The Lord is my Strength: Osamudiamen Ikhide

Osamudiamen. Enosamudiana Ekhide.: The Lord is My Strength and I am Unconquerable. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the ...

BURATAI: Debating the Disappearing Morale Within the Rank and File of our Armed Forces at the Combat Zones.

“It is unfortunate, but the truth is that almost every setback the Nigeria army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks.” The alleged laziness of soldiers could also be traced to “simply insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by those at the frontlines,” That was Mr. Buratai, courtesy of the Premium Times of June 19, 2019, quoting the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Another Self-indictment and he is still on the job. That Mr. Buratai no longer enjoys the respect and confidence of the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces is an understatement. His latest outing is a vote of no confidence on himself and on the Service Chiefs.

If our soldiers at the front-line of attacks are failing in their mission and unwilling to perform assigned tasks, it manifests some disturbing facts: the inadequacies and insufficient strategic combat wisdom of Mr. Buratai and a total rejection of the entire leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces by the rank and file of our Armed Forces.

As the situation deteriorates beyond Buratai's capacity, President Buhari, if he is alive to his responsibilities as the Command in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is now left with two options: sack the entire Nigerian Armed Forces or sack the whole leadership of his Armed Forces and Security apparatus.

I have stated copiously in my past essays that it's not enough to populate the leadership cadre of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Security Networks with officers from the President's tribe (qualified or not) and expect total commitment from those contending dangerously with real conflicts at the combat zones. Why would they fight your war if they are not good enough to participate in making decisions about funding and the overall welfare of our men and women in uniforms?

Mr. President, you killed the morale of our soldiers. You destroyed the esprit de Corp within the Nigerian Armed Forces with your racial prejudice. Your ethnic and religious biases gave life to the "insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by those at the frontlines."

Your unwillingness to rise above religion; your reluctance to rise above tribal considerations in your appointment of Service Chiefs and promotions within the ranks in the Armed Forces have contributed immensely to the fatigue, real or imagined, confronting our soldiers at the frontlines today.

In the past few years, you have systematically and indiscriminately embarked on massive retirement campaign of some of the finest and brightest stars we have in the Armed Forces before they even attain their retirement age or years. And these victims are mostly Southerners.

The reasons for your discriminatory sacking and promotions are not far-fetched. One, you and your trusted tribal folks want to preempt the chances of Southerners rising through the ranks to the top positions in the Armed Forces. And two, you are apprehensive of the eventuality of another rebellious Major Gideon Orkar springing from the ranks to engineering a Military coup.

That premature retirement comes with a vacuum. We sacrifice experience and create disillusionment within the military. Because those at the front-lines who are not from the privileged tribe or region are watching. Knowing full well the extent of their limitations in the military career ranks, you don't expect them to show total commitment in fighting and dying over a war that is of huge commercial success for your folks. Whatever you do, don't agitate for patriotism, when you have no regards for equal rights and justice.

Today, innocent Nigerians are wasting their lives, paying the price of the dysfunction that resulted from the haphazard promotions and racially induced retirements within the Armed Forces.

While you and your trusted Chiefs are enjoying the comfort of your Abuja mansions and the luxury of the frequent UK and Dubai getaways, our soldiers in the front-line cannot defend themselves. The infiltration of the rank and file of the Nigerian Armed Forces by the members of the Boko Haram sect who your administration recruited into the Army in the last few years is endemic and packed with devastating impacts. While you are willing to appease the sect with unmerited enlistment opportunities and unearned compensations, our soldiers at the front-lines are contending with hunger and unserviceable weapons.

Thanks to your appeasement of the captured sect, our soldiers at the war front can no longer plan or devise any strategic maneuvering. They have no secret, no code, and no one to trust. Every now and then, they are ambushed and slaughtered like chicken because their movements, strategies and tactics are leaked to the Boko Haram leadership.

And you are here complaining about lack of morale, insufficient commitments and unwillingness to perform assigned tasks. Give me a break! I did warn a few months ago that it is not a Hausa/Fulani Armed Forces after all, but the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where are we today?

Mr. Buratai should do the right thing: resign. By his actions and pronouncements in the past few years, he has demonstrated beyond every reasonable doubt that he is not fit to lead the Nigerian Armed Forces. He has no understanding of his assigned task, and he lacked the strategic wherewithal to execute the little that he knows. 

