Politics
Nationwide Harvest Of Corpses
Bandits, herdsmen, insurgents, professional kidnappers, hooligans, cultists and gangsters, religious fanatics, highway robbers and sea pirates: you just name them, are now holding the nation to ransom. There is no week that we don’t hear of reports of atrocities carried out by these miscreants in the country.
Prior to the 2015 presidential elections, the then opposition presidential candidate was touted as the best candidate that can handle the menace of Boko Haram, being a retired general and a former Head of State with vast experience in security matters.
But today as an incumbent president with all the instrument of coercion at his disposal, how have Nigerians fared with him being in power for four years? From reports across the country, nothing has improved but rather things are getting worse day-by-day.
Boko Haram is still very much active, herdsmen are still killing, our highways have become the playground of armed robbers, kidnappers and rapists with our rivers and seas a fishing pond for sea pirates.
In Zamfara State alone, it is estimated that over 11, 000 persons have lost their lives between 2011 to date to the activities of bandits, not counting those kidnapped or raped.
In virtually every state of the federation, these criminals are having a free run with the security forces looking helpless. The situation has been so bad that even retired generals who are supposed to live out the remaining part of their lives in peace are either shot dead at their homes or on their way to their farms.
We are indeed experiencing a harvest of corpses in Nigeria, with most people feeling unconcerned at the situation until the gale of violence hits their loved ones or communities.
In Nigeria, we don’t take criminal activities seriously, and tend to look at them from either ethnic or religious prism. If we recall prior to 1999, there was nothing like bandits, cultists, religious fanatics and other criminally minded miscreants rearing their ugly heads, but sadly some of these problems could be traced to the activities of politicians who employed some of these youths as thugs to do their biddings at all cost.
Today, the thugs have graduated to become gun totting menace to our collective peace of mind. Even our houses with series of gates and padlocks cannot stop their determined effort to harm us. And those privileged to have armed excorts are not totally safe even on the streets and highways.
It is too bad that people read political meaning into a lot of security issues in the country. Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, a group known as the Bornu Elders and the Northern Elders Forum vehemently opposed the call for a state of emergency in Bornu State because of the security challenges and some of them even went further to say that the fight against Boko Haram is a plot to reduce the population of the North. The then Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Azubuike Ihejirika was accused of carrying out a genocidal plan to wipe out people from these areas. They threatened to take General Ihejirika to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
This is 2019, is there any improvement in the war against insurgents and their fellow comrades in arms? The answer is yet to be a yes! From May 2015 to date, more Nigerians have died than at any period of the country’s bloody history. We are not at war yet the body count is still mounting.
Let us do away with politicians’ security issues and look at it from just the professional and nationalistic point of view. In Sri Lanka, it did not take the government more than a week to identify the culprits of the Easter Day bombings and less than three weeks to discover the hideouts of some of the culprits and their sponsors. But in Nigeria, the response to such security challenge is always inept, delayed or never sees the light of day. This is 2019, yet, we are still waiting to hear the security services tell us how many of the masterminds or sponsors of the criminal activities have been identified or charged to court.
Although moves have been initiated by the National Assembly and State Governments to tackle the security challenges, but there must be sincerity on the part of the federal government if these problems could be tackled successfully.
While vigilante groups like Hisbah in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi would be allowed to operate in the North, some State Governments in the South have made attempt to set up security outfits to lessen the burden of the regular police only for the army to disperse them and tag them as thugs. Yet we are in one country.
If the ruling class continues to see critical issues, from the prism of politics, then, where are we heading to? Security problems should always be a collective issue where every stakeholder in the Nigerian project makes his or her own contribution as we are all affected by the wave of killings, kidnapping, rape and destruction.
Just recently, one of the image makers of President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu opened his mouth too wide and insulted the sensibilities of Nigerians by classifying Miyetti Allah, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Afenifere as belonging to one category.
This is just the problem with Nigeria, it is either we trivialise issues or we play the ethnic card. If we keep on playing these cards, the owners and masters of the Abuja/Kaduna highway of death, the East/West road and other major roads in the country will continue to have a field day while the high command of the security services will be busy touring state commands and having security seminars on how to tackle insecurity.
It is high time President Muhammadu Buhari wielded the big stick as those he has given the task of safeguarding the security of the country have failed in their primary assignment.
Let heads roll!!!
Tonye Ikiroma-Owiye
Alhaji Abubakar, who is also the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stressed that Chief Obasanjo’s latest public outburst against him is yet another failed attempt to rewrite history.
Alhaji Abubakar specifically said that if the true history of Chief Obasanjo’s political journey is ever written—free from selective recollection and personal bitterness, he (Atiku) would feature prominently as one of those whom God used to change the course of his (Obasanjo) life and political career.
