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