Above all, the trust factor is gone, and our men and women in uniforms have no regards for him, his leadership, and authority anymore. If he is having difficulties digesting the import of his recent outing, I will assist him. It is called indictment and a guilty verdict. He should resign. Period.

PREMIUMTIMESNG.COM

Again, Buratai blames Nigerian soldiers for unending Boko Haram war - Premium Times Nigeria

Tukur Buratai has again lampooned Nigerian soldiers for allegedly failing to curb Boko Haram and other security challenges that have dogged the country.

INEC vs INEC: How Professor Mahmood Yakubu of INEC Killed a "Brand" Nigerians Were Eager to Celebrate.

This is a story of how INEC and its team developed a laudable scientific formula to conduct free and fair elections in Nigeria, but somewhere along the line, the Chairman developed cold fit at the instance of the godfather of election manipulation and allegedly scuttled the idea. Overnight, he became a major critic of his own invention.

I am reposting this Video for the second time because of the latest developments at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. INEC's major case before the Tribuna is that the deployment of Server during the election did not take place. That is also the case of the legal team of President Buhari.

The question remains: why the emphasis on the Central Server. And why is the deployment or the lack of it so important? Please, watch the video playing below.

These people - INEC Chairman and his team - had a dream to do what is right for Nigerians and conduct a free and fair election. In furtherance of that dream, they came up with the idea of electronic transmission of vote counts from all voting locations throughout Nigeria knowing full well that the manipulation and corruption of vote counts do take place between the voting centers and the collation centers. And they went about acquiring and updating all the necessary gadgets and software to ensure the process went smoothly. Once again, see the video, because it speaks for itself.

The Chairman of INEC knew very well that if he testifies that indeed electronic collation did take place during the Presidential election, Atiku would be able to prove his case handily. Because the records are readily available via the Central Server.

That is the major reason that Professor Mahmood Yakubu is singing a different song, to wit, there was no server on standby during the election. Therefore, there was no electronic transmission of vote counts.

The Chairman of INEC and the Presidency did not prepare for litigation or expect that Mr. Atiku Abubakar would go to the Tribunal to seek redress. Confronted with that reality of losing big at the Tribunal, the best they could do was to kill the case mathematically rather than legally - frustrate electronic transmission.

In spite of the behind the scene machinations of the Comrade and the show of shame of the Professor, the Atiku/Obi team has been able to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that :

(1) INEC rigged the election and cooked the results in favor of President Buhari, 

(2) That Atiku/Obi had a significantly higher number of vote counts than President Buhari, 

(3) That the results were transmitted Electronically by INEC agents to the Central Server consistent with instructions and training provided by INEC Agents before the election, and 

(4) That INEC Servers were indeed in full deployment during the Presidential election.

On the other hand, the Presidential legal team and INEC Lawyers have not been able to prove that the election was not rigged or that Atiku/Obi did not score a decisive win.

Their case from day one are (1) there was no Central Server, (2) there wasn't electronic transmission of votes during the election, and (3) even if there was, there is no law authorizing INEC to embrace or adopt electronic transactions of vote counts in Nigeria during the Presidential election.

The position of INEC Chairman is consistent with the case of the APC lawyers - there was no Central Server at all during the Presidential election.

In both arguments, INEC and the APC Lawers have been proven wrong by Atiku/Obi legal team. About three witnesses testified that they transmitted the votes recorded at their polling stations Electronically to the Central office Server as they were trained to do before the Presidential election. Secondly, logistically, INEC does not need any law to guide it on what to do to ensure a watertight free and fair election.

As the case stands today, it doesn't matter how many agents testify that they did transmit their vote counts to the Central Server Electronically. What is relevant is whether or not INEC has active server during the Presidential election. And the answer is yes, whether or Chairman Mahmood Yakubu is willing to agree. The Tribal should not trust this Chairman and the Lawyers representing the President, because their stories have changed so many times. Each time they are caught in their lies, they would come up with a different story.

