A good number of prominent Nigerians have raised the alarm that the growing feeling of discontent, anger and despondency among the citizenry occasioned by dashed hopes and unfulfilled expectations is creating a fertile ground for anarchy.
Many Nigerians have been expressing disappointment that the El-dorado promised by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the electioneering campaign in 2015 has not and may never come to be. They are also disillusioned that instead of making conscious efforts to unite all Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to stoke the embers of primordial sentiments by acting as if he was elected president of only a section of Nigeria, leaving the country more divided than ever.
Angry Nigerians cite President Buhari’s slow approach to tackling serious issues of governance, his lopsided appointments, a matter that has generated controversy since the president made his first major political appointments in 2015, the slowness in the handling of the Fulani herdsmen issue, the too much noise and no action on the anti-corruption fight, the poor handling of the economy that led to mass loss of jobs, among numerous other contentious issues.
An aggregation of these discontents, prominent Nigerians who spoke with BDSUNDAY said, has set the polity on edge and signposts the uncertainties that may play out in the 2019 elections.
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The situation, according to them, appears so bad that people, even those who massively voted the government into power in 2015, now openly speak out and lambast government without fear of arrest or intimidation by government agencies.
The touted second term ambition of President Buhari, it was gathered, may have also aggravated the anger of many Nigerians who believe that given his abysmal performance so far, the president should have no business seeking re-election.
“It is said that one does not need a mirror to see one’s wristwatch. The sad condition of Nigeria is glaring to even the blind, so to speak. It has never been so bad since the return of the country to civil rule in 1999. It is not about party, it is about the style of governance chosen by the current administration, which I think is very unfortunate,” said Bayo Oriade, a Lagos-based system analyst.
“The situation is so bad now that people are no longer afraid to air their views despite the so-called ban on hate speech. All over the social media, people post all manner of things; people compose songs to abuse the government and even some make videos calling the leaders all manner of unprintable names. Today, the way people verbalise their frustration, it conveys an attitude of ‘he who down fears no fall’. Many Nigerians are down already and so no longer fear anything government or its agencies can do to them,” he said.
Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, said recently that Nigeria is now “more divided than it had ever been”, regretting that wrong socio-economic and political choices have created a cache of internal problems and impeded Nigeria’s foreign relations, forcing it to lose influence in blocs like the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“I believe quite strongly that the current state of affairs in our country should be a cause for serious concern, in view of the security situation in Benue, Taraba and the rest of the country,” Anyaoku said in an interview with The Guardian.
“Look at what is happening in the North East. Look at what is happening in Kaduna in terms of kidnapping and in virtually all parts of the country…. Look at the state of agitations and militancy, whether it’s the IPOB people wanting Biafra, or the Oduduwa Republic being mooted, or the Niger Delta Republic,” he said.
He decried the poor state of the country’s roads, education, health and power sectors, and the fact that “many civil servants have not been paid salaries for some months”.
Anyaoku, who has consistently supported the call for restructuring and true federalism, said that based on emerging trends, an eight-region structure that includes the Mid-West (Edo-Delta States) and the Middle Belt was not only a near-perfect political solution to ongoing agitations and cries of ethnic marginalisation but also an answer to Nigeria’s development questions of the 21st century.
He blamed “the main cause of these troubles” on “the governance architecture we have”.
“We have a federation in name only. But in reality, it is a unitary government. And this country, given its multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural character, cannot survive as a unitary state,” he said, adding that it was important to give the sections a sense of ownership and participation.
Describing the state of the nation as tense and provoking, Leonard Umunna, bishop of Bible Life Church, in an interview with our correspondent, said that “Nigeria is pushing towards war in different directions”.
Listing instances of the ways government is courting war in the country, Umunna said, “If you look at the case of Benue killings, it is enough to lead to war. If you look at the lopsided appointments and what people are saying, that it appears that some parts of the country are totally marginalised; if you take into cognizance the level of poverty in the land, deprivation, youth unemployment and insecurity, you will know that these can lead to war.
“If you look at what led to the civil war, it wasn’t as fierce as what we have now. Again, if you look at the things that were responsible for military take-over of government in Nigeria in those days, they were as serious as what is happening now. Maybe the military has been cowed, added to the fact that the military rule is no longer tolerated anywhere by the international community.”
Shehu Sani, chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, lent his voice to the growing feeling of disappointment with the government and took a swipe at the panel investigating the Fulani herdsmen’s killings across the country.
Sani, senator representing Kaduna Senatorial District, urged President Buhari’s administration to stop protecting Fulani herdsmen, saying their murderous attacks on farmers in various parts of the country have eroded the integrity of the government.
“The mass murder in Southern Kaduna, Taraba, Benue, Numan and other affected places are an unpardonable and despicable crime. These killings and bloodletting threaten the peace, stability and unity of our country,” Sani said.
He urged political leaders to urgently confront the herdsmen, adding that repeated condolences will not end the bloodshed.
“Every attack erodes the credibility and integrity of the present administration and every drop of blood stains the conscience of all men in the position of power. Enough blood has been spilt by herdsmen to stain the Rivers of Niger and Benue. Mr President, there are vultures flying over the heads, the villages and communities of our people,” he stated.
The senator argued that no government policy or programme is more important than human lives and urged the government to stop protecting, pampering, paying, politicizing and prevaricating on the herdsmen.
