Problems Of Nigeria Are OBJ, IBB, TYD, AAA, PJG, Et Al, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman
Like a ray of sun emerging from the morning dew, the trouble with Nigeria; that has held it down from forging ahead in developmental stride, is coming out somewhat gradually. The gradual emergence of the ‘trouble with Nigeria’ is turning out as a big surprise to many who had all along taken certain variations for granted.
Of course, with the recent open and unabashed declaration of war, via what clearly was HATE SPEECH, in Taraba state, by the former Nigerian Defence minister, retired Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (TYD), the country is discovering its enemies, most of who incidentally participated in executing the civil war to keep it united. In fact, it is now easy for one to place T. Y Danjuma among the past leaders of the country that are out to destroy this House for reasons that mostly border on selfishness, bigotry, superiority complex and haughtiness.
Indeed, T.Y Danjuma has joined the group made up of their Monitor, Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), Professor Jerry Gana (PJG), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (AAA) and their likes, including foot soldiers.
These old, I dare say, disused leaders, who are supposed to be the guiding light for the nation’s development, have now been exposed by the providence as irritants, pursuing personal interests and other interests that have nothing to do with the interest of the nation.
OBJ, who has since assumed the position of ‘monitor’, dictating who should be the President and who should not, and for how long such person should remain as President, has continued to cling to Nigeria as if without him Nigeria cannot stand as a country. He is now famous for writing letter condemning the reigning President, after hailing such President to power at initial stage. To him, no person should or can do two terms in office as President, just as a way of proving that after him, no one is good enough to right the wrongs of the country beyond one term.
The reputation of IBB has obviously tumbled down from being a Maradona, through dribbling everybody, to the point where he was dribbled out of office, and ever since, has been seeking for political relevance by joining force with OBJ to decide what Nigeria and Nigerians should be in their mind eyes. In most cases, it is in his Hilltop mansion in Minna, the Niger Sate capital that others like him gather every four years when the elections are approaching, to try to redesign Nigeria of their dream or choose the President they are happy with.
Professor Jerry Gana, on his part, has always made sure that he is properly placed to benefit from where the bread is buttered. It doesn’t matter if in grabbing the bread Nigeria is thrown into the Atlantic Ocean. He is so desperate about floating in the air with enormous resources that it doesn’t matter to him who is in the leadership saddle.
As a matter of fact, Gana has been seen as a dangerous reptile that infiltrates other people’s religions just so as to destroy the country, while he plays an Ostrich game. History is indeed, developing around this attitudinal disposition of his, which will one day manifest.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s ambition to become the President of this country has obviously ran him mad, so much that he is not only amassing mad and unquantifiable wealth, but embarks on destroying anyone, just anyone that stands between him and fulfillment of such vaulting ambition. Stories are going round, and may soon become public about the deadly role he allegedly played in the ill health that took President Muhammadu Buhari out for several weeks on medical attention in London.
It is on record how he also played dangerous political game against his erstwhile boss, Olusegun Obasanjo, with whom, ironically, he is in the same dangerous political camp now.
And, now, T.Y Danjuma’s declaration of war, by urging his Taraba State people to take arms against the arm bandits and the Nigerian soldiers, surprised many of his admirers, including yours sincerely. The unfolding facts and his recent alignment with such deflated leaders as IBB and OBJ, have proved that he has all along been a wild and dangerous hyena walking the streets in sheep’s clothing.
Information has it that before he shamelessly asked his tribesmen to take up arms against other Nigerians and the military officers, he and his cohorts have already ordered or in possession of large cache of sophisticated weapons, to be distributed to his army; these are the children of the poor in Taraba, who he never gave any succor in their hours of genuine needs, even as he ferries his over-pampered children and family out of the trouble zones into Europe to enjoy the mansion and Nigerian money he stashed away there.