With the electronic transmission of votes, Comrade Adam Oshiomole would not have been able to cook the Edo State Gubernatorial election in favor of his anointed candidate a few years ago. And it is the Edo State model they replicated in the Presidential election. No man or woman can stop the Comrade in votes manipulation industry. Only electronic transmission can. Now you know why Professor Lack-of-Integrity is having difficulties subscribing to a laudable model he developed for INEC and for the rest of the world.

Whether he likes it or not, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has set himself up for criminal prosecution. if not now, but somewhere some days ahead.

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The Dereliction of the National Stadium, Abuja, and The Exigency of Decentralization of Power in Nigeria!

The complexities inherent in the governance of Nigeria as a sovereign nation-state as we have experienced over the years makes distorted federalism (the unitary model) expendable. Each day, the Federal Government is becoming larger in size and scope. And the accompanying responsibilities are simultaneously becoming overwhelmingly enormous; thus, surpassing the administrative capacity and managerial expertise of the trusted few vested with power and duties at Abuja. Therefore, making the needs for decentralization of power and authorities from the over-bloated central government to the component states and regional councils a compelling consideration.

On June 12, 2019, President Buhari renamed the National Stadium at Abuja as MKO Abiola National Stadium in commemoration of the aborted June 12, 1993, Presidential election, won by the former Aare-Ano-Kakanfo of Yoruba land. This short essay is not about that frustrated mandate. It is about the derelict condition of the National Stadium named after him and the exigency of True Federalism.

If it were not for that honor bestowed on MKO Abiola by President Buhari, Nigerians would not have known about the absurdity defining our number one national sporting edifice. That stadium cost us Three Hundred and Sixty Million US Dollars ($360,000,000.00) in construction. Gigantic as it is, it is now of spurious value just like most others before it.

Just a few days ago, the outgoing Minister for Youth and Sport, Mr. Solomon Dalung, boasted that no Nigerian born of a woman can stop him from serving again in the new administration of President Buhari. And that is the guy who presided over the Ministry of Sport for four years under whose management the National Stadium rotted away, unutilized.

The story of the old National Stadium, Surulere, is the same story being told about the National Arts Theater and the Abuja National Stadium, now MKO National Stadium. And it is a vivid portrayal of the state of our institutions and infrastructural facilities all over Nigeria. These institutions and facilities have outgrown the capacity of the trusted privileged few in terms of management and administration acumen. Which makes a case for Decentralization of Power and True Federalism unavoidably expedient.

The situation is made worse when you have a President and his trusted lieutenants who do not know who is who outside the realm of power at Abuja. Making one man the head of three Federal Ministries (Works, Power, and Housing) in four years, when you have thousands of highly qualified Nigerians wasting away unengaged, is the height of disconnect. Four years later, the Minister didn't know what to do with the two most important Federal Highways in Lagos State, his own state.

With the picture of the MKO Stadium, you don't need to be told that the Federal Government and its trusted and privileged confidants cannot adequately manage our institutions. This is not merely theoretical - the National Stadium Surulere and the National Stadium at Abuja are a vivid reminder of our greatness leaving us behind. The National Arts Theater at Iganmu Lagos is a national disgrace. The Lagos/Badagry Expressway manifests indolent and capitulation. They just gave up. 

What about Apapa Wharf? Why the congestion? Is Lagos the only Coastal town in Nigeria? Nigerians want to work. The Nigerian Federal Government is not thinking correctly, and Abuja doesn't know what to do to put Nigerians back to work. The resources are there. The capable hands are there. But the great minds to harness and deploy these resources and outstanding Nigerians effectively are missing in action. And that is the hallmark of institutional decay.

President Buhari is an Oligarch, surrounded by an air of mystery and mini-oligarchs. These mini-oligarchs are in turn surrounded by autocratic greedy political careerists, answerable to no one. And as long as the oil wealth remains in their exclusive control they have nothing to lose doing little or doing nothing at all. No one expects you to be a superstar or a super brain in leadership approach. But as a leader, you are expected to know where you are lacking in ideas and visions. It is your ability as a leader to identify those with the requisite ideas or visions to occupy that vacuum for you and do the right thing makes for good leadership. Papa Awo surrounded himself, not just with people he could trust, but visionary guys who were not afraid to push him and tell him what to do to ensure the fulfillment of his set goals.

