Buhari Working To Be Nigeria's Last President

By Brady Chijioke Nwosu

A king that transformed a jungle to a city will forev­er be remembered, at the same time, a king that turned a city into jungle forever would not be forgotten.

The way things are going, it is obvious that many nations are likely to emerge from Nigeria. When the histories of such na­tions that were hitherto Nigeria would be written, one name that would be scrolled in bold prints is President Muhammadu Buhari for presiding and writing the epi­taph of ones a country.

In this vein, There Was A Coun­try, the last book of late literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe be­comes prophetic.

When in the early 2000, it was alleged that the American Cen­tral Intelligence Agency (CIA) had predicted that Nigeria would fragment in 2015, there was pal­pable tension in the country es­pecially in the face of the gen­eral election that generated so much acrimony and hatred and the country was polarized along ethnic and religious divides. The election came and gone, many heaved sighs of relief, believing the worst was over.

True to their thoughts, the worst could have been over if the winner of the election, Presi­dent Buhari was interested in the unity of the country. He could have embarked on reconcilia­tion and unification across the country so that the grievances and disappointment that attend­ed the election would be forgot­ten. Instead, he started to posi­tion people from one section of the country and equally started promoting his religion, while he saw the rest as conquered people, who should not impugn his au­thority even in a democracy.

How can somebody be pissing on your head and be telling you that it is raining?

Events the last one year gave rise to the frenzy of self determi­nation by various ethnic groups. Before it was only MASSOB in the Southeast and right now more groups have sprang in the region all working in synergy to­wards self determination.

Then, like a joke, another up­rising is going on in the Niger Delta region. It started with Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), and now many other groups have come out working in the same direc­tion for self- determination. They are holding the nation to its jugu­lar and their persisted attacks on oil facilities in the region has re­duced the nation’s crude oil ex­port from 2.2 million barrels to about 1.2 million.

The reason is that Buhari saw the Southeast and the South-south as conquered people. He has been accused to have an agenda to Islamise the country and his actions and body lan­guages lay credence to such ac­cusation.

Time To Review Nigeria

Alabi Williams

When some concerned intelligence quarters in the U.S advised that 2015 could be ominous for Nigeria, not many people took the concern to heart. Some even jeered at the peep as another meddlesomeness of the West. There was sufficient time between when the alert was issued way back in 2006 and 2015 for some reasonable measures to be put in place to shame the doomsayers, assuming that was all there was to it. There were also no signs that the matter was handed to local intelligence units to interrogate. In the absence of a concerted official position on the prediction, individual politicians swore to high heavens that Nigeria had come too far to disintegrate. Private citizens, as usual, launched into prayers to ward off the forecast from hell, and to possibly return it to those who sent it.

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Year 2015 has come and gone and the house has not fallen, even though we did not do anything special to reinforce its structures. Glory be to God. But how long can the house continue to stand when there are no deliberate efforts to prolong its lifespan, except to hope and pray? But citizens continue to do a lot of other things to hewn at its foundations and the leadership refusing to hearken to calls to retool for enhanced cohesion and greater performance.

Until three weeks ago, the most disturbing news item was that of herdsmen who prowled communities of Benue, Enugu, Oyo, Delta and everywhere, unleashing terror on armless victims and setting their homes ablaze. Skirmishes between herdsmen and farmers had gone on for decades, but such were settled with sticks, and perhaps bows and arrows. Herdsmen used to carry local guns for hunting animals. In those days, herdsmen travel for kilometers in search of grazing lands and they did not seek to drive local farmers away to inherit their lands. If there were skirmishes, they were isolated and were within the capacity of community leaders to manage.

But as if to hasten the U.S prediction on disintegration, even if not within the 2015 timeline, herdsmen of recent years leave no one in doubt about their notion of a country. They want to operate like doctors with borders, roaming without inhibitions of law and space, trampling on territories and annexing vast swathes, even ancestral lands. They went to Plateau and left behind desolation and deaths. Then they went with temerity to Kaduna, south of the state and inflicted collateral damage on the local population. Then they went to Nasarawa, where prevailing internecine suspicions among local tribes aided their exploits. Then they crossed into Benue, Kogi, Ondo, and Oyo and were unhindered, even though they made front pages when they visited chief Olu Falae. It was in Enugu, and of recent Ekiti that their accomplishments received more than the usual feeble condemnations of the past.

Restructure Nigeria Or Fracture Her

By Tola Adeniyi  

 I start this column today with a heavy heart and great pity for both Nigeria and those armed to the teeth to bring her down. In the past couple of weeks I wrote about the thirteen threats to Ni­geria’s survival and the need for the Federal Government to bend a little to stop Nigeria from break­ing up.

But the threat last Monday by the latest Militants in the Ni­ger Delta to collapse Nigeria with their missiles [apparently purchased with the humongous amount dashed to them under the Amnesty Project] has warranted a second look at the whole develop­ing scenario.

