Magnus Onyibe

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

In Nigeria, democracy is in turmoil.
Although it has been long in coming, the exodus of governors from the main opposition party, PDP to the ruling party, APC which has been steering the ship of state at a time that a vast majority of the population is experiencing crushing poverty, unprecedented insecurity of lives and properties as well as the deepest ethnic and religious divisions: the gale of defections by opposition party stalwarts into the ruling party tends to suggest that the fortunes of the APC are growing in leaps and bounds.

And it is a phenomenon that is stranger than fiction, simply because, if a ruling party’s scorecard is nothing more than a misery index of colossal misfortune that has befallen the electorate as opposed to a celebration of positive dividends of democracy which the masses should be enjoying, what qualifies the party to be attracting members like butterflies to nectar? By this time during the 2015 election circle, opposition parties were busy combining forces with a view to ousting the ruling party. But the opposite is the case today as the ruling party seems to have a magnetic force pulling opposition politicians into its orbit.

Presently, the reason for the strange phenomenon of PDP party members cross carpeting in droves into the APC has been difficult to phantom by not only ordinary Nigerians but even by pundits. And my goal is to figure out the piece of the missing puzzle in this intervention by scrutinizing the cause and effect of such phenomenon in the past, if it ever occurred, with the hope of unraveling the political development that seems as complex as famous Bermuda or the Devil’s Triangle.

While the PDP chairman, Uche Secondus has boiled it down to intimidation by the APC which controls the instruments of coercion-DSS, EFCC, NIA, Police force, armed forces, etc that are allegedly being used to clobber opponents in the head, president Mohammadu Buhari, in a recent whimsical comment, apparently believes that the exodus of opposition politicians into the party that he leads is a reflection of the love that Nigerians have for him.
That allusion was made in his speech while receiving the report from the summit on security conducted by the House of Representatives and presented by the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. And the narrative about the great love that Nigerians have for president Buhari which is responsible for the good fortune of the APC has been reiterated by Garba Shehu, the presidential spokesman who made a comment to that effect during Sallah celebrations in Daura, Mr president’s homestead in Katsina state.

In my view, the conclusions reached by both the PDP chairman, Secondus, and APC leader, President Buhari as well as his image-maker, Shehu are ephemeral and only skin deep.
The real reasons for the strange political developments in Nigeria are yet to be phantom.
And l would like to argue that the shifting of the political tide in the opposite direction or against the run of play in Nigeria is simply a symptom of the fact that democracy as we are practicing it today, has lost its values, fervor, and bearing. In other words, like a meal without salt and pepper which is usually tasteless, politics in Nigeria is now clearly bereft of philosophies or principles hence the traditional or natural lines between the conservatives and the progressives no longer exist.

And it is the underpinning reason that a majority of Nigerians have the mindset that the former ruling party, PDP (1999-2015) is fundamentally the same as the current ruling party, APC(2015-2021 and counting).
In fact, whenever APC leaders call out their PDP counterparts by labeling them as corrupt or inept, l instinctively wince or grimace. That is because it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black since Nigerian masses generally believe that politicians of both the ruling and opposition hues and persuasions are the architects of their misfortune since nothing differentiates them.

The controller general of customs, Hamid Ali, who is the leader of the vociferous Buhari support group had in the past lamented loudly that the former members of the PDP have taken over the APC. And apart from the splinter group of the PDP led by a former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, and a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki that merged with the APC during its formation stages, the continued exodus may be linked to the exhortation by the immediate past chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomole and the presumed unwritten code of the ruling party, to the effect that those who join the APC would have their ‘sins forgiven.”

In plain language, the ruling party dangled a carrot to politicians from the former ruling party that if they join the current ruling party, the probes/ investigations into their period of stewardship, would be dropped. Since it is a claim that has not been denied by the ruling party, and in fact, for those who have taken advantage of the offer, the promise has been kept, it goes without saying that the third arm of government, is most likely being complicit in killing democracy via sleight of hand.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing scenario, it is not difficult to see why the ranks of the APC would swell and reflect more of the identity of the former ruling party PDP, which triggered Hamid Ali’s lamentation about the apparent blending of
the APC and PDP.

Invariably, most Nigerians are struggling to come to terms with the reality that the APC and PDP are fingers of the same leprosy infected hands -apologies to Bola lge, the assassinated former attorney general of Nigeria and one-time governor of Oyo state, who coined the phrase after a former military head of state, army general, SANNI Abacha formed political parties to advance his intended transmutation from a khaki uniformed soldier to an agbada wearing politician, which never materialized due to his sudden death.