“This is not the time for diplomacy and courtesy. This is the time to provide leadership for a nation that is in a national emergency and national distrust. There is something that I like with the presidency. When it comes to the issue of directing attacks to the National Assembly, they do not in any way curtail, reduce or suppress any of the missiles. But when it comes to our turn to point the finger where the problem is, you will see some form of cowardice, escapism and people who try to water-down issues,” he said.
Sani noted that things are not going right in the country and Nigeria is failing.
“People are dying in their thousands, kidnappings, bloodshed in their thousands from Zamfara to Kaduna to Taraba to Benue to Plateau to Nasarawa State. We are all here shifting blames and trying to evade the truth. We can’t solve this problem. Nigerian political class and politicians are more interested in the 2019 general election than the lives of our people.
“We have reached a point that people have lost hope in the government. We are here trying to massage egos; we do not want to confront the President because people want to come back to the 9th Senate. They do not want to lose their tickets while people are being killed in this country,” he said.
Malachy Ugwumadu, a legal practitioner, however, contended that the claim of growing resentment against the president was subjective.
He attributed the dwindling popularity of the president to the inability of his government to speedily address the challenges inherited from the previous administration.
“It is subjective to say there is growing resentment against the president. You will recall that in 2015 there was high expectation arising from the abysmal failure of PDP-led government in the hand of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. That created a vacuum that needed to be filled and it was expected that Buhari would speedily address those challenges. That alone meant that the expectation was not just high, Nigerians were desperate to see it fulfilled instantaneously. The general disposition is that he has goodwill. That goodwill needed to be matched with actions and quickly. But he started dissipating the goodwill when he didn’t respond as speedily as the Nigerian people needed.
“The second important element is security. The welfare of the people and security of lives is the primary purpose of the government. The jobs are not trickling in as they claimed. Security-wise, as they are plugging the holes in the North-east, the bubble is bursting almost simultaneously in other parts of the country. People are getting killed daily, allegedly by herdsmen and we are all romanticizing, without putting in actions in terms of deterrent and punishment for those perceived to have done that,” he said.
He urged the President to sit up and assert himself.
“People voted for Buhari because they saw integrity, they saw a strength of character, they saw a determination to at least fix the collapsed structure and saw raw determination drawn from his antecedent to right the wrongs.
“But when all these are not happening; jobs are lost in droves, lives are becoming short, brutish and nasty, which precisely is what cost Jonathan his presidency arising from the incidence of Boko Haram, apart from his very weak position on corruption, people will begin to reconsider their options,” he said.
A commentator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the feeling of discontent was not a question of the most things going to the North but about the most things going to the Fulani of the North.
“Aside from that, the average Nigerian is suffering more than he had suffered before. There is so much anguish in the land and the President doesn’t seem to bother about it. There has been suggestion everywhere on how things can get better but he doesn’t seem to care. Killings in Nigeria now can only be likened to what is happening in Rwanda. It is insulting and provocative to hear that he is going for a second term,” he said.
On social media, there have been calls by different groups on Nigerians to go get their permanent voter cards (PVCs) and get ready to speak with their votes in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.
Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, who believes Nigeria needs a drastic shift in its perception of what its political responsibilities are, has popularized the Office of the Citizen, urging citizens, irrespective of socio-political leanings, to act by getting their PVCs and giving #RedCardtoAPCandPDP.
In a series of threads (stringed posts), Ezekwesili said Nigerians groaned in 2015 and made a decision. The same is happening now and will reflect in 2019 and this is because of a failure in leadership.
“What should people do to leaders that only make them groan? Serve them a #RedCardToAPCAndPDP!!!” she tweeted.
“Do you know that Citizens are supposed to be powerful in a democracy? Yes! We hire those who lead us by voting for them. Our Citizens’ Movement @RedCardMng will be offering Nigerian Citizens the tools to use in deciding the quality of leaders they will elect.”
Ezekwesili said it was necessary for citizens to carry out their responsibilities effectively by using Citizenship Leadership Appraisal Tool to rank governors, lawmakers in their respective states as well as Abuja and the president to see if they passed – the leaders will be scored on character, competence and capacity.
“In a democracy, active citizens do not look on like mumus and leave political parties to present them, bad candidates, to vote for.
“Parties outside of APC & PDP should get ready to have their candidates face citizens before the elections in nationwide #CredibleLeadersScreening sessions for all offices in the 2019 elections. We the #OfficeOfTheCitizen will use our # LeadershipPreQualificationTool to screen.
“Some are saying, ‘leave those #RedCard people to be dreaming. What do they know about politics? What structure do they have, How about the people in the north?’ We @RedCardMng respond: Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. Then we think, work and walk!” she tweeted.
While the Red Card Movement has received some flaks, it is also gaining mass followership (with almost 3,000 followers in less than a month). In many quarters, more attention is being paid to citizens obtaining and also exercising their voting rights with the use of their PVCs.
Leaders in some places of worship have made obtaining a PVC mandatory to the point where a member can be disallowed into the fellowship until they get one. A particular individual even took to a social media to inform that his place of worship has made arrangements for a bus shuttle to convey members to obtain their PVCs every Wednesday.
Indeed, it is no longer business as usual as many citizens are becoming awake to their responsibility and to the fact that they can actually make a difference because their votes count.
“We @RedCardMng shall mobilise citizens nationwide to use our tools and become deciders of the quality of leaders that will govern them well. That’ll bring peace, prosperity and progress to Nigeria and every one of us. No more choosing the ‘Better of 2 evils’,” Ezekwesili admonished.
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