These were contained in a statement the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to the former Vice President, Mr Phrank Shaibu, released in which Atiku said he watched the former President’s interview with profound sadness, but not anger, because it reflected the disposition of a man who has allowed personal resentment to cloud historical truth.
Alhaji Abubakar said the genesis of Chief Obasanjo’s hostility towards him is well known to Nigerians, stressing that he is proud that he stood against the third-term agenda and stood by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In the words of Alhaji Abubakar: “I have no apology whatsoever for frustrating every attempt to subvert our democracy for personal ambition. If Chief Obasanjo’s bitterness stems from my refusal to support an unconstitutional third term, then I wear that resentment as a badge of honour.
“No individual, regardless of his status or accomplishments, is bigger than the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Constitution is supreme, and I chose Nigeria over personal loyalty”.
Alhaji Abubakar noted that the struggle against the third-term agenda was never about two individuals, but about preserving Nigeria’s constitutional democracy for future generations.
He said: “The Nigerian people won that battle. Democracy won that battle. History has already delivered its verdict. It Is therefore unfortunate that the same man whose unconstitutional ambition was resisted now seeks to sit in judgment over those who defended the Constitution”.
The ADC Presidential candidate said it was particularly instructive that barely twenty-four hours before Chief Obasanjo’s latest outburst, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, publicly paid glowing tribute to the economic management team he led, describing it as “the best Nigeria has ever had”.
“Whether or not the timing is merely coincidental is for Nigerians to judge. What is beyond dispute, however, is that while distinguished Nigerians who served at the highest levels continue to acknowledge my contributions to one of Nigeria’s most successful periods of economic management, Chief Obasanjo appears determined to diminish them.
“Chief Obasanjo may choose not to appreciate my role in building one of Nigeria’s most prosperous economic eras, but history has been far kinder. The record speaks for itself, and so do the testimonies of those who worked closely with that administration,” he said.
Alhaji Abubakar further stated that Nigerians also deserve to remember the other side of history which Chief Obasanjo conveniently omits, saying: “History records that while Chief Obasanjo was in prison, I stood firmly by him. I supported his family, worked tirelessly with other patriots for his release and never wavered in my belief that he deserved his freedom”.
He further said: “When he eventually regained his freedom, he had little to his name. I received him, clothed him, ensured he was properly cared for and extended every support necessary to help him regain his footing.
“Beyond that, I mobilised political structures, built alliances and made enormous personal and political sacrifices that culminated in his emergence as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Alhaji Abubakar, however, said he harbours no regrets over any of those acts.
According to him: “Do I regret helping Chief Obasanjo? Absolutely not. When God gives you the opportunity to lift another human being, you do so without expecting repayment. Acts of kindness are matters of conscience, not commercial transactions”.
He added, however, that gratitude should never be replaced with revisionism.
Alhaji Abubakar particularly expressed disappointment that, at a time when Nigeria is battling economic hardship, mass unemployment, insecurity and widespread despair, a former President would devote so much energy to recycling old grudges instead of contributing solutions to the country’s challenges.
In the words of Atiku: “The 2027 election should be about rebuilding Nigeria, restoring security, reviving the economy and giving hope to the next generation—not reopening old political wounds”.
The former Vice President said he had deliberately maintained restraint over the years out of respect for the office Chief Obasanjo once occupied and in deference to the relationship they once shared.
He said: “That restraint should never be mistaken for weakness or docility. There comes a point when silence in the face of repeated distortions of history ceases to be a virtue. While I have no desire to engage in a public quarrel with a man I once stood beside in his most difficult moments, neither will I permit falsehoods, half-truths and calculated attempts to rewrite history to go unanswered.
“Chief Obasanjo is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to his personal grievances. What he is not entitled to, are his own facts,” Alhaji Abubakar insisted.
The ADC presidential candidate reaffirmed that his attention remains firmly fixed on Nigeria’s future.
According to him; “I have chosen the path of service over resentment, vision over vendetta and national renewal over personal recrimination. Those who mistake my civility for capitulation, or my restraint for weakness, make a grave mistake.
“History is stubborn. It cannot be rewritten by bitterness, nor erased by repeated falsehoods. In the end, history will render its verdict—and so will the Nigerian people,” he stated.
According to the electoral umpire, campaigns for the presidential and National Assembly elections will commence on August 19, 2026, and end on January 15, 2027, exactly 24 hours before the elections scheduled for January 16, 2027.
INEC also announced that campaigns for governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will begin on September 9, 2026, and conclude on February 5, 2027, ahead of the polls slated for February 6, 2027.
The commission explained that the campaign schedule complies with the Electoral Act 2026, which stipulates that electioneering activities must not begin earlier than 150 days before an election and must end at least 24 hours before voting.
INEC urged political parties, candidates and other stakeholders to strictly adhere to the approved timetable and conduct their campaigns in accordance with the law, while encouraging the public to obtain electoral information only from its official communication channels to avoid misinformation.
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