Finally, I did not use the term "Restructuring" for obvious reasons. It comes with enormous baggage. And it is easily misunderstood and resented by the stakeholders and the major antagonists of the Sovereign National Conference. In their opinion, the term "Restructuring" is synonymous with Disintegration of Nigeria. The term is gaining traction though because Nigerians like fancy words and complicated terms. It is the opaqueness of the term that makes the evolution of Decentralization of Power and True Federalism unsolvable riddle. Also, about 95% of those calling for Restructuring cannot write more than a sentence on what the term connotes. Therefore, let's shift our focus and concentrate on True Federalism and Decentralization of Power that is understandable to all. Call it Devolution of Power, if you like, it makes sense as well. Restructuring, on the other hand, has on numerous occasions, interpreted as the commencement of the Disintegration of Nigeria through the back door. And that's a significant drawback. Thank you.

Governor El'Rufai and the Repugnancy of the "Religious Preaching Regulation Law" (2019) of Kaduna State.

As you are embroiled in the euphoria of Senator Lawan and Senator Omo-Agege emerging as President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively, Governor El'rufai of Kaduna State, is left unhinged, celebrating his invisibility, tampering and abridging your religious freedom and the rights to worship and serve your God in Kaduna State. This is a total violation of your constitutional rights, protected under section 38(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I know that most of you are averse to reading long essays on social media. And I also know that the majority of us are not religious leaders or preachers of the gospel or reside in Kaduna State. Be that as it may, do know right now that it is forbidden or against the law in Kaduna State for any anyone to preach the gospel or propagate his faith in the open, consistent with the fundamental objectives of section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

In addition, to be able to operate a place of worship in Kaduna State, you would have to first obtain a license from a committee set up by El'Rufai - a committee, whose decision is final. Mr. El'Rufai and his religious Mullahs are taking us to the stone-age era. They are questioning your freedom to serve God in your own way.

Lastly, for those of you who are adversely critical of religious leaders in your comments, your time is up. Whatever you say or write against a religious leader now can land you in jail or subject you to a fine.  This is not a joking matter; it is a timely warning to all Nigerians. Your fundamental rights and the right to worship and serve your God the way you want is under threat. 

Please, don't be persuaded by the emphasis on Noise by the drafter. Governor El'Rufai and his enablers are selling you a dummy. The "Religious Preaching (Regulation) Law" of 2019 of Kaduna State is totally and unequivocally repugnant. There is nowhere in a modern democracy where religious freedom is regulated. It is Kaduna State today, it may be your state tomorrow. Remember Zamfara State and Sharia Law.

Please, find below, the "Religious Preaching (Regulation) Law," 2019 of Kaduna State. It is followed immediately by section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, which deals with Religious Freedom. 

Features of the "Religious Preaching (Regulation Law" of 2019 of the Kaduna State
1. Preachers must be licensed.

2. Establishes the State Interfaith Religious Council as a 14-member charged with issuance of licences to religious preachers based on recommendations from the Local Government Interfaith Committee. This Council will have two members each representing the Christian and Muslim faiths, along with public servants and representatives of the police, the DSS, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the State Vigilance Service.

3. The Interfaith Committee in every local government will be an 18-member body with powers to consider, screen and recommend to the State Interfaith Regulatory Council all applications for the grant of license to religious preachers. Membership will include five representatives each of the Christian and Muslim faiths, officials of the security agencies and two representatives of the traditional institution in that local government area. The Local Government Interfaith Committee may issue preaching permits for invited or sponsored preachers for the duration of the programme or event. It will also monitor compliance with the terms of the preaching licenses or permits that have been issued.

4. Defines a designated place of worship as:

a. “A building constructed with permission sought for an obtained from the Kaduna State Urban Development and Planning Agency (KASUPDA) for the purpose of religious worship; or

b. “A building or place for which temporary permission has been sought for and obtained from the Nigerian Police for the purpose of carrying out a religious programme or event.”

