By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Although there is a
myriad of indicators of the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration, there is one that sticks out like a sore thumb. It is the
inability of the government to effectively grapple with the challenge of making
right choices in a manner that negates the social imagination that it is
incapable of listening and ever doing what is appropriate. This incapacity has
found expression in a brazen defiance of good proposals from the citizens to
set governance on an even keel.
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| *President Buhari with the Service Chiefs |
Or how do we explain the fact that despite the
warnings from prominent citizens, the Federal Government has made good its
threat to crush agitators in the south-east? But the government must not
fantasize about its triumph over an already oppressed people. It should rather
stop its troops in their tracks since the outcome of their misguided expedition
in that part of the country would not only conflict with genuine efforts to
bring peace to the region, it would aggravate the mutual distrust among people
of different parts of the country.
On Sunday, the leader of the Indigenous People
of Biafra (IPOB) raised the alarm that his home was invaded by soldiers acting
under the auspices of Operation Python Dance II. He said
that he only escaped being mowed down with armoured personnel carriers and
other weapons deployed by the army because his supporters used themselves to
form a shield around his home. But when the soldiers attempted to break this
shield by shooting into the supporters, some of them allegedly died while
others were injured. The army was quick to dismiss the allegation of IPOB as a
figment of the corrupt imagination of its members. It insisted that the
soldiers only embarked on their professional exercise that had nothing to do
with Kanu and any other member of IPOB. The army remonstrated that it was IPOB
members who attacked soldiers without any provocation.
These accusations and counter-accusations made it difficult to really
appreciate what was happening. No one was sure whether it was the army or IPOB
that was lying. But by Tuesday, it became difficult to accept the army’s claims
to innocence. Even though the army insisted that it did not lay siege to Kanu’s
home, it seemed easier to be persuaded by the version of IPOB on the
developments in Abia
State
The deployment of
troops in the region is not justifiable. But if the deployment must be
justified by the presumed inevitability of the army embarking on its
professional exercise, it ought not to have been done close to Kanu’s home. No
matter the genuine intention behind the deployment, it is tragically
insensitive to the mood of the south-east, especially the pro-Biafra agitators.
Again, if the soldiers had done nothing wrong, why were they hell-bent on
stopping journalists from telling the world, especially through photographs,
the alleged lies against them by IPOB? Why did they unleash violence on
journalists who were covering the events as they unfolded in Abia?
Clearly, the rhetoric of Kanu’s quest to right
the wrongs against him and his people reeks of violence that should not be
brooked by all who cherish the oneness of the federation. But by deploying
troops in a bid to intimidate him into submission or worse still, to brutally
eliminate him, the government has taken the laws into its own hands. For, the
fact is that since the government is bent on incarcerating Kanu again over the
allegation that he has breached his bail conditions, it should have waited for
a law court to order his re-arrest. Even this request to the court has been
justifiably condemned, and the deployment of soldiers to intimidate Kanu is
much more condemnable.
The government is wasting human and material
resources moving soldiers, armoured tanks and other weapons to the south-east
when nothing warrants this. Indeed, the agitation in the south-east which the
government considers a serious crisis that could only be resolved through the
deployment of violence could easily be resolved if only the government would
adhere to the advice of the citizens. The first step to ensuring enduring peace
in the south-east is for the government to withdraw its troops. Since dance is
Buhari’s euphemism for war, his pythons should be deployed to dance in the
north-east where Boko Haram are still on the prowl despite the claim of the
government that they have been defeated. They can also be deployed to check
herdsmen who are raping, maiming and killing innocent farmers in different
parts of the country. The government should not think that it can stop
agitations through force. In this regard, it should take the path of
negotiating with the agitators. If the government were sincere, it should not
be afraid of negotiating with the agitators. The government cannot consider the
idea of dialoguing with the agitators far-fetched after negotiating with Boko Haram
members who have done so much damage to life and property in the north-east.
The citizens are now paying billions to bring life to the north-east after the
Boko Haram’s havoc that was inspired by religious bigotry and political
machinations.
The government must come to terms with the
reality that it is not only the south-east where there are agitations.
Agitations everywhere have become a regular fallout of the inequality in the
polity. What the government should do to stop them instead of using soldiers is
to acknowledge the inevitability of the restructuring of the country. After
all, with people like Prof. Wole Soyinka who propped up the Buhari government
now rating his performance low and vigorously canvassing restructuring, the
government must realise that agitations would continue until at least there is
the assurance to tackle the injustice that has made some citizens to be
superior to others.
The government has not only demonstrated its disposition to be heedless by not
accepting the call for restructuring. It has also shown a shocking
unwillingness to change from its fixation on skewed appointments in favour of
the northern part of the country that Buhari comes from. This is sufficiently
borne out by the appointments of northerners as the new managers of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while brazenly marginalising
other parts of the country, including even where the oil resources come from.
With this misguided deployment of soldiers in
the south-east, Buhari cannot easily discharge himself of the allegation that
his objective of making only northerners to head security agencies in the
country is to eliminate any opposition to his pre-mediated conquest of other
parts of the country. Far removed from the ordeals of the marginalised, the
heads and other personnel of the security bodies could easily be disposed to
think that by attacking agitators in other parts of the country, they are
faithfully serving their country and protecting the president with whom they
share ethnic and religious affiliations.
It is sad that Buhari has forgotten so soon
his warning during his August broadcast against the prospect of some people
starting a war only for them to flee abroad with their families while allowing
innocent people to suffer. Now, it is Buhari who is provoking a war in the
south-east. When it happens, like those he attacked for fleeing the battle they
triggered, Buhari would be cocooned in Aso Rock, while the lives and property
of innocent citizens bear the brunt of his misguided action. By his deployment
of soldiers in the south-east and his opposition to restructuring, Buhari is
heating up the polity ahead of the October 1 deadline given by northern youths
for the Igbo to quit their region. For the sake of the unity of the nation, it
is high time he sought introspection and rethought his self-serving positions.
*Dr.
Onomuakpokpo is on the Editorial board of The
Guardian
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