystallizing common nationality, irrespective of the extraneous influences at work.
What history has joined together let no man put asunder”
Strangely, the Igbo leader, Dr.Nnamdi Azikiwe, who later became the governor-general of Nigeria and a peer of the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba leaders, Tafawa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo, proposed the inclusion of secession clause in the constitution during the formative stages of our country which he opposed, appear now to be the architect of the misfortune of his people- the Igbos that have been struggling to exit Nigeria also known as BIA-EXIT.
Isn’t it such a paradox that it is that decision to reject the introduction of a separatist clause in the statute book by Azikiwe back in 1953 that has turned around to hurt his people-the Igbo nation that has been seeking ways to decouple itself from Nigeria by force as was the case in 1967 when it tried to secede but failed to achieve the objective after it was defeated in the ensuing war? And it is blithe on our country’s democracy credentials that the quest to secede has remained a burning desire that is still being nursed by the Igbos after over fifty years since the unfortunate civil war ended, through the platform of both MASSOB and IPOB in non-violent ways.
Incidentally, it is the non-violence claim of lPOB in pushing their agenda that has been disputed by the authorities in Abuja, hence the proscription of the separatist group and incarceration of its members, including their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, captured in Kenya and brought to Nigeria for trial and which is the reason that the “Highly Respected Igbo Greats“ stormed Aso Rock Villa intent on softening president Buhari’s heart in the bid to get him to (as it were) temper justice with mercy by releasing Kanu from jail unconditionally. Presumably, a similar amnesty would be extended to Sunday lgboho, the convener of the Oduduwa nation movement that is also being held in jail in the Republic of Benin at the behest of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Now, l have engaged in the forgoing literature review, not for the heck of it, but to put in perspective, the epidemic of separatism currently haunting Nigeria like a demonic specter.
Clearly, what is currently acutely absent in our political ecosystem is the ability and capacity of our leaders to lead by consensus as opposed to the application of force as reflected by the might is right or take it or leave it mentality of our modern day political demagogues.
That is quite the opposite of the way and manner that our past leaders- Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, and Obafemi Awolowo managed our diversity through conferences during which they negotiated the partnership between the multiple ethnic nationalities with each of them tabling their issues for deliberations during the conferences held on short intervals before the military incursion into politics that originated from the 1966 military putsch.
Apart from the suspension of the constitution which the advent of the involvement of the military in the political affairs of our country foisted, the mantra ‘unity of Nigeria is not negotiable is the other mortal blow that the military imposed on the nation. How can an agreement or union not be negotiable?
In an opinion piece that l wrote and published in the mass media and by daily independent on July 14, 2017, titled ”Biafra: From Monologue To Dialogue And Getting To Yes“, l extolled the virtues intrinsic in the art of negotiation, and expressed delight that the authorities have commenced negotiations with MASSOB and IPOB which indicate that the crisis has shifted from Monologue by the separatists via civil disobedience and diatribe to Dialogue in the form of direct or back-channel negotiations with the agitators by the authorities in Aso Rock Villa.
But that optimistic viewpoint turned out to be a false hope as the signs that l had sighted and presumed were positive, manifested as a mere mirage.
To my pleasant surprise, a similar world view which is that: “the unity of Nigeria is negotiable” was expressed recently during The Sun newspaper MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD by one of Nigeria’s seasoned administrators, and diplomat, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, MKO Abiola’s running mate as Vice President, who is also ex-secretary to the government of the federation under the watch of late Umar Yar’adua as president. Since he is also one of the powers behind president Buhari’s throne, l am optimistic that the world view that Nigerian’s unity is negotiable may now be radiating around Aso Rock Villa’s presidential seat of power.
Not many people realize that it is the seemingly innocuous mantra: ‘ Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable’ often vaunted by successive occupants of Aso Rock Villa that is responsible for the instability wracking the political system and insecurity wrecking lives and properties with the ferocity of a bull in a China shop.
An Italian friend of mine once remarked in halting English: “spaghetti strong, spaghetti break.”
The import of that wise counsel is not lost on me as it implies that anything that is unbendable is susceptible to being broken and it is a culture or lesson that Aso Rock Villa has been slow in imbibing.
Nevertheless, as the conventional wisdom goes: it is better late than be late.
In the wake of the flare-up of hostilities between Southern governors forum and their northern counterparts via the release of incendiary communique by both sides, with the southern governors threatening that the presidency must return to the south in 2023 based on the presidency rotation agreement, and the northern governors countering by claiming that the rotation of presidency is alien to the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended, l wrote the article titled “After Northern And Southern Governors Butting Of Heads, What Next?”
It was first published in the mass media and on October 7, 2021, by TheCableOnline.
I would like to crave the reader’s indulgence to allow me to republish an excerpt that drives home the point that l am still trying to make via this intervention.
“Today, the logos that are pressing for referendum via Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, are prohibited by the authorities from doing so. That is ostensible because there is no constitutional backing for separatism and the current Aso Rock Villa occupants have zero tolerance for such agitations.
The beauty of governance under the parliamentary system which the British practice and bequeathed to Nigeria upon independence is that whenever any party to the union was uncomfortable with any rule or condition guiding the partnership, the concerns were ironed out during conferences that were held in Ibadan, Enugu, and Kaduna.
So in the good old days, the unity of Nigeria was negotiated by the leaders of the east, north, and west, later mid-west and our country did not break up. That is in stark contrast with the current dispensation whereby the mantra: the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, is oft-touted by the powers that be in Aso Rock Villa. The simple rule of the thump about partnerships and marriages is that if they can not be negotiated, they would ultimately be broken.
