Dialogue and engagement, instead of harassment and intimidation, is gaining superiority as strategy by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, to defuse tension in the country.
Ironically, the Federal Government’s insistence that the popular demand to re-structure the country is not its priority and its provocative refusal to arrest atrocities by herdsmen is combining to escalate tension in the country.
Tension is aggravated by the FG’s refusal to address atrocities by Fulani herdsmen, including multiple rapes at gun point and serial killings of innocent farmers, among other factors. The unmolested reign of anarchy by armed herdsmen vindicates the sensational allegation of a sinister agenda by the administration to foist Fulani hegemony on Nigeria.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to the United Kingdom for medical check and Prof. Osinbajo took over, the difference in leadership has merely succeeded to douse, not defuse tension.
Tension boils over the FG’s refusal to arrest and prosecute herdsmen for their audacious crimes that ridicule the country’s capacity for law enforcement. These crimes are well-documented, including serial invasions of a farm owned by former Secretary to the Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae.
Earlier, the former Finance Minister was kidnapped for ransom by herdsmen most of who are allegedly aliens.
During the most recent invasion, about 15 mobile policemen hired to protect the farm against destruction by rampaging livestock were fired upon by the heavily-armed herdsmen.
Narrating the encounter, the elder statesman said: “The policemen were there to see if they can effect arrest for trespassing and destroying farm produce. So if the herdsmen could fire at the policemen, what would they do to me?”
Disaffection over the transparent reluctance by security agents to assert authority boils over into tension which, in turn, fuels demand for re-structuring. Until his departure, President Buhari was indifferent, insisting that he is not favourably disposed to re-structuring the country as endorsed by delegates to the 2014 National Conference. But the Senate has directed the Acting-President, Professor Osinbajo, to re-submit the conference report to the National Assembly, presumably for resolutions relating to re-structuring to be implemented to pre-empt the gathering storm.
Leaders from the South-South, South-West and South-East rose angrily from a meeting in Lagos and full of dismay with the state of the nation. The leaders lambasted the notice issued by a coalition of Arewa groups to Igbo to quit the north by October 1 this year.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Yinka Odumakin, National Publicity Secretary of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, said it is regrettable that herdsmen have over run the southern part of the country and chased away pupils from schools while law and order looks the other way.
“It has never happened before in the country. The other day, the Delta State governor said they now escort farmers to their farms. This is happening and the administration is looking the other way.”
Odumakin, said the administration is leveraging on state machinery to execute ethnic revenge. According to him, only two groups of people are allowed to carry arms in Nigeria: “The law enforcement agencies and Fulani herdsmen.”
Senior journalist and Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nation newspaper, Mr Sam Omatseye, attributed prevailing tension in the country, including the quit notice to Igbo by Arewa youths, to disaffection with the Nigerian federation. “The federalism that the country is practising is an illusion. It is unitarism couched in federal toga,” he said. The Middle Belt (North-Central zone) has equally pledged support for the country to be re-structured for efficiency.
Other leaders from the three geo-political zones in the south present at the Lagos meeting include former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Alani Akinrinade (rtd); former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd); President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo; former Director-General of Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Chief Albert Horsfall; Senator Femi Okorounmu; Senator Bassey Henshaw and Chief Supo Shonibare.
Others include Dr. Okey Anueyiaya, Chief Sidney Dike, Chief Eric Ebeh, Prof.Walter Ofonagoro, Sen. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, Ogia Iyalla-Finnih, Dr Kunle Olajide, Chief Mike Uwaka, Alhaji Abdulaziz Ude, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, Prof George Obiozor, Prof Joe Irukwu, Charles Odunukwe, Iyaze Ebigwe, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), Dr Amos Akingba, Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, Otuekong (Air Commodore) Idongesit Nkanga and Chief Guy Ikokwu, among others.
The southern leaders met in the residence of Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo. And the communique issued at the end of the meeting was signed by Adebanjo for South-West, Horsfall for South-South and Ukiwe for South-East.
Highlights of the communique include: “The meeting condemned, in strongest terms, the activities of Fulani herdsmen who have taken over the entire Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt of Nigeria, including State House of Assemblies, preventing them from making laws, cows going to classrooms and chasing our children from schools, killing our farmers on their farms and raping their wives.”
On the need for re-structuring, the leaders said: “We resolved on the need for the re-structuring of Nigeria and to uphold the principles of true federalism as agreed by the founding fathers of Nigeria and practised effectively in the years before the first military coup in Nigeria.”
The administration cuts a pathetic image resisting re-structuring, which will eliminate tension, stabilize the polity and spur efficiency. The administration’s position is as regrettable as developing an enormous and unreasonable appetite and expecting others to settle the bills. It is certainly weird to obstruct growth and expect the consequence to be pleasant.
