It was 28 years ago today that the military junta under the then General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida buccaneered the efforts of the Nigerian people for a safe return to a democratic rule.
Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola contested for the presidency in 1993, but the election results were annulled by the junta because of allegations that they were corrupt and unfair.
Abiola was a personal friend of Babangida and he was believed to have supported Babangida’s coming to power.
Abiola’s mandate in the June 12,1993 presidential election cut across all the nation’s geo-political zones and religious divide.
That was probably the first time a Nigerian politician would enjoy such an overwhelming support. By the time of his death, he had become an unexpected symbol of democracy.
The election was adjudged the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria.
Following the injustice meted out to him, after he died in the General Sani Abacha gulag, June 12 was declared as a public holiday upon the return of the country to civil rule in 1999.
However, May 29 of every year was being marked as Democracy Day, in recognition of the day of inauguration of the first democratically elected government after the exit of the military in 1999.
The two holidays continued to exist side-by-side until June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018 had been celebrated as Democracy Day, when President Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12 to be the new Democracy Day.
To give effect to the pronouncement, the President gave his inaugural address for his second term on June 12, 2019.
On the day he made the historic change, Buhari had awarded the late business mogul cum politician a posthumous national honour of GCFR (grand commander of the federal republic).
Read Also: Young Nigerians are losing their voice in a tainted democracy
June 12 remains a public holiday in Nigeria beginning from June 12, 2019, but to be celebrated as democracy day, replacing May 29.
But beyond the celebrations, Nigerians are wondering if the country is really enjoying the fruit of the struggle to return to a civil rule.
They are also wondering if the country could have toed a different trajectory if Abiola was allowed to preside over the nation’s affairs for 8 years.
Today, although there is a government in place in Abuja, it would seem that the levers of power are, unfortunately, effectively in the hands of non-state actors.
These non-state actors wield the most sophisticated weapons that were supposed to be in government’s custody.
There should be a marked difference between a government and criminals. For instance, government should control the most intimidating arms and ammunition in order to bring criminals under subjection. Long time ago, government had the superior power to run criminals out of town.
But that appears not to be the case in Nigeria today.
Unlike in the past when government’s security agents would ask ‘who is there’, then criminals would scamper; today, the criminals now have the audacity to ask, ‘who is inside there’ and security agents will freeze in fear. This has happened just within 28 years after Nigeria returned to civil rule.
The spate of insecurity appears to have overwhelmed the government and its agencies.
President Buhari in his interview on Arise Television Thursday noted that “The problem of the North East is very difficult.”
In March this year, Major-General Bashir Magashi, minister of Defence, said “Nigeria is on the brink.”
In May, Ahmed Lawan, Senate president, was quoted as saying that “Nigeria’s security agencies are overwhelmed” by the level of insecurity in the country.
Fulani herdsmen, for instance, have proven that government of the day has no power over them. They rape, kill, main and plunder, and they are bold to claim responsibility, yet nothing happens.
The bandits that operate in some states of the North West have proven that they are government of their own. They take hostages of people and command government and their agents to meet them in the forest for negotiation.
Though Abuja has said it was not buying into payment of ransom, it is said to be dispatching emissaries to the forest for negotiations. Sheikh Abubakar Gumi has continued to play this role. Not long ago; Gumi had some photo-ups with kidnappers in a forest which went viral. Government saw nothing wrong with that.
A columnist noted that “SB Morgen, a geo-political research consultancy based in Lagos, said recently that at least $11 million (N5.5 billion at the current exchange rate of N500 to $1) has been paid to kidnappers between January 2016 and March 2020, most of them negotiated by Gumi, and all of them in the North.”
Aso Rock didn’t mobilise the security assets of the country to hunt down the bandits. The President never vowed to “teach them the lessons the U.S. taught al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.”
Boko Haram has since established its kingdom in some parts of the country where the Federal Government with all the 21st Century technology has failed to overrun.
For many years, Nigeria has a part of the country that has been in total control by Boko Haram. The name of Sambisa Forest alone sends jitters down the spines of many security personnel.
A few days ago, with all the nation’s army and police, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ordered Igbo to stay home for two days and that order was carried out to the letter. Soldiers and policemen only emptied themselves into deserted roads to watch the compliance, so to say.
The other day, Government Ekpemupolo (known as Tomplo), a former leader of Niger Delta agitators, issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government that if it did not reconstitute a board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in a matter of days, FG would hear from him.
To prove it was not an empty threat, the East-West Road was paralysed. Pronto, Abuja dispatched Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta ministry, to enter into agreement with him, telling him that his request/order would be carried out by the end of the month.
Today, a Sunday Igboho appears to be more relevant to many South Westerners than their governors. Many see Igboho as the leader they know.
As it stands today, Igboho has successfully created an alternative society for many South Westerners that believe in his philosophy, just like Nnamdi Kanu has stolen the hearts of many Igbo people, home and abroad.
Today, the voices of political leaders in South East have been drowned. They have lost followership. The success of the sit-at-home order by Kanu has conveyed a massage that the people of South East have passed a vote of no confidence in their governors, as it were.
By the same token, it would appear that the pan Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze, has become a toothless bulldog and an anachronistic group that has no power anymore to galvanise the people or speak on their behalf.
Evidence of the loss of confidence in the South East leaders is the inability of Ebube-Agu, the security initiative, to take off long after the South East Governors’ Forum made a pronouncement establishing it.
Only a few days ago, Obi Umahi, a retired major-general, tendered his resignation as chairman of the South East Security Committee.
It seems that the people are still more comfortable with Eastern Security Network (ESN) than the outfit established by governors.
What Nigeria and Nigerians are witnessing is a dangerous development. If the same level of destruction that has been done in the country in the last 28 years is sustained for the next 28 years, the country would be the worse for it.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