5. Punishes the following offences:

a. Religious recordings on electronic devices can only be played in private homes or vehicles; inside the entrance porch of homes or in a church, mosque or designated place of worship;

b. Religious recordings using abusive language against any person or religious organisation or religious leaders is prohibited;

c. Any person who publicly insults or seeks to incite contempt of any religion by making a false statement in such a manner as to be likely to lead to a breach f the peace shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than five years or with a fine or both;

d. Unlawful destruction, damage or desecration of any place of worship or any place held sacred by any person or class of persons will attract a sentence of not more than five years’ imprisonment or fine of not less than N100,000.

e. Disturbance of the performance of religious worship or religious ceremony attracts a sentence of two years’ imprisonment or N100,000 fine or both.

f. Insulting the religion of another person, committing indignity on a corpse or disturbing a funeral ceremony will fetch the culprit two years’ imprisonment, a fine of N100,000, or both.

Please, find below, the "Freedom of Religion" section 38(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

1. Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice, and observance.

That's section 38 (1)1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian Constitution as Amended. The spirit and letter of Mallam El'Rufais Religious Preaching (Regulation) Law, 2019 of Kaduna State is in every form imaginable inconsistent with the legislative intent and overall import of section 38 of the 1999 Constitution. This essay is a timely warning to all Nigerians. 

Mallam El'Rufai is setting a dangerous precedent. Your FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS TO SERVE YOUR GOD THE WAY YOU WANT IS UNDER THREAT. Please, free your mind of the noise factor on the Bill; it is a dummy Mr. El'Rufai is selling to the public to buy their approval.  Please, don't be fooled, section 45 of the 1999 Constitution as amended does not provide cover for what El'Rufai is doing here.

There is nowhere in a modern democracy where religious freedom and the rights to worship are regulated. 

Under Governor Kwankwaso, they started the rituals of destroying Beers and Alcoholic drinks in Kano State, without paying compensations to the affected merchants. And just a few months ago, they went on the rampage, destroying night clubs and arresting strippers in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

You may think you don't belong to the list of the victims above and, therefore, not directly impacted. Think again; the intolerance is snowballing. The Boko Haram scourge was once a Borno/Adama/Yobe problem, but it is now a nation-wide problem. It is Kaduna State today, it may be your state tomorrow. Remember Zamfara State and Sharia Law. 

Usman dan Fodio and the Spirit of a Jihad Forgotten by Northern Political Leaders.

The famed Jihadist exploits credited to Usman dan Fodio in some parts of the West African region in late 1700, and early 1800 was not one ensconced solely in Islamization pursuit or agenda. And it wasn't a per se imposition of Sharia Law on the adherents of the Muslim faith he met in the course of his mission, either. He was a reformer in pursuit of enlightenment, and equal rights and justice for all.

He was against oppression and indiscriminate taxation of the less-privileged in the society. And he resented slavery and corruption within the local authority. In a nutshell, his espousal of the philosophy of puritanism, though symbolic of counter-culture, was most endearing and captivating. Indeed, he lived his words to the fullest, unlike the bogus prophets traversing our leadership corridors today.

He jettisoned a lifestyle he considered vulgar, replete with paganism and debauchery. His goal was not to spread his brand of Islam to fellow Muslims or to the non-believers. But in truth, sought to inspire faith and cleanse his host communities of the apostasy of the nonbelievers on the one hand, and the perversion of the Islamic faith by its leadership and adherents on the other.

Indeed, he was a Muslim, but in principle, he was a reformer. He was not motivated by greed or driven by capitalism or the theory of caste system. If Islam or Sharia law was involved in the struggle, it was simply a means of authority - how to govern.

His goal was not to subjugate but to invigorate renaissance, of idealism, rather than materialism. And that again remains a debate that may never end. 

His major short-coming, nevertheless, was the imposition of Fulani Emirs as rulers of the conquered territories, culminating in the near extinction of the Hausa culture in the North West and the Yoruba culture in the Middle Belt that he met on the ground.

After much studies on this man, I can only visualize him in the image and likeness of the late Aminu Kano, the last authentic Amistad of the Talakawa.

Today, all that is history, gone and completely forgotten in the Northern region of Nigeria. What Usman dan Fodio stood for, fought for, died with the passing of his great-grandson, Sir Alhmadu Bello.

In the past few years, the Miyetti Allah - Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, motivated by greed and the sights and sounds of one of their own as the President of Nigeria, has become more daring and ruthless. They are now the Lords of the Ring, the NRA of the American domestic politics.

