Nigeria: A nation at war in peacetime

 

Nigeria: A nation at war in peacetime

By Amah Abraham

Our country Nigeria is at the highest precipice it has ever been since after the Civil War. In all measures of our national life, we have never had it so bad in economy, health, education, politics and worst of all security. Regrettably, we inch closer to becoming a failed State with each passing day as non-state actors in the full glare of our decorated generals contest the State’s monopoly of legitimate violence. In a series of fatal attacks coordinated by criminal gangs, Nigeria has been enveloped by insecurity to the point that nobody, not even the political leaders, is safe.

About two months ago, a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, South West Nigeria, was attacked in a daredevil commando style that left more than 40 people dead with many fatally injured, and just two days ago, the Owo community was again attacked by terrorists at the Craneburg Construction Company site injuring two security men in the process.

Just about a fortnight ago, the advance convoy of our President, General Muhammadu Buhari was attacked in Katsina, the President’s home State and the attack left two policemen dead. That was after the maximum correctional facility located at Kuje, within the precincts of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja surrounded by more than 13 military facilities was attacked, with several criminals, most of them terrorists released by their fellow terrorists.

Within the same period, the Presidential Guards unit, an elite corp of the Nigerian military, also located within the FCT was attacked by terrorists with six of our gallant soldiers brutally killed and 13 still unaccounted for.

A few days ago, Zuma, a town within the vicinity of the FCT was attacked by terrorists and many of our gallant soldiers were yet again, killed. The list is endless and defies geography because it happens across all parts of Nigeria and sometimes simultaneously. In places where terrorists don’t hold sway their ‘comrade-in-arms’, the bandits do or their business partners, the kidnappers are in charge. More still, their open-source affiliates, the herdsmen and unknown gunmen parade all nooks and crannies of Nigeria unconstrained.

At last count, and according to Daily Trust Newspapers, as at June 2022, 62 Christian priests were kidnapped for ransom just within two years, in different parts of Nigeria with two of them killed by their abductors. Herdsmen suspected to be Fulani cattle herders in a long list of uncountable attacks nationwide, have rendered communities homeless, raped women in the presence of their husbands and children, killed fathers in the presence of their children, husbands in the presence of their wives, destroyed farm and cash crops and even kidnapped for ransom to augment the yields from other atrocities.

The coordinated pattern of attack by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, herdsmen, unknown gunmen and other sets of organised criminal gangs, especially centred around Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power leaves no one in doubt that Nigeria has become a nation at war in peacetime. To further underscore this state of war, the terrorists last week issued proclamations, much more than threats, that they will capture alive Nigeria’s President, General Muhammadu Buhari, governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Ahmed Nasir El-rufai as well as high ranking members of this government including members of the National Assembly. What more would amount to a declaration of war than this effrontery?

In all of these, we have a government that has either looked the other way when these atrocious crimes are committed, made no attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice, made feeble responses that either sweeps the atrocities under the carpet or blames the victims for daring to speak up. Sometime ago, presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina said natives should donate their lands to Fulani herdsmen if they don’t want to be killed by herdsmen just as he called those calling for the impeachment of President Buhari for his inability to halt the killings and insecurity in the land anarchists. Nigerians deserve better.

Last week, in a bipartisan forge miffed by the audacity of the terrorists and the loss of capacity by the President to rein in the terrorists despite billions of tax payers money spent on security, the members of the National Assembly moved to impeach President Buhari. A move that is apparently better late than never.

The members of the National Assembly, irked by their inclusion in the capture-alive target have suddenly woken to their responsibilities, albeit, belatedly. Beyond the public posturing by the NASS, the state of insecurity in Nigeria goes beyond moves to impeach the President in less than ten months to the end of this disastrous administration.

Even if the President is impeached, the reins of office still falls within the ambit of the same clueless All Progressives Congress, APC, that has moved Nigeria more than 50 years backwards. What Nigerians need to do ahead of the 2023 general election is to take a careful look back to where we were seven years ago before the APC happened to us.

In all measures of comparison, the seven years of the APC is worse than the 16 years of the PDP. We have a government that promised steady power in six months and in seven years they could not add one thousand megawatts of electricity to our national grid, instead we have a national grid that collapses as the cloud changes just to give a sign of rain.

Regarding the economy, the APC in just seven years of its leadership reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians, caused the hyper-inflation that pushed more Nigerians into unemployment and poverty, slowed our economy growth rate from 7 percent annually to 3 percent, moved the petrol pump price from N87 to N180 even when they promised to sell petrol at N45 per litre, could not halt the free-rolling dollar to naira exchange rate from N187 to $1 when they promised to make it at par but is at present N720 to $1, dropped Nigeria’s GDP from the the PDP’s stimulated N480b in 2015 to N330b in 2021 and made Nigeria the poverty capital of the world. Today, Nigerians are the poorest people on earth, many thanks to the APC led government of Muhammadu Buhari.

Public universities in Nigeria have remained closed for six months with no sign that it will end soon because the government is negotiating the negotiation with those that have no idea what the school system in Nigeria has become because their kids school abroad even as the government’s chief negotiator is unperturbed but busy dancing Atilogwu at his village square.

Without sounding like a broken record, it is evident that Nigeria is a nation at war in peacetime and nobody should be surprised if Nigeria unravels anytime soon. Verifiable records show that more Nigerians and in thousands lost their lives in the seven years APC has been in government than the 16 years PDP was in government. The level of insecurity leaves us at nothing less than warfare.

Last week, public affairs commentators raised the spectre of a coup d’etat to be propped up by certain elements in this government to usher in a new military government that will look much the same like this one in order to perpetuate an agenda.

With what we have seen from the government’s unconcerned and uncoordinated efforts to fight terrorism such insinuations may afterall not be far from the truth. But we are comforted in the assurance that Nigerians are a resilient people and will not tolerate any informal change of government, especially as they know that the PDP, the Party that grew Nigeria as Africa’s biggest economy to earn it a place among the MINT group of nations, is more than ever, poised to take over the government in 2023 and rescue Nigeria from the apparent precipice APC has pushed it to.

As we approach the terminal end of the clueless APC administration, the PDP charges Nigerians that this is not the time to conduct any experiment with our voter cards. This is also not the time to rely on fake promises. Nigerians should trust in the ability of the PDP to do it again and ultimately rescue Nigeria from the abyss APC pushed it to in the last seven years.

Once beaten, twice shy and may affliction never arise in Nigeria again.

Nigerians beware, vote wisely in 2023.

*PDP – Power to the People*

*Written by*

*Hon. Elder Amah Abraham*

*Abia PDP vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary*

Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.

About The Author