Bearing in mind that multiple political platforms with very distinct and diametrically opposed ideologies, philosophies, and orientations had been present in the Nigerian political
environment since the formative years of the country from as far back as 1923 when the NNDP was founded and subsequently, NCNC, NPC, PRP, AG, as well as the time GNPP, UPN, and NPN sprang up, the current fusion of APC and PDP has been so seamless that the long-suffering Nigerian voters are still trying to figure out how to distinguish between conservative and progressive politicians. That is likely why the recent defections by three governors and a host of legislators from the opposition to the ruling party have not been greeted with outrage and indignation by the electorate that should feel disgusted and betrayed by their unprincipled political leaders that are engaging in the musical chairs now playing out.

What this implies is that while the five legacy political parties-CPC, ACN, ANPP, splinters of APGA, and PDP that merged to form the APC in 2013/14 with the sole purpose of snatching power from the PDP happened in the full glare of Nigerians, it would appear that after accomplishing the mission of taking over the reins of power at the presidency level in 2015, the APC seems hell-bent on making Nigeria a one-party-state without the consent of most of the electorate. That is because the mission of attracting opposition politicians into its fold has been conducted in subterfuge as Nigerians were never invited to debate whether or not, one-party-state is their preferred political system. In my reckoning the process of reducing our beloved country to what is looking like a one-party-state was consciously or otherwise triggered by the Independent Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, (currently subject to the dictates of the presidency and National Assembly if the amended electoral law is assented to by president Mohammadu Buhari) when it pruned down the number of political parties in Nigeria from 93 to 18 in 2020.

With that drastic reduction, the political space became constricted.
And combined with the ‘if you join the APC your ‘sins’ will be forgiven ‘sermon’ by then presiding high priest of the APC, Adams Oshiomole, and buoyed by the invitation to treat by ruling party offered by mallam lsa Funtua (of blessed memory) via his preachment on Arise tv on January 3, 2019, that the Igbos have to ‘belong’ if they want a member of their ethnic group to be the next president of Nigeria in 2023, the ruling party which is increasingly looking like a cult, is now bestriding the political environment like a colossus. Incidentally, the tantalizing invitation that Isa Funtua extended to the Igbos has recently been re-issued by president Buhari in the course of his recent earth-shaking interview with AriseTv when, in response to a question posed by his interviewer, Rueben Abati, he made a statement to the effect that if the Igbos want to produce the next president, let them join the APC.

Given how irresistible the offer by Mr president is, Nigerians need no soothsayer to prophesy to them how the APC’s grand design to maintain her vice grip on the levers of political power in the foreseeable future is about to come to a full circle.
Be that as it may, it is gutting that the suspected intentions of the ruling party to hold tightly onto the reins of power far beyond 2023 may not be a reward for their good stewardship.
Rather, it is increasingly looking like it would be via subterfuge or perfidy as signposted by the strange political phenomenon that has evolved in the past six (6) years of the APC calling the shots in Aso Rock Villa.
Let me be clear.
The APC goal of remaining the ruling party for as long as it can keep winning the votes of the majority of Nigerians fairly and squarely is not the problem if it was planning to accomplish the goal through her good work as a ruling party. But going by the prevailing circumstances in the polity: (1) no evidence of the abundance of dividends of democracy such as peace through ethnic harmony and unity amongst the federating nationalities(2) no progress and prosperity of the citizens owing to the high level of insecurity of lives and properties all over the country (3) no equitable distribution of political
power via inclusiveness of all ethnic groups irrespective of their creed resulting in the agitation for the break up of Nigerian (4) no tolerance by the federal authorities for dissent as reflected by the clampdown on protesters and arrest of protest organizers.

Given the political atmosphere described above, the chances of the APC being re-elected fair and square in 2023 is very doubtful.
Realistically, a political party that has midwives the present atmosphere of anomie and anarchy that has taken hold everywhere in Nigeria, from Kaura-named in Zamfara to Zango Kataf in Kaduna state; and from Nembe in Bayelsa and Bakassi in Cross rivers to Idiroko in Ogun states, can not expect to be voted back to Aso Rock Villa in 2023.
Without being unmindful of the fact that in politics anything can happen within a short space of time, it would appear that the mission of the APC to self perpetuate through its presumed plan to remain the ruling party after the exit of President Buhari in 2023 is likely to be executed through a perverted process.
And that presumption or perception by a cross-section of the Nigerian public is validated by the action of APC legislators that before proceeding on Sallah break voted against electronic transmission of results of elections in the course of amending the Electoral Act 2010.