I am compelled to issue a warn­ing here. Even if the Militants believe they have the strongest army in the world, they should do a rethink. One can only boast about the outbreak of a war; no one can categorically predict its end. The Militants should sheath their swords and call for dialogue instead of threatening to destroy Nigeria without giving a thought to the credible possibility of also getting themselves and the region they claim to be fighting for burnt in the inferno.

Nowhere in the world has any militant group waging a war of self determination or seces­sion succeeded in destroying the whole country. PKK in Turkey and Tamil Tigers in Sri-Lanka are ready examples. Tamil Tigers campaign lasted for over 40 years and in the end they had to settle for dialogue. PKK is still at it and Turkey is still waxing stronger by the day.

Nigeria survived without oil in the 50s and 60s and prosecuted a gruesome, albeit needless war without oil and without bor­rowing a Kobo from the outside world. Nigeria can call the bluff of the oil producing region and operate on Zero oil revenue. She will fall on her knees but sooner or later will gather her senses and bounce back!

Having said this, I think it is high time the Federal Government began the process of quick and in­evitable restructuring of the polity. Whoever or whatever group that is standing against restructur­ing does not wish this bleeding country well. It is gratifying that the likes of Atiku Abubakar have joined the chorus of what people have been clamouring for in the last 60 years. The ferocious cam­paigns of JS Tarka, JS Olawoyin and Adaka Boro were all inspired by the burning desire to have Ni­geria restructured.

Buhari and the Biafran Challenge

By Tunde Rahman

Last Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari met with South-east leaders, majorly from his the All Progressive Congress, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja. The meeting came a day after the country celebrated yet another May 29 Democracy Day.

*Buhari

But it was also a day after the bloody Biafran protests in the South-east cities and Asaba in the South-south, which left in its wake death and destruction. Over 50 pro-Biafran protesters were reportedly killed across South-east states and in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

According to newspaper reports, two policemen also lost their lives in the protests. One of the policemen was said to have been thrown into River Niger. The South-east leaders met with Buhari under the aegis of South-east Group for Change and the 18-man delegation was led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani. After the meeting, the delegation declined to speak with State House Correspondents, but asked by the newshounds whether Biafra came up for discussion at the talks, Nnamani reportedly said, “No, no, not now”. If we believe the former Senate President that the issue of Biafra did not come up for discussion at that meeting, then it was just a matter of time for a presidential meeting on Biafra to be arranged because the Biafran issue has become a thorny issue for the South-east and for Nigeria.

The Biafran issue had become knotty again since Indian-trained lawyer, Ralph Uwazuruike, around 1999 or so, established the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) with the aim, as the name suggests, of securing the resurgence of the defunct State of Biafra. Based on the group’s activities, including hoisting Biafran flags at different locations in the South-east, the government accused MASSOB of violence and Uwazuruike was arrested in 2005 and detained on treason charges. That year, MASSOB had re-introduced the old Biafran currency into circulation. Uwazuruike was later released in 2007 but the secessionist activities of the group, however, did not stop. For instance in 2009, MASSOB launched ‘Biafran International Passport’ in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the group.

But around May 2014, the Biafran agitation took a new dimension with a new leader for the struggle: the British-Nigerian Nnamdi Kanu who spoke of his readiness to fight all the way. He said Nigeria would seize to exist by December 2015. Speaking at a gathering of members of defunct Biafra, including scores of its aged war veterans on May 30, 2014, Kanu vowed that he would not rest until the Biafran Republic is realised. The event held at Ngwo, Enugu State, was the maiden commemoration of Biafran Day, in remembrance of the events of 1967 when the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, declared the Republic of Biafra. Kanu who was also the Director of the outlawed Radio Biafra used the occasion to unveil a multi- million naira cenotaph in memory of Biafra fallen heroes killed during the civil war. He alleged that despite the declaration of the “No Victor, No Vanquished” after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war in 1970, successive governments in the country had continued to deliberately marginalise and make life unbearable for the Igbo nation and its people. He said it was unfortunate and painful that 47 years after the civil war, the reasons for which the war was fought were still evident in Nigeria. Kanu has been slammed with treason charges and remains in detention at present.

Buhari And The Biafra Question

By Wale Sokunbi
President Muhammadu Buhari has of late been speaking up on the renewed agitation for the realization of Biafra by our brothers and sisters in the eastern part of the country. The president, who had for some time been reticent on the troubling topic and had earlier said that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, would not be released because he could jump bail, has become more eloquent on this topic of late.

*Buhari

During a visit to the palace of the Emir of Katsina, in his home state of Katsina on Monday, Buhari used the agitation for the independent state of Biafra as a peg to make pronouncements on the indivisibility of Nigeria. 

