Prof. Pat Okedinachi Utomi, a Political-Economist, politician, entrepreneur and scholar is a sad man.
He does not understand why the Nigerian elite have refused to learn from histories of failed nations all over the world. Utomi strongly believes that had they been as educated and wise as they claim, the Nigerian elite would have drawn useful lessons from the debilitating wars in Liberia, Somalia and even Sudan that recently split into two different countries.During an exclusive interview in Lagos on Tuesday, Utomi was in his elements: Brutally frank in his assessment of the current political situation in the country. While many Nigerians are occupied with the drama of the Otedola- Faroukgate, Utomi is not amused. Rather, he pointed out that those who believe they are in power today, might as well end up in refugee camps with their drivers and mechanics, if nothing serious is done to halt the slide of the countrv. He svoke with Geoffry Ekenna.
If you remember the issue of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, who investigated the issue of fraud in the power sector, he was accused of corruption soon after the report was written. The case died there. Here we are again on the Farouk Lawan Committee which investigated the fuel subsidy scam; he has been dragged out again for corruption. The question is, do you think the allegations of Femi Otedola are enough to kill the reports of the committee? Many believe that the report is now tainted and cannot be called credible.
The tragedy of corruption in Nigeria is that the Nigerian elite has not made a serious effort to understand the damage of corruption. For many of them, it is an opportunistic game in which everybody expects you not to fet corrupt. It then appears that while getting corrupt, the traditional response is to implicate the catcher. But because catchers themselves are basically corrupt, it becomes a bit easier.
So, it is very easy for them to rope them in, so that in the end, we tell stories like you remember in the days of the Elumelu committee on power sector and it goes into a very sad distant past. Yet, the country is dying piecemeal. I have reached a point in this country that I am unwilling about the value of public commentary because the people look at it that this guy has nothing other than public commentary.
So, it is very easy for them to rope them in, so that in the end, we tell stories like you remember in the days of the Elumelu committee on power sector and it goes into a very sad distant past. Yet, the country is dying piecemeal. I have reached a point in this country that I am unwilling about the value of public commentary because the people look at it that this guy has nothing other than public commentary.
I wish we could begin to think of building a society in which our children will begin to grow up and have a sense of harmony relative to other kids, who are not better than them in other societies. Two illustrations which I can use to buttress what is happening now come from the continent of Africa here. I was very, very pleased on the 60th birthday of Pastor Wale Adefarasin, when Dr. Yemi Osinbajo and I were guest speakers and an illustration that I often used, was used by Prof. Osinbajo from his own experience, which is Somalia.
He said that what he saw in a refugee camp in Somalia was that the people who were emaciated, carrying a bowl, desperate for a plate of rice were former Chief Judges, former Permanent Secretaries, top government functionaries and the members of the elite. Another illustration in that country was that of a former United Nations official, who arrived in Somalia, saw one faunt man, desperate for a owl of rice; he looked at the man and said do I know you? The man said no.
He looked at him again and said I know you and asked him for his name. It turned out that the man who was desperate for a bowl of rice used to represent Somalia at the United Nations in a motorcade in New York. Here, he was, begging for a bowl of rice in a refugee camp. We are raising an illiterate elite and the people are not coming to see what has happened to people like them elsewhere.
He said that what he saw in a refugee camp in Somalia was that the people who were emaciated, carrying a bowl, desperate for a plate of rice were former Chief Judges, former Permanent Secretaries, top government functionaries and the members of the elite. Another illustration in that country was that of a former United Nations official, who arrived in Somalia, saw one faunt man, desperate for a owl of rice; he looked at the man and said do I know you? The man said no.
He looked at him again and said I know you and asked him for his name. It turned out that the man who was desperate for a bowl of rice used to represent Somalia at the United Nations in a motorcade in New York. Here, he was, begging for a bowl of rice in a refugee camp. We are raising an illiterate elite and the people are not coming to see what has happened to people like them elsewhere.
That is why, when Simon Kolawole wrote a column in ThisDay in which he expressed despair for Nigeria, I responded to him saying 'well Simon, see you at the refugee camp' because to me, if we are not careful, the only certain destination for what we are doing in Nigeria is that we will all end up in a refugee camp. It is not a laughing matter at all because I have seen it happen. The other illustration I use is Liberia. I said this so many times. The Liberian ambassador to Nigeria, around 1990,91 was a school mate of mine when we were in a graduate school in America. His name is Paul.