Without any doubt, that action clearly puts democracy in Nigeria on a slippery slope.
And little by more, the ruling party would be softly killing democracy.
That is assuming that president Buhari signs the bill as it is.
But I’m optimistic that in light of the public outrage against it, the ideal and honorable thing for Mr president to do is send it back for review by a conference of the legislators of both the upper and lower houses of parliament in the full glare of all Nigerians via a live television broadcast of voice vote by all the 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.
It is one way that transparency and legitimacy can be conferred on the system and president Buhari can sustain his ‘Mai Gaskiya’ persona that has become so sullied by the actions and inactions of his henchmen that are being attributed to him and which owing to his reticence are hardly debunked, as such they are sticking to him like a badge of dishonor which is avoidable, more so because he had a burnished image before dabbling into the very dirty world of party politics.

It may be recalled that in order to confer credibility on its election process in 2013, members of the powerful governor’s forum resorted to an open voting system in the full glare of Nigerians via a live television broadcast of the event when the battle for the chairmanship of the politically strategic forum was fought between then-incumbent Rotimi Amaechi, then Rivers state governor and the arrowhead of the dissident governors that fell out with then-president Jonathan, preparatory to the exit of the PDP stalwarts and their joining of the main opposition party, APC.
Since the National Assembly, NASS is currently in a similar space as the credibility of its process of canceling re-transmission of election results is being called to question, the least that the lawmakers have to do now is strive to win back the confidence of citizens. It can do that by showcasing its sensitivity to the interests of its constituents in order to prove the efficacy of democracy as a veritable vehicle for progress and prosperity through a revisit of its position on the re-transmission of election results.

Evidently, most Nigerians are now accustomed to the reality that the majority of our politicians are only pursuing their personal interests driven by self-survival or the quest for the next job/ public office to occupy after the current one. That attitude is antithetical to the pursuit of the broader agendas of instituting policies and programs that would be in the best interest of the majority of Nigerians for the greater good of society which is the mandate that they swore an oath to uphold. While l have no doubt that President Buhari is intent on ensuring that APC remains the ruling party, (at least that was implicit in his Arisetv interview)l am not convinced that he is privy to the suspected plots to make it happen by hook or crook. So l am optimistic that he would align with the feelings of the majority of Nigerians who would like him to weigh in with a view to building on the improvement of the integrity of elections in Nigeria that president Umaru Yar’adua of blessed memory started by instituting the justice Lawal Uwais committee that was charged with the responsibility of strengthening our electoral laws after he admitted that the elections that ushered him into Aso Rock Villa in 2007 were flawed.

It may be recalled that it is based on the work of the Uwais committee, that the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan also introduced the concept of electronic accreditation of voters using the Permanent Voters Card, PVC, and the Electronic Card Reader Device which was used in the 2015 election that ushered Buhari into office as president. Obviously, there were instances whereby the card readers failed to function effectively, (even in Otuoke, Jonathan’s voting unit) yet the election was deemed to have been successful and credible. It is even alleged in some quarters that over half of the results that were relied upon for the declaration of Buhari as the winner in the presidential polls in 2015 were obtained after substituting or overriding the card reader machine with manual accreditation. And the process was prevalent in the northern part of the country which is then-candidate Buhari’s political base.

According to a report citing one of the democracy monitoring civil society organs, the incongruity was enough to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election of President Buhari back in 2015. But rather than do that, one of the five concepts of democracy “Acceptance of The Necessity of Compromise” was allowed to take precedence.
As such, despite the glitches from the card readers, the election was adjudged to have been successfully conducted and therefore acceptable. So what accounts for the current determination of the APC and her lawmakers to renounce the confidence that they had reposed in the use of technology-PVC card readers machines- which the party leveraged for a ride into Aso Rock Villa in 2015?
Is it not sheer hypocrisy that the same pattern of protests via rallies and the use of social media which the APC as an opposition party leveraged to hound the PDP out of office are now being outlawed with anti-hate speech law in the making, even as a yet to be ascertained number of #Endsars youth protesters were allegedly killed by the military at Lekki toll gate and around the country in October last year?
Why is it that peaceful protest organizers like Omoyele Sowore are being arrested, brutalized, and arraigned just as the organizers and attendees of the recent Oduduwa nation campaign were teargassed with one person reportedly shot dead in the manner that thousands of Igbo agitators for the creation of a nation of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB are reportedly being hunted down like animals and killed in cold blood? Do the highlighted instances not amount to trying to kill democracy by the denigration of its values by the ruling party? Are these acts of perfidy against democracy isolated or a coordinated effort, (including the disregard for the principle of federal character enshrined in the 1999 constitution in the appointments into public office) to convert Nigeria into a one-party state or an Aristocracy or even a monarchy like Morocco or Saudi Arabia?