The unfortunate civil war of 1967-70 with its horrific consequences ingrained in our memories is likely the driver for the mindset of Aso Rock Villa that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable.
But as genuine as the desire to keep Nigeria as one indivisible entity is, it appears to me that the ineffectual and ineffective proclamation by the leaders in Aso Rock Villa that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable may be doing more harm than good to “The labors of our heroes past…” which may end up being in vain if peradventure our country unhinges.”
I went on to add that if a referendum was called today, l am of the conviction that most Nigerians would opt to remain in Nigeria if equity and justice are restored through the observance of federal character principle-a unifying policy enshrined in the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Presumably, it is likely that it is the acquiescence of Aso Rock Villa apparatchiks with the reasonable sense in that opinion piece that might have in one way or the other also pricked the conscience of those in the orbit of power and therefore one of the motivating factors for the softening of president Buhari’s heart towards the separatists as reflected by his resolve to apply a less military approach to the resolution of the conflict, which is autocratic, and instead rely more on negotiation-democracy’s prime and most efficacious tool for settling disputes.
If president Buhari unshackles, Nnamdi Kanu, and Sunday Igboho, (as he appears set to do) and thereafter brings IPOB and Oduduwa nation agitators to the round table for negotiation, he would have neutralized the highly toxic relationship between ethnic nationalities that have wreaked unprecedented havoc on the nation and severely damaged the fabric of unity in our beloved country.
What is more: if the gale of separatism is stymied, President Buhari would be listed as a warrior for peace alongside the president, Umar Yar’adua of blessed memory who reigned from 2007-2010, (during which period he literarily quenched the fire in the Niger delta made worst by his predecessors-Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo who had applied brute force in the management of the conflict) by offering amnesty to militants in the region who had made it extremely difficult for oil/gas exploration to happen in the region which is the treasure trove of Nigeria.
It may be recalled that violence in the region characterized by vandalism of oil/gas infrastructure and kidnappings of oil workers was triggered by the rejection of their demand for the respect of their environmental rights and control of the resources in their region that is ravaged by oil/gas exploration activities.
Their demand had fallen on the deaf ears of the federal government which resorted to the application of military action against the agitators. As if history keeps repeating itself, it is unfortunate that the adoption of military jackboot or slash and burn approach instead of negotiation has also been the attitude of the present government in the instant case, featuring IPOB and Oduduwa nation separatist movements.
In conclusion, as an encouragement to president Buhari and perhaps to hasten his decision to free Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday lgboho, he should adopt or mimic the good initiative of the former president of South Africa under an apartheid regime, late Frederick de-Clerk, who is a rare and noble gesture, freed the iconic Nelson Mandela from prison where he was serving a jail term for fighting for the end of apartheid which is white minority rule over a black majority in South Africa-a practice that has gone down in history as man’s greatest inhumanity to man.
As Nigeria is now on the cusp of an end to the scourge of separatism ravaging the nation, evidenced by the recent accommodating utterance by president Buhari in response to the request by “The Highly Respected Igbo Greats” the good old tool of negotiation preferred by diplomats for settling conflicts, holds the ace as it has proven over the years to trump the tyrannical resort to the use of barrels of gun preferred in the autocracy of which Nigeria is not one.
As President Buhari prepares for his exit from
Aso Rock Villa in 2023, restoring peace and unity in Nigeria in the 11th hour of his reign by freeing the leaders of the separatist groups, Kanu and lgboho along with their followers would be another feather on his cap. It would be on top of the accolades that the outgoing president is already earning for making it possible for the amendment of the electoral laws allowing for the transmission of election results by INEC electronically.
Expectedly, all eyes are currently on Mr president as the nation awaits the official signing of the amended electoral bill 2021 into law.
It is doubtless that it is another way that president Buhari would be leaving a positive legacy on the electioneering process in our country where integrity in the system has improved after his second term election in 2019 as reflected by the fidelity of the results of Edo (Sept.2020)and Anambra (Nov. 2021) states gubernatorial contests adjudged to have been conducted by INEC leveraging innovative and technology-driven systems.
Like the proverbial Oliver Twist that wants more, Nigerians await the introduction of electronic voting to further boost the integrity of our political office election process; introduction of state police for robust security at the sub-national level for more effective protection of the lives and properties of the masses dwelling in bandits and terrorists ravaged hinterland; and restructuring of the political system for an egalitarian society as well as the rotation of the presidency to our Igbo brothers and sisters for the sake of equity, before the curtain falls on what thus far has been described as a very tumultuous Buhari era.
In the event that Mr president meets the high expectations in the Things-To-Do-List cataloged above, he would be leaving Nigeria as a much better country than the condition he met in 2015 when he won the presidency.
But would President Buhari respond to the stimuli?
Since he seems to be finicky about how he would be judged by posterity, l would argue that Mr president would keep striving to leave an admirable legacy.
That is why l am willing to wager a bet that he would try his best to replace his initial sordid reputation of being a divider-in-chief (as his traducers like to characterize him) to being a chief unifier (which his admirers would love him to be ) in his later days in office by ensuring that he ticks off all the boxes in the list of expectations of most Nigerians that l earlier highlighted before the 2023 terminal date of his tenure.
ONYIBE, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, development strategist, an alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and a former commissioner in Delta state government, sent this piece from Lagos.
The conversation continues @Magnum.ng