Beyond Robert Clarke’s Proposition

The call by Octogenarian Robert Clarke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), soliciting the Nigerian leadership to declare a state of emergency and hand over power to the military to curb long-standing insecurity, might have stirred a hornet’s nest. Clarke’s solicitation has been repudiated by the military high command. It forewarned politicians and soldiers against a military coup. The Defence Headquarters, in a statement by its spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, noted:
“Let it be stated categorically that the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain fully committed to the present administration and all associated democratic institutions. We shall continue to remain apolitical, subordinate to the civil authority, firmly loyal to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the 1999 Constitution as Amended.”
In an interview he granted Channels Television on May 2, 2021, the legal practitioner lamented the spate of killings in Nigeria, saying, “The situation in this country today is so bad that I, Robert Clarke, I cannot guarantee Nigeria staying another six months. The problems are so overwhelming and they have been created by these same politicians since the 1999 Constitution came into being.
“Anybody who feels I’m wrong, let him tell me. Nigeria has to be changed; Nigeria has to be changed from what it is today and the only way to change it is to create a state that would make the 1999 Constitution ungovernable for its existence. Nigeria was better in 1982 under Shehu Shagari than it is now in 2021.”
The elder statesman swore by his father’s grave that if harsh steps were not adopted to discontinue the decline into lawlessness, Nigeria would cease to exist in six months. Though Clarke did not touch on the highly prohibitive word “coup” throughout the interview, the meaning of his comments has been stretched far beyond its immediate context to imply a call for unconstitutional regime change.
In our opinion, that interview never inferred a violent exit of the Buhari’s regime, but the ungovernable state of insecurity nationwide. Terrorists and bandits have literally taken over, even to Abuja. Just recently, parents and guardians were implored to remove their children or wards from boarding schools following fear that terrorists had engulfed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Although government officials in the well-fortified Aso Rock Villa may not appreciate the alarm, the common Nigerians know that they live in a derelict and vulnerable space.
Similar patriotic calls had been made by some notable citizens on our disastrous state. In his last year’s Christmas message, the Catholic Bishop, Matthew Kukah, said President Muhammadu Buhari was presiding over a country with prospects of a failed state. He also declared that there was no way any non-Northern Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President Buhari had done by his nepotism and got away with it without risking a military coup.
Also, in the wake of increasing insecurity, Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, demanded President Buhari to seek foreign assistance to contain insecurity. Surprisingly, both claims by these nationalistic Nigerians were widely disparaged by those in power. As in Clarke’s case, Kukah’s statement was misconstrued to mean a request for violent overthrow of the government. If our leaders are jittery about such calls, they must stop provoking Nigerians by improving on governance.
Nonetheless, we denounce any overture to a coup or a suggestion of an unconstitutional seizure of government in any guise or form. Nigerians, regardless of their position, political or religious affiliations, should not ponder or propose a return to the dark and chaotic days of the military when the country was tossed into a free fall, with the unwieldy abuse of human rights, as well as social, political and economic systems.
Anyone who has lived through this nation and who is familiar with our expedition, should never imagine that the solution to our problems is in handing over to the military. Such a thought is awful, dreadful, outrageous and appalling. Moreover, the world has since resolved that never again shall any country be administered by an unelected government. And Nigeria is a part of that resolution. So, even if the military are angels, they are not needed.
However, since the authorities have failed to deal with the prevailing savagery, non-state actors will certainly be provoked to speculate, presume and generate wild sentiments in despondency. It is alarming that terrorists, bandits and separatists are daily swapping places with security operatives, dissipating their violent campaigns that refresh every heart with anxiety, and rendering Nigeria ungovernable. That is why Nigerians of all shapes and sizes offer solutions from their crucible, including calls for the President’s impeachment.
Buhari must always call to mind Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which states unambiguously that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” As long as the security and welfare of the people are not assured, tongues will wag, unpalatable ideas will be expressed all for the obvious reason that the strategies in dealing with insecurity are feeble and uneffective.
Great Physicist Albert Einstein’s historic definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” is very instructive. Our leaders must introduce different techniques to deal with rampaging pins and needles because the strategies of the last six years may no longer match the methods applied by the criminals. Hence, the need for entirely new projections to deal with this vileness.