Music maestros, Peter, Mary and John may have had Nigeria of 2015-18 in mind when they sang their ever green song ‘Blowing in the Wind’.
In that song, they asked several questions which we can still ask our current leaders without being inconsistent with the truth.
As if they saw tomorrow and the huge disappointment Nigeria would become, they sang:
‘How many years can people exist before they can be free? How many years can people be enslaved before they can be free from political and economic abuse; free from poverty, ignorance and disease, corrupt, and free from inept and sectional leadership?
‘How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn’t see?’ Asked differently , ‘how many times will President Buhari turn his head and pretend he doesn’t see the violence being perpetuated under his watch by the Fulani Herdsmen ; how many times will he and his security chiefs who by the way are his handpicked trusted tribesmen and people of same faith pretend that they are unaware that the herdsmen are sponsored by Miyetti Allah Fulani Cultural Association which he the leader is not just a leading member but also a patron.
For how long will he be silent on the activities of the herdsmen? When will he quit telling us that the gun men are foreigners when their sponsors are all over the place justifying the killings and threatening more violence except they are allowed to establish cattle colonies from the Sahara Desert down to the Atlantic Ocean? Why reward the foreigners with colonies when we can arrest and prosecute them for committing mass murder?
The news is that some states are already creating the so called colonies meaning that under the leadership of President Buhari mass killings and terror are the best ways to get what you want.
Not that I am against Cattle Colonies if that will end the killings of my people, after all we have always had unofficial Fulani colonies in parts of Nigeria , My main concern is that the current species of herdsmen are notorious for rape, violent crime and mass murder; they do not respect our culture neither do they abide by the dictates of the law and the constitution with the government lacking the political will to enforce the law when Fulani is the issue.
‘How many times can the President look up before he can see the sky? The truth is out there in the sky except that the president is too tired and weak to see beyond his religious and ethnic affiliations. At what point will he shun his divisive tendencies and embrace all of Nigerians as one irrespective of whether they are 5 percent or 97 percent? How long will the killings continue before Miyetti Allah is banned or proscribed and brought to justice?
What is the rationale in deploying baton wielding policemen to confront a globally recognized terror group when the military was deployed against pro Biafra group? Only God knows what would have been the vicious reactions of the government If IPOB were killing people as much as the Fulani Herdsmen has done.
It’s not sufficient for the President to deny or reject the accusation of ethnic and religious bias against his leadership style, not when all the indices points to the fact that his government is the most divisive regime in our history.
Even the blind can see that the lopsided appointments made from 2015 to date violated the Principle of Federal Character as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. Otherwise how does one argue against the fact, that the President is a Muslim Northerner, and that Muslim Northerners are occupying the offices of Chief of Army Staff, Director General of DSS, NIA, Chairman of EFCC, Chairman/ Chief Executive of NDLEA, Inspector General of Police ,Chief of Staff to the President , Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigerian Ports Authority , Controller General of Customs , Comptroller of Immigration , Minister of Internal Affairs, National Security Adviser, Minister of Petroleum, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, National Civil Defense ,etc. Please how can an all Northern Muslim Security Council Meeting determine fairly the faith of Christians and non Northerners? How does the president feel comfortable discussing the future and security of Nigeria only with his tribes men?
How many ears must a man have before he can hear the people cry? Nigerians are bitter and very frustrated and could snap at the slightest provocation. If the president can’t see the sufferings of the people, he can at least hear the cries of the people?
How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? How many deaths of women and children do we need before we can say enough is enough! How many more people will die before the Fulani herdsmen will be designated as a terror organization? How many more Committees or panels will the Vice President chair before we can find lasting solutions to the brutal killings and ethnic genocide going on around the country.
To borrow the words of Donald Trump, Nigeria is a ‘shithole’. Yeah, you hard me well, the country stinks. What manner of country will be negotiating with terrorists and providing internal colonies for them against the comfort , welfare and interest of its lawful citizens?
What manner of people will be proud to love the life of their cattle more than the precious life of fellow citizens? How many human lives are worth the life of a Fulani cow? Where is our sense of shame and anger? How does the President sleep at night when the entire country is under siege? What convinces him that his second term will be good if the first term is this bad? The answer, my people, is blowing in the wind.
We the people are partly to blame because we can only get the kind of leaders we deserve and not otherwise. The office does not change an individual; instead the individual changes the office. You do not elect people into office with the hope that they will become better while in office. It can only get worse because the real nature of the person reflects the moment he or she is sworn into office. Office and power corrupts and that is why we must be careful on who we vote for. We must not elect men who will be corrupted or carried away by the spoils of office. A man can only give according to his capacity. Any President who cannot deliver in 4 years will not deliver in eight years.