BY SIMON REEF MUSA
Since the issuance of a 7-day ultimatum by the Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on January 18, 2021 to criminal herders occupying forest reserves to either vamoose or face the full wrath of the law, the country before now had been on tenterhooks. More frightening, the crossfires from socio-cultural organisations have not removed the clouds of looming dangers hovering over the nation’s skies.
Many of these socio-cultural groups that are working at cross purposes are solely concerned with protecting the rights of their members. When Akeredolu’s ultimatum was handed down to the herders, the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) swiftly reacted against the expulsion order for a group they considered as one of their own.
On Tuesday, the slow motion to more confusion over whether to arrest or not arrest the new kid on the block in the South—west, Sunday Adeyemi, alias Sunday Igboho, was halted momentarily by the appointment of new service chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari. The new appointments did not only turn focus on new strategies that ought to be embraced by the new security chiefs in combating insecurity, many prominent citizens and groups called on the new security rednecks to come up with strategies in combating demons of insecurity ravaging our country.
As if these bandits were attempting to erase citizens’ renewed hope over the appointments of the nation’s new security helmsmen, Katsina, Nigeria and Taraba state, among other states, came under fiery attacks from these vicious brigands which culminated in the killing of no fewer than 15 persons and abduction of over 75 persons on Thursday. These assaults on citizens took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian Army deployed an all-female force along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway to checkmate the unremitting kidnappings that have made Kaduna state a recurring point for criminal abductions and banditry in the country.
For a country that is still enmeshed in crisis, not a few citizens are expressing hope that the waves of insecurity blowing across the nation is about to go away. Amidst the crisis that has turned our nation into a cynosure of violence and horrifying bloodshed, Nigeria has been turned into a vast ocean of bloodshed with complete disregard to the sanctity of human lives. Apart from revolting decapitations of human bodies by these bloodthirsty outlaws as warnings to those that are opposed to their evil machinations, the recurrent waves of violence in various communities is reflective of the myriad of forces working to wreak havoc on Africa’s giant undergoing serious pressures.
Many Nigerian citizens have embraced the option of playing the ostrich and looking away from the real problem. Considering the flame of religious and ethnic conflagrations that have left bloody trails on our country’s history, national leadership has always hinged Nigeria’s problems on infighting among power actors using religious and ethnic sentiments. In demonstration of this deliberate neglect of the ailment trailing us as a nation, President Buhari on Wednesday had called on citizens to shun ethnic and religious sentiments in order to heal the nation’s wounds and move Nigeria forward.
The refusal by national leadership to see the true problems besieging our country is further worsened due to leadership failure to resolve our recurring problems. While it is obvious that Christianity and Islam are never in conflict, adherents of both faiths have never been found wanting resorting to religious sentiments to swing the pendulum to their favour.
The legislative arm government that is mandated to make laws for the good governance of the country has abandoned its mandate and is now in competition with the executive arm for the provision of infrastructure to their constituencies. In ensuring that the interests of electorates are well represented, these lawmakers, both at the state and federal level, have now turned themselves into errand boys of the executive arm in a bid to get approvals for project executions.
On this note, the separation of power among the three arms of government has suffered relegation. The abhorrence of the absence of this separation of power among the three arms has exposed our democracy as hopelessly fragile and incapable of resisting manipulation from dealers in the corridor of power. With no force to checkmate the executive arm, the lawmakers are reduced to toothless bull dogs in the hall of democracy.
Unlike in developed democracies where lawmakers hold the executive arm accountable for its actions, it is an incontestable fact that in most cases here members of the National Assembly are more often than not mere appendages of the executive arm. In most states of the Federation, lawmakers are seen as the other side of the executive arm that are more willing to do the biddings of many state governors even without promptings
The weaknesses of the legislative arm are manifested in passing bills to governors for assent without engagement of critical stakeholders. Lobbyists in many legislative chambers have virtually turned legislation into a business venture and relegating the interest of the electorates.
Arising from the above, the principles of democracy in our nation suffer an irretrievable damage due to unwillingness of a vital arm of government to deepen and entrench democracy. When an arm of government, like the legislature, decides to forgo its mandate, the staircase for tyranny takes a centre stage. Agitations by citizens have been defeated due to the lethargic disposition of lawmaking chambers to sell their birthright for personal interest.
Our nation’s democracy has suffered tremendously and is still undergoing several processes of constitutional amendment exercises without any success. Over 21 years after the inauguration of this unbroken democracy in 1999, billions of naira have been flushed down the drain in the name of constitutional amendment exercises. Realising that these futile amendment exercises have become an annual ritual of accessing public funds by the National Assembly, every assembly has always resorted to these exercises to provide a juicy platform for their cronies as rewards for their support.
The inability of our country to resolve many of the problems is tied to the incapacity of the National Assembly to do its work and checkmate the excesses of the executive arm. As it stands now, our democracy has been turned into an arsenal for the perpetuation of the interests of a vicious class determined to foist its agenda on the country. It is obvious that, taking into consideration the number of representatives from the various geo-political zones, agitations for the improvement of the citizenry’s welfare may take a long while to be realised under this present democracy that is presently imperiled.
When democracy is subjected to various forms of ethnic and religious colorations in the hope of enthroning unequaled citizenship, the worth of a people is reduced to a mere force deployed in furthering the interests of political actors who control the levers of power.
The failure of the state to arrest criminals who have invaded our country and are working towards complete takeover of many of our communities are a serious threat to national unity. Since this unbroken democracy has failed to resolve our intractable problems, the years ahead may not provide solutions as practitioners of our flawed democratic government are more interested deepening their hold to power than uplifting citizens from the cave of poverty and hopelessness. There is the urgent need for the Nigeria Police, headed by the outgoing Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to arrest these criminals terrorising citizens to ensure the security of our people and faith in government to safeguard the lives and property of Nigerians.