These handful Nigerians, who are supposed to be grateful to the country for the opportunities offered them to be what they are today, and join hands with the leaders in the saddle to correct the mistakes they made or blunders they committed in the past that has led the country down this shameful abyss, have instead constituted themselves into an institution simply to chase away any leader after them that fail to tow their defined lines or who dares to mess up with their interests and their investments.
The baffling thing is that retired General Yakubu Gowon, who is supposed and actually qualified to be regarded as father of the nation; a gentleman to the core, who at the age of 32, led the country through the 30-month civil war to keep Nigeria one and united; a man who is well educated (with PhD) and highly intelligent, has remained quiet while these ‘busy body’ past leaders continue to ride on the back of tiger as if without them, there would be no Nigeria. Dr. Yakubu Gowon has maintained his dignity and organized Prayer Group (an NGO) to continually pray for peace to reign in the country, believing in the truism that every leader has his focus, different from any other one, on how to move the country forward.
In fact, the America, whose system of democratic government Nigeria has been trying to imitate, has never produced such a scenario in which the past leaders keep dictating to the reigning President on how to develop the country. Since Ronald Reagan, Senior and junior Bush, Bill Clinton and recently, Barak Obama left white House as Presidents, we have never heard any of them writing letter or even addressing news men or issuing statement on what President Trump is doing, whether it is right or not right. That is in spite of the numerous political somersault President Trump had made.
It is really ironic that IBB and OBJ in particular, who tried and sweat profusely to cling to power for life, are the same that are breathing down the neck of every other President that ascended the leadership, pronouncing them failures and offering to bring another person to lead.
Of course, since these group of parasitic leaders have been identified as the major sociopolitical and economic problems of Nigeria, there is need to find solution to their antics, and if it were not that we are in democracy, where even the lunatic has a say, it would have been convenient for one to suggest Jerry Rawlings formula for the country to breath fresh air.
Too bad we have to continue to live with them and their blind supporters.[myad]
Danjuma: When Truth Becomes The Enemy, By Musa Simon Reef
On 24th March, 2018, former Defence Minister, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (retd), called on defenceless Nigerians to stand up against murderous attacks from armed bandits in the country. Apart from accusing the nation’s Armed Forces of colluding with these armed bandits that have left trails of blood and hair-rising destruction in various states of the federation, the retired military officer called on Nigerians to defend themselves.
Danjuma’s call was coming on the trail of the Dapchi saga that left several questions unanswered in the manner no fewer than 110 students were abducted, and about 104 returned by a faction of Boko Haram. Various reactions to Danjuma’s call by Nigerians only serve to reveal the underbelly of a nation incapable of rising up in unity to confront a collective tragedy.
Hate or love him, the Mambilla General epitomises the leadership of non-core Northerners. For several years, he was the figure behind rallying the Northern minorities for political engagements. In him, most, if not all, non-Muslims of Northern extraction won’t dare to challenge his concern for the descendants of Pastor David Obadiah Vrengkat Lot and ace-politician Joseph Sarwuan Tarka in forging the Middle Belt dream.
Nearly three years after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed reins of power, Benue State has become a theatre of constant bloodshed that later became the global cynosure of suspected herdsmen’s brutalities, following the burial of 73 state indigenes killed by the murderous gang. The peace on the Plateau is still fragile, just as the southern axis of Kaduna state has become a zone for intermittent massacres. Adamawa state has not been spared the excesses and agony of armed bandits’ killing spree. Taraba that was once peaceful has become a theatre of killings, with each side in the conflict claiming victimhood. What can one say of Nasarawa State? Its border towns and of late, Kogi state, that have been caught in the fray against their will. Where there is no war, tension now holds sway. For now, the atmosphere has become so thick and cloudy, threatening to rain blood and death.
For many, including yours sincerely, the former Defence Minister’s call is not novel. In the heat of the Boko Haram crisis in 2014, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, had called on Nigerians to brace up for self-defence. Prominent Nigerians, including Professor Itse Sagay and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, among others, have called on Nigerians to rise up for self-defence. Quoting relevant sections of the constitution, they have declared that the right to self-defence is enshrined in the country’s constitution.