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In his no-holds-barred interview on Arise Tv, broadcast on 10th June 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a position that he ascended since May 29, 2015, basically responded to the most critical questions that have been boggling the mind of most Nigerians. The anxiety is owed to the fact that President Buhari’s disinterest in holding media interviews as evidenced by the fact that the past six years or so of his leadership represents an unusually extended period of time that Nigerians have been unable to hear directly from their president.

And that is the origin or justification for the insinuations and presumptions that president Buhari has not effectively been at the helm of affairs in Aso Rock Villa which, perhaps gave a fillip to the conspiracy theory that our collective destiny as a nation is in the hands of a cabal.

Before their unfortunate and sad demise arising from complications from Coronavirus disease in 2020, then chief of staff to the president, Mallam Abba Kyari was alleged to have been the driver of the sinister cabal just as Mallam Isa Funtua, a close confidant of President Buhari who is also his In-law (his son is married to Buhari’s daughter) was also claimed to be a member.

Evidently, it was not enough that Mr. President had been speaking through his coterie of spokespersons, ranging from the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, media adviser, Femi Adeshina, special assistants on media, Garba Shehu and Laureta Onochie as well as a battery of other defenders of the Buhari doctrine in the social media.

The change of tact, which has seen President Buhari engaging in a tete-a-tete with the fourth realm of the estate via the Arise TV interview, can be likened to a successful coup d’etat by AriseTv. And it is actually a scoop by the trend-setting Thisday/Arise media group led by Nduka Obaigbena whose intention was perhaps aimed at helping the misunderstood president get better understood by those that he is leading via a candid conversation.

Although, the interview was more of a monologue rather than a dialogue since the masses did not get to ask the existential questions for which they have been dying to receive answers (as a typical media chat with the president should be), the one way communication was nevertheless an improvement on the silent treatment that President Buhari had hitherto applied in the management of his relationship with the masses before Arise TV broke the jinx.

And Arise TV‘s quest for getting President Buhari to engage with the apparently neglected masses of the electorate is justified or underscored by the fact that when he first campaigned for their votes in 2003, and particularly since 2015 when he first got elected president and subsequently in 2019 when he got re-elected, then-presidential candidate and later President Buhari visited Nigerians and interacted with them in their locations or natural habitats nationwide.

But since his assumption of office, definitely not by omission, but by commission (bearing in mind that his spokesmen have been celebrating his taciturnity), Mr. President seems to have become content with being cocooned in Aso Rock Villa, while only resorting to third party communication with the hoi polloi who obviously are not enamored, but are abhorrent of such attitude of offhandedness.

The cold shoulder treatment that president Buhari has dished out to Nigerians in terms of little or no direct communication with them in the past six years of presiding over their affairs has largely contributed to the apparent disconnection between President Buhari as a leader and the critical masses that he is supposed to be shepherding.

That is what has created an atmosphere that became rife for the fertilization of negatively imaginative minds that took undue advantage of the void to invent the death of Mr. President (following his long hospitalization in the UK in 2017) and the cloning narrative about a certain Jibrin Al Sudani that is allegedly Buhari’s body double. Such an absurd claim festered due to the silence from the man at the center of the rather absurd and burlesque allegation-President Buhari. 

Given the robust response by the masses to the 10th June rare, but the candid interview that has now debunked the conspiracy theory that President Buhari had ceded the leadership of our country to the so-called cabal allegedly featuring elder statesman, Mallam Maman Daura, and Abba Kyari as well Isa Funtua (two of whom are now deceased ), it has been a sort of coup de gras for the culture of silence between President Buhari and the long-suffering Nigerian citizens who in their difficult moments have been craving words of encouragement directly from their president.

As for Nduka Obaigbena’s Arise TV, it is now undisputedly the new leader in broadcast news and Nigeria’s equivalent of CNN International. Although Nigerians would have loved to see the panel of interviewers asks President Buhari hard questions, which did not happen perhaps based on Arise TV’s prior agreement with the presidency, it was nonetheless a commendable effort in cracking open the window into the mind of President Buhari who had hitherto been an enigma of sorts, if not a hermit in the light of his attitude or policy of little or no two ways interactions with Nigerian masses media chat.

The assertion above is underscored by the fact that the Arise TV  interview now considered a peep into President Buhari’s mind, afforded him the platform to exhibit some presence of mind as he demonstrated a reasonable grasp of the issues bedeviling Nigeria and justified the solutions that he had proffered, thus proving that contrary to allegations of the high level of senility and dementia leveled against him, apart from the usual memory lapse associated with old age, he is to a large extent in control of the affairs of the country. The assertion above is reflected by some of President Buhari’s views previously conveyed by his media husbandmen and which he candidly re-emphasized while justifying the actions and inactions of his government.