While most African countries are embracing technological innovation and high-speed rail system, we are embroiled in a futile debate on whether to embrace modernized cattle ranching or allow Miyetti Allah to continue their destructive nomadic exploits

Enjoying the sponsorship of the faceless Cattle Merchants who command considerable influence in and out of the federal government, Miyetti Allah is unwilling to jettison the antediluvian Nomadic Cattle rearing culture that is transforming cultivated farmlands into battlefields. In the process, innocent blood is eating away our once vibrant and luxurious landscape.

Usman dan Fodio was a scholar and a distinguished author of many books. And he was an advocate of change. So, the question begs to ask: would Boko be Haramed under a Usman dan Fodio, the champion of change and enlightenment? Would Nomadic habit be the trend at the expense of mechanized ranching and popular education of the talakawa?

What about the Almajiri culture that Northern political leaders nurtured, tolerated, and continue to deploy as weapons of political destabilization and electoral fraud?

Everything going on right now in the North is inconsistent with what Usman dan Fodio stood for. You cannot love him and admire him, without loving and catering to the poor, fighting corruption, educating the less-privileged, and embracing the egalitarianism he championed throughout his life. He was against corruption and profligacy. You guys are not - you celebrate them. 

NIGERIA IS UNDER ATTACK BY CARDINAL ANTHONY OKOJIE

On a Monday in September 2015, former finance minister, Chief Olu Falae was on his farm in Ilado near Akure when some armed men came looking for him. At gunpoint, they abducted him and held him until the following Thursday. At the age of 77, he was made to walk several kilometres. He was made to sleep in the rain. According to his own account published in some national dailies, every half an hour, his armed abductors threatened: “Baba, we are going to kill you. If you don’t give us money we are going to kill you.”

By 2018, herdsmen were wreaking havoc in the states of the middle belt of Nigeria. Then, a retired Chief of Army Staff, a veteran of military intervention in Nigerian politics, General Theophilus Danjuma, warned that there was ethnic cleansing in the middle belt. Having lost confidence in the government’s willingness or ability to deal with the situation, General Danjuma called on the people of the middle belt to take responsibility for their own security. The reaction of aides to the President of the Federal Republic was to insult him and call him names he did not deserve to bear.

Recently, former President Obasanjo added his voice to those of Chief Falae, Gen. Danjuma and many others, voices warning us of heightened insecurity in our country. President Obasanjo spoke of “Fulanisation and Islamisation”. But in what has become a typical reaction from aides to President Buhari, President Obasanjo’s concerns were not addressed. What he received were gratuitous insults from President Buhari’s aides. Nonetheless, it is highly significant that one of President Obasanjo’s most virulent critiques, Professor Wole Soyinka, urged the federal government to address the issues he raised.

The issue is neither the character nor the political affiliation of those who are speaking. The issue is insecurity and the government’s inability or unwillingness to address the issue. Nigeria in her vastness is within the firm grips of kidnappers, armed robbers, herdsmen, bandits and insurgents.

Government officials tell us that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated”. But there is a wide abyss between government propaganda and the experience of the citizen. Despite government propaganda, Boko Haram, with frequent and convincing repetition, demonstrates that it has more firepower than the Nigerian military. Our highways are unsafe. A major highway like the Abuja-Kaduna Road has become a theatre of operation for kidnappers. The northwestern states of Zamfara and Katsina have become utterly unsafe. They have been taken over by armed bandits. Yet, all that presidential aides have to offer concerned Nigerians is insolence.

Shortly after Chief Falae’s abduction, Nigerians woke up to hear of clandestine and illegal importation of arms into Nigeria. There were reports that arrests were made. But Nigerians no longer hear of any judicial process to which these importers are being subjected. The matter appears to have died. Little wonder we now live in a Nigeria saturated with ammunition.

How on earth can we claim to be living in a democratic polity when presidential aides forget or ignore the fact that the President was put in office by the votes of the people? For if they knew the principles of democracy, they would not be disrespectful to Nigerians who happen to hold views divergent from those of government on how affairs of state are to be handled. One would have thought that, by now, four years since 2015, presidential aides would have grasped the difference between insolence and competence.