For the reticent General, who has been a major player in events that have shaped the nation, his call has re-awaken the ghost of the past and the role he played in the murder of General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi. Those who are still pained by the gory details of that bloody coup have simply dismissed Taraba-born General as bereft of moral grounds.
For those who see nothing wrong in the current campaign to decimate local communities through what has become known as herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, Danjuma should be charged for inspiring insurrection. Considering his status as a statesman, they reason, he ought not to have said what he said. Some simply alleged that he has become so broke and unhappy under the present government headed by President Buhari and is therefore venting his pent-up anger.
For those conversant with the personality of this one-time Chief of Army Staff, his outburst at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University is consistent with his character. Not a flippant speaker, but when he speaks, he ruffles feathers. He hates politics and deceit and cannot afford to speak tongue in cheek. He has taken so much heat for the North, and those close to him are quick to tell you that he is at pains over the happenings in the North, and more stymied at the absence of urgency in tackling the menace of armed bandits. Danjuma is not someone you can reduce to an ethnic or religious bigot. Little wonder he holds a traditional title of the Zauzau Emirate.
In the contraption of attacks against the reired General, none has faulted his message that Nigerians are under attacks from armed bandits. What some have expressed concern is in the manner he sent the message. Some have alleged that because the ODI and ZAKI Biam killings by the state when he served as Minister of Defence, he stands bereft of any moral high ground to say what he said.
To those disagreeing with the former army boss, it is okay for defenceless Nigerians to go on their knees as rampaging armed bandits slit throats of men and women, behead them, rape their women and turned their thriving communities into rubbles of horrifying inferno. To some pro-Buhari groups, social media hawks and analysts, the former Defence Minister must be sacrificed for daring to speak on an issue that has the potentials of balkanizing Nigeria. In painting Danjuma as an enemy of the Buhari Government, they fail to realize that the retired General contributed financially for the emergence of ‘Sai Baba’ in 2015.
In the heat of Boko Haram insurgence in the North-east, the Civilian JTF groups were formed in Borno and Adamawa states to assist the military tackle the matter. IDP camps were also established to cater for the needs of the displaced. The questions are: Why is the military opposed to the formation of Civilian JTF to complement the workings of the Armed Forces in most of the North-central states affected by herdsmen attacks? Why is there no single IDP camp in the southern part of Kaduna state after the killings of several hundreds by suspected herdsmen?
For those alleging that the former Army Chief was calling for ethnic insurrection, I am yet to know which ethnic group is known by the appellation of ‘armed bandits.’ For alleging that the nation’s Armed Forces are colluding with these armed bandits, it is left for the relevant authorities to probe these allegations in order to unravel the truth. Attacking Danjuma and labeling him with epithets that are denigrating does not take away the substance of his declaration.
Danjuma’s assertion has shown that the House, once built by Sardauna, is seriously harangued by forces threatening to destroy its fragile unity. The controversy over the Danjuma’s comments stems from our inability to accept and walk through the dark tunnels of truth. A society that terrorizes the bearer of truth and at the same time rewards agents of terror has a long way to go in ensuring justice for its citizens. For a nation that abhors speakers of truth, the man who speaks the truth becomes the enemy that should either be maligned or crushed or made a laughing stock.
Former President of United States of America, Joseph F Kennedy, once said, “A nation that is afraid to let its people judge its truth and falsehoods in an open market is afraid of its people.” When a nation enthrones double standards against its own citizens, the silence of those who matter becomes a betrayal.
For those who think the current challenge of insecurity will fizzle out; they sure are thinking wrongly. For the current killings to be stopped, we must accept the fact that we are faced with a greater problem that is complex than it seems. We must be willing to accept the truth and walk the painful requirements in retrieving our nation from agents of terror whose exploits have placed our nation on the cliff.
Reef is editor-in-chief of Forefront, and can be reached on: simonreef927@gmail.com. [myad]