Senator Abbo: A Depressing Spectacle

Senator Abbo: A Depressing Spectacle

SENATOR ABBO

Senator Elisha Abbo, a couple weeks, back found it irresistible to assault a mother in a sex toyshop while he was drunk. The video, which received wide circulation in the media, was sad to watch. In a single video, an observant citizen can see all that is wrong with Nigeria.

First, there is the inebriated representative of the state (a senator no less), then a police officer, who is supposed to protect the people and common citizens trying to make ends meet in their place of business. The senator, hiding behind the royalty that the country's leaders have become assaulted a nursing mother in full public view for daring to calm a belligerent situation initiated by him. After shamelessly slapping the hapless woman around, Abbo then ordered his police orderly to arrest her on the spot for a crime that is still unclear. Maybe she forgot that mortals don't speak when gods are throwing childish tantrums.

If you are reading this as a Nigerian, it is evident that the value of your citizenship may depend on the whims of a state official backed by force and not the constitution.  The story of the assault by senator Abbo clearly shows that our lawmakers are some of the most lawless groups in the country. These political misfits are aided by policemen, soldiers and the interpreters of the law to destroy what little rights the constitution guarantees citizens. The clear reason why there is so much banditry, robbery, kidnappings and sundry crimes in Nigeria is simply this: our leaders do not care and law enforcement officers think only of survival, not protecting the people. In fact, evidence suggests that crimes in the country are aided and abetted by law enforcement while state officials turn blind or drunken eyes. The state is silent or languid in combating crimes unless it affects officials directly, or their expatriate business partners. Because they are concerned about survival, law enforcement tends to protect and do the biddings of the leaders at all costs as uniformed thugs and area boys for simple bread. Protecting society does not bring in much so they extort the people and sometimes kill or maim those who refuse.  

When arresting ordinary citizens, especially if carrying out orders from "above", the Nigerian police are at their worst best because they know the victims are totally helpless. But when asked to do the real job of policing the society to reduce crimes, complaints about salaries and lack of weapons surface. The only weapon lacking in the arsenal of law enforcement in Nigeria is integrity not surface-to-air missiles or military grade assault rifles. With integrity and dedication to a just society, most miscreants will look for other jobs rather than risk arrest and jail. But a just society where our lawmakers are not gods is inimical to the ego of our leaders at various levels of society. They need orderlies, guards, errand boys, enforcers and sirens to survive and feel relevant in a royalist society such as ours. Because of the utter disregard for the rights of common people in Nigeria, it is easy to see why there are no good roads, dependable electricity supply, well-funded primary education, healthcare and infrastructure or equal right and justice before the law. Politicians are versed in the art of tokenism to win elections and feeling good about themselves for providing what is a right (not privilege) of the people.

What happened in that shop last week is a microcosm of what the citizens of Nigeria endure everyday while trying to make a living in a moribund country. But any hope of Nigeria's renaissance and progress hinges on protecting people such as that nursing mother and making her feel she can live and contribute without fear to a country currently ruled by drunk lawmakers and pitifully subservient law enforcement officers.

jrotimibgood@gmail.com

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PMB: A General On Paper

Nigerian Cabinet Meeting Picture

 

In the chequered history of Nigeria, there has never been such an egregious assault on national security such as obtains currently in the country. Buhari campaigned on the promise that he would be different from his predecessor by tackling the security problems facing the country and dealing with corruption. But on both scores Buhari has failed woefully. The reason for this failure is simple: the current president of Nigeria is neither a patriot nor a nationalist; he is even less of a soldier.  In fact, the man has no real vision other than promoting an obdurate religious, ethnic and cabal-dominated irresponsibility against the Nigerian state where Hausa/Fulani oligarchical agenda of dominance of the middle belt and southern states of Nigeria is de rigueur. 

Buhari has been the most ill-prepared and ill-suited head of state to date. He does no justice to his profession as a soldier and his bigotry is so obvious that those who follow him do so for selfish reasons. Without the energy or dream of a Nigerian renaissance, it is easy to see why a vicious self-interested cabal has taken over from a president who spent nearly half a year in a foreign hospital but still thinks he is president of a sovereign country. Without equivocation, Buhari does not have what it takes to lead almost 200 million people in this century and his continuous occupation of the office of president may not be divorced from the fact that Nigeria operates on political autopilot that is dominated by ethnic, religious and military apologists. Leaders, both elected and appointed throughout the strata of our national life maintain these existential paradigms. It has been difficult to change the narrative because since our paper independence the current national ethos and leadership have danced (with benefits) to the beat of the world neo-liberal and neo-colonial superstructure.

Boy Scouts have a motto: "Be Prepared".  But a soldier of Buhari's standing (or sitting) certainly has not acted prepared as a "General". He gives the idea of a "quota General" a new meaning.  He is always languid to constitute his cabinet and when he manages to accomplish this elementary task, nothing extraordinary is accomplished. But the "cabinet", filled with praise singers and disinterested courtiers tell Nigerians how fortunate they are to have such an incorruptible leader. They say this with such gravitas as if Nigeria's leaders are expected to be corrupt and Buhari is a god-sent exception. But the fact that corruption and lack of accountability still goes on under his leadership means that corruption has an unquestionable Buharic subtheme. You are corrupt if you oppose the government but angelic if you help propose its most harebrained ideas.

On the question of security, how do you explain the sacking of military bases by a "degraded" Boko Haram who now supposedly attack "soft" targets? Even if the government is given the benefit of doubt; are soft targets not Nigerians? Are soft targets so expendable that a clueless former "General" is okay with jaded, incoherent, interlocutions while most communities in the country daily fear for their lives? Herdsmen killings, faceless banditry, kidnappings, genocides and mass rapes have rendered communities vulnerable, resulting in millions of internally displaced persons - without a formal war. And yet, we have one of the largest standing armies in Africa. But unfortunately, some members of the Nigerian army consists of ill-trained, criminal and morale-deficient buffoons who are quick to brutally suppress or kill civilians while going to extremes to avoid defending the Nigerian state. 

When there are protests in the South East of Nigeria over the inequities apparent in our polity, the army carries out "operations" against peaceful protesters. These "operations" invariably leads to massacres of innocent Nigerians. Today, a big chunk of our national wealth goes to subsidize the army without tangible achievement in ensuring national security. Because of the unstated agenda of total dominion of the central parts of Nigeria who are not of the Hausa/Fulani stock there is evidence that members of the army and police contribute to violence in these areas by inaction when minorities are being attacked and helping to suppress self-defence.  It is also evident that Boko Haram could not be this powerful and seemingly invincible without some support and a hidden agenda that necessitates their existence by the northern elite (both civilian and military) and their foreign backers. And they do have an enabling "General" in PMB - a perverted ethnic and religious jingoist who has voiced his support for Boko Haram in the past while condemning government action against the sect.

In the eighties, Buhari described Nigeria as a '…a great country in chains". In this decade, Buhari has bound the country with stronger chains and thrown the nation into solitary confinement. In a genuine democracy, the failure of PMB to manage the security challenges in the country was enough to derail his second coming. How can a former "General" preside over the travesty the present Nigerian security apparatus has become? PMB is a symptom of our collective herd-mentality where intelligent and deliberate evaluation of the country's progress is stymied by selfish ambition, coupled with ethnic and religious emotionalism.

jrotimibgood@gmail.com