Toeing the path of all other past presidents of the country, he was unequivocal on the need to retain the country as one indivisible entity. As many notable Nigerians have said before him, he also affirmed that the continuing existence of Nigeria as one country is not negotiable. He explained that Nigeria is a strong and united country because some people laid down their lives for it, but some people who were not born during the civil war are agitating for the division of the country.

He, however, took his convictions on the subject a bit further with his strong affirmation that “there will be no Biafra” under his government.

He was also reported in many organs of the mass media to have vowed to use all the resources at his disposal to crush any agitation for the division of Nigeria. According to the president, the country fought a civil war which claimed the lives of over two million people in order to be united and it would be better for the entire country to commit mass suicide than to allow the campaign for Biafra to succeed.  As he put it: “For Nigeria to divide now, it is better for all of us to jump into the sea and get drowned.”

The frustration of President Buhari with the many winds blowing against Nigeria’s continued existence as one country is understandable. Even the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), through Mr. Osondu Okwaraeke who was identified as the Central Director of the Biafran Red Cross, also on Monday in Onitsha, listed the attacks of herdsmen on parts of Southern Nigeria, the Boko Haram attacks in the North East, the Niger Delta militants’ attacks on oil installations and the agitation for Biafra, as signs that Nigeria is on the verge of a break up.

Enugu Killings 4th Dimension

By Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba

The killings in Enugu is a done deal but should be made to be the turning point of Boko Haram’s southward incursions. Let history understand that the point where the dead martyrs of Enugu were buried was the furthest and the last stop of the terrorists. That here was where we stood and declared that we will not take any more nonsense.

Here’s how:

1.      Burials of the dead: Let’s bury the dead one at a time and make each burial as gruesome and emotional as possible. The dead should be carried around the entire LGA with processions led by bishops, Catholic and Protestants and MASSOB and Kanu’s IPOD providing security. Let’s ask the police and security men who could not protect the dead when they were alive to stop protecting them when they are about to be buried. During the services let the bishops call for Holy Ghost fire to be returned to sender. Give MASSOB leaders a chance to make incendiary speeches if the collar on the bishop’s necks stop them from telling the truth as it is.

2.    Show of anger: Invite all the governors of all Southern States and NC State who have suffered from the terrorist’s actions and give them a chance to represent the feelings and anger of their people. This would show the leaders of Boko Haram that there is a united front before them and that the front means business. It will also awaken the sleeping president from his slumber.

3.    Talk back to the Northern Governor’s Council: Governor Ugwuanyi should summon his colleagues to a SE Governor’s council. They should repudiate the statement from the Northern Governor’s Council suggesting that the use of the word CRIMINAL in association with the killings south of Jos be banned. The events were criminal for if the killers are ever caught they would be charged with criminal offenses. What the Northern Governors said was an insult on the victims and extremely insensitive.

4.    Make Laws Controlling the movement of herds: Governor Ugwuanyi should summon his legislature and send them a bill outlawing the movement of herds by any means other than trucks and trains in the state. Each southern governor would send such a bill to their own legislators. This cooperative agenda would send signals that leaderships of the south are poised to lead and would make the sleeping Abuja leaders wake up of be woken up.

Biafra Challenge And Nigeria’s Future

By Nze Nwabueze Akabogu (JP)

For the past four weeks or thereabout, the nation had witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in the massive non-violent demonstrations which has now reached a crescendo in the agitation for the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra jointly led by MASSOB and the so-called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The widespread agitation throughout the South East region as well as some parts of the Igbo speaking areas of the South-South region suddenly erupted in the wake of the reported detention of the Director of the clandestine “Radio Biafra” based in the United Kingdom, Nnamdi Kenu, who was reported to have been picked up by security operatives on his arrival from London recently.

The MASSOB led by the irrepressible Chief Ralph Uwazuruike had for many years been in the vanguard for the actualization of the defunct Republic of Biafra through non-violent means. The Biafran Army was defeated by the Nigerian Armed Forces after thirty months of devastating civil war with the famous slogan of “No victor and no vanquished” as was declared by the erstwhile Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) in January 1970.

Regrettably however, almost forty six years after the disastrous conflict, all the contentious issues that originally led to the unfortunate war had remained unresolved, hence the current wave of agitations spearheaded mainly by the restive youths who invariably had inherited the seeming lopsidedness of the nation’s political structure as well as gross marginalization being suffered by the people within the geographical entity known as the defunct Republic of Biafra or South-East region of Nigeria to be precise.

The Nigerian nation seemed to have lost the golden opportunity to put the dark period of the civil war and its horrifying memories permanently behind her hence the nation had failed to take advantage of the famous declaration of “No victor and no vanquished” slogan to build a new nation through the adoption of a deliberate policy of genuine reconciliation and re-integration of the Igbo nation into the mainstream of the nation’s political system of governance.