He rushed back to Liberia without finishing because things were going well in Liberia. When he got home, he was doing well, got into the system and eventually ended up as an ambassador to Nigeria. We used to meet in my house then. There was a time he spoke to me and said, 'you Nigerians, you are pouring the Nigerian blood in my country to save us and we are very grateful; you are spending Nigerian money in millions of Dollars to save us and we are very thankful; but I cannot understand that you guys have not learnt some lessons from what brought us to where we are because every day, you continue to act the way we acted that got us where you want to save us from'.
He said when he first got back home from America, he saw the rot; politicians were doing the same kinds of things that our politicians are doing now; he kept his mouth shut because if he talked, he might not get a contract. It got worse that some brigand soldiers came and he saw that the soldiers were worse than the civilians but he kept his mouth shut because he did not want to lose the privileges that were accruing then.
He said one day, "things nave gone so bad that you are traveling on the streets of Liberia and somebody jumps out and says 'stop there! Give me the keys of your car! And you give him the key and frateful to God that he did not ill you. You say thank God, it was only the car that they took, not my life."
He rushed back to Liberia without finishing because things were going well in Liberia. When he got home, he was doing well, got into the system and eventually ended up as an ambassador to Nigeria. We used to meet in my house then. There was a time he spoke to me and said, 'you Nigerians, you are pouring the Nigerian blood in my country to save us and we are very grateful; you are spending Nigerian money in millions of Dollars to save us and we are very thankful; but I cannot understand that you guys have not learnt some lessons from what brought us to where we are because every day, you continue to act the way we acted that got us where you want to save us from'.
He said when he first got back home from America, he saw the rot; politicians were doing the same kinds of things that our politicians are doing now; he kept his mouth shut because if he talked, he might not get a contract. It got worse that some brigand soldiers came and he saw that the soldiers were worse than the civilians but he kept his mouth shut because he did not want to lose the privileges that were accruing then.
He said one day, "things nave gone so bad that you are traveling on the streets of Liberia and somebody jumps out and says 'stop there! Give me the keys of your car! And you give him the key and frateful to God that he did not ill you. You say thank God, it was only the car that they took, not my life."
That is almost what we are doing here now...
We are almost there. You see, I have been saying this for the past 20 years. I am feeling like a prophet now because almost all those things I said are coming to pass. On my way back from Bangladesh last week, a lady came to meet me and she said, you don't know me but I have a copy of what you have said in the last 20 years. That is what we are saying.
To get back to the Libenan story, you get back to the house, thanking God that at least, you have a house over your head. Somebody comes and says ah people, comotfor this house, Commander wan use the house. You thank God at least they drove you out of the house and did not kill you. When I told this story to a friend of mine who later became the director of the SSS, Col. Kayode Are, he laughed because he was Deputy Commander of ECOMOG. He told me a better story of people he knew who were powerful people in Liberia, who went through this sequence and ended up in the villages.
We are almost there. You see, I have been saying this for the past 20 years. I am feeling like a prophet now because almost all those things I said are coming to pass. On my way back from Bangladesh last week, a lady came to meet me and she said, you don't know me but I have a copy of what you have said in the last 20 years. That is what we are saying.
To get back to the Libenan story, you get back to the house, thanking God that at least, you have a house over your head. Somebody comes and says ah people, comotfor this house, Commander wan use the house. You thank God at least they drove you out of the house and did not kill you. When I told this story to a friend of mine who later became the director of the SSS, Col. Kayode Are, he laughed because he was Deputy Commander of ECOMOG. He told me a better story of people he knew who were powerful people in Liberia, who went through this sequence and ended up in the villages.
I feel that people in Abuja look at people like me as people who like to talk; you know, what is wrong with this guy? They don't understand we want to save them because it is coming. They are going to end up in that refugee camp. In one of my opinion articles, I referred to a refugee camp as a place former Senate Presidents and their mechanics will come together and they are at the same level, begging for a bowl of rice.
They think they will be out of the country within minutes. It doesn't always happen like that. It can happen so suddenly that you don't have time to get to that your private jet. So, we are in a tragic situation where we have a oreakdown of our institutions. For years, I have talked about our institution and culture and the values that we hold which help human development.
Why did China relinquish its leadership position in the world? As Neil Ferguson, writes in his book, Segregation; the West and the rest, in the year 1400, the things that were in China, like the great Walls of China were unimaginable in Western conception. They could not imagine, nor do such a thing.