One does not need to hold any brief for former President Obasanjo to know that his concerns on this matter are genuine. One only needs to read carefully the text of his intervention. One need not be his friend or political ally to observe that there are one-sided actions on the part of the government in matters of security. Well-meaning Nigerians express concerns that herdsmen are treated with kid gloves and allowed to get away with murder while some other agitators are called terrorists, proscribed and gunned down. A “technically defeated” Boko Haram continue to hold Leah Sharibu in captivity while the federal government secured the release of her Muslim schoolmates and the release of Zainab Aliyu and Ibrahim Abubakar from death row in Saudi Arabia.

Obasanjo is pointing to an open secret, and that is: there is a synergy between Boko Haram, herdsmen and ISIS. This synergy, leading to a gradual implementation of the Islamisation agenda of ISIS, is what is being referred to as “Fulanisation and Islamisation”. It is about the imposition by ISIS of its own version of Islam. Whoever opposes it, be that person Christian or Muslim or Fulani, is eliminated.

The security situation in Nigeria has become worse than deplorable. Nigeria is being attacked. Is this how we all will be watching while our country becomes more inhabitable than it has ever been in her history? Is there leadership in this country? If so, what type of leadership do we have?

It is the responsibility of the president and his aides to address the situation in ways that are manifestly even-handed. There are fears that some people have taken over this country. We are held hostage on our land. This country is in the hands of invaders, bandits, herdsmen and kidnappers. Nigeria is under attack. Will the President and Commander in Chief show leadership?

Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos

SELF-HELP AND THE WAR BUHARI CANNOT WIN.

The right of self-defense is not only Legal and Moral, but it is also Inherent - a vital part of our being. I write this essay in reaction to the reported invasion and occupation of the entire Esan  Ancestral Tribal region by armed Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram warlords. President Buhari and his enablers should discard those age-old illusions of moral and military superiority; the Hausa/Fulani folks standing alone did not defeat Biafra Forces during the Nigerian Civil War. The Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigerian, made up of Esan, Yoruba, Efik, Edo, Hausa, Fulani, Afemai, Jukun, Igara, Ebira, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Kanuri, Ibibior, Igbira, Ogoja, Ezon, Idoma, just to name a few, did. They fought collectively as a team - a unified federal army won the war. Think about that. No tribe and no region in Nigeria has a monopoly of chaos and infliction of emotional trauma. The Esan tribal region was never at any time in history a conquered territory. We became part of the Nigerian nation-state as a result of the 1914 British amalgamation. Not even the Great Benin Empire, our closest neighbor, and elder brother could conquer us or annex us. 

Therefore, in the event of self-defense, that is, in the event, the Esan local communities are forced to take up arms to defend themselves and their farmlands against external threat or invasion, rest assured that the Nigerian Armed Forces that is shamefully pro-Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram sect, would suffer massively in logistics maneuvering. Deploying military trucks and personnel to every corner of the country as they did in Ugwuneshi community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State a few years ago to arrest the youths and the elders of the community who were accused of planning reprisal attacks on Fulani Herders, would kaput the Armed Forces.

The Nigerian Armed Forces, though dominated at the Officers level by the Hausa/Fulani folks is not a tribal military establishment. It is the Nigerian Armed Forces, and not the Hausa/Fulani Armed Forces. Invading numerous villages at the same time to strengthen the onslaughts of the Boko Haram sect and the land appropriation mission of the herdsmen would be the fastest way to escalating a mutiny in the Nigerian Army.

It is the mischievous appetite and religious zealotry of the untouchables few who are heading the Buhari Administration that would hasten the culmination of a total dismantling of this country. Not me. And certainly not Obasanjo.

Your inauguration ceremony was an empty ritual - a caricature and a national embarrassment. No pop and no pageantry. And no dignity, foreign or domestic, on sight. A day later, you went overseas to attend the IOC global conference, while your house was on fire.

Think about Burundi. And think about Rwanda. We will not standby and allow you and your swindling cabal to turn Nigeria into a war without end. The Esan Homeland can never play host to any Cattle Colony. You have the rights to rear your cattle. And the Esan people have the rights to farm their land and grow their crops unmolested and undisturbed. Nigeria is ours, not for the Fulani exclusive use. Where is the Niger Delta today? We know what you did to Yoruba-Kwarans and the peaceful natives of the Middle-Belt who welcomed you to their ancestral homeland many years ago with open arms. It will not happen again.

To be continued.