Suddenly, China stopped. For 300 years, China did nothing. His argument: China's did not have institutions. We have seen a resurgence of China, due to the visionary efforts of a man known as Den Zel Pin, who Mao tried to suppress because he saw him as a rival. The military knew he was a good fuy and they kind of shielded im until Mao died. Then, he rose.
My prayer and all these things I am doing is that somehow, we can cultivate a good orientation and that somehow, history will be kind to us and let our children be able to reinvent this nation. If not, Nigeria will cease to exist because culture has collapsed completely and our institutions are a joke. You go to the National Assembly; you don't know what is going on. It is just this idolatry- worship of God gave Obasanjo to build Nigeria.
They think they will be out of the country within minutes. It doesn't always happen like that. It can happen so suddenly that you don't have time to get to that your private jet. So, we are in a tragic situation where we have a oreakdown of our institutions. For years, I have talked about our institution and culture and the values that we hold which help human development.
Why did China relinquish its leadership position in the world? As Neil Ferguson, writes in his book, Segregation; the West and the rest, in the year 1400, the things that were in China, like the great Walls of China were unimaginable in Western conception. They could not imagine, nor do such a thing.
Suddenly, China stopped. For 300 years, China did nothing. His argument: China's did not have institutions. We have seen a resurgence of China, due to the visionary efforts of a man known as Den Zel Pin, who Mao tried to suppress because he saw him as a rival. The military knew he was a good fuy and they kind of shielded im until Mao died. Then, he rose.
My prayer and all these things I am doing is that somehow, we can cultivate a good orientation and that somehow, history will be kind to us and let our children be able to reinvent this nation. If not, Nigeria will cease to exist because culture has collapsed completely and our institutions are a joke. You go to the National Assembly; you don't know what is going on. It is just this idolatry- worship of God gave Obasanjo to build Nigeria.
money. They do it in such a way that they must get it. I have been where foreign missions are welcoming their delegations, giving them briefings about Nigeria and how the National Assembly members earn #1.2m officially and waylay ministers and make all sorts of money. You hear diplomats saying all these things to their people coming into Nigeria and stuffs like that. As if there's no sense of shame anymore, the National Assembly carries on and the views of the people are no more relevant. Recently, I went to a bank on Victoria Island to use the ATM, and the guards, ordinary guards were talking about CAP-banking, this Otedola-Farouk thing.
I was taken aback that ordinary guards are talking like this about the Nigerian situation. They said the whole thing is about a gang of thieves, playing games with one another. They talked about the National Assembly, the judiciary and the executive. The one that got to me and I turned was how can the presidency issue a statement that they did not know what Otedola was doing when he is the one that acts as ADC to the president? Everywhere you see Jonathan, you see Otedola. I mean guards at that level?
I was taken aback that ordinary guards are talking like this about the Nigerian situation. They said the whole thing is about a gang of thieves, playing games with one another. They talked about the National Assembly, the judiciary and the executive. The one that got to me and I turned was how can the presidency issue a statement that they did not know what Otedola was doing when he is the one that acts as ADC to the president? Everywhere you see Jonathan, you see Otedola. I mean guards at that level?
But you know that some of those guards are even graduates?
It is true. It is true. So, if your institutions are gone, cultures are gone, definitely, the society is gone. You don't have to look far to see that. Nigeria is seemingly in a post death situation.
How does Otedola allegations affect that report? Should it affect it?
No. It should not affect the report. You take the facts. How does this affect that? You crosscheck. After 13 years of democracy, rather than move forward, it appears we are heading backwards from all that is happening now. Do you think we are going backward?
You know, you are looking at whole scenario from 1999. Don't isolate it and look at Jonathan in the last one year.
There is the perception that he is a weaker person and as such people are now taking impunity to another level. We were bad under Obasanjo, very, very bad. It just kept getting worse but when Jonathan came, the perception, true or false that he is less a power man than Obasanjo, has encouraged them to go more ballistic in doing all the wrong. Most people who know willtell you that corruption is far worse now than any time in Nigeria's history.
We are talking of Farouk and Otedola now. That is not the story of corruption. We have forgotten all the pension fund and all the major corruption that have taken place. I was talking to one parastatal chief recently and he said to me, 'you don t know what we are facing. A minister will tell you, you must return to me, N12m every month as head of the parastatal.
That is my general weekend spending, not trie big one.' I said my God, what are still doing there? He said what can I do now? I need a job'. The people who are doing this are still. They can see their cousins who graduated six years ago who have no job. At a very personal level.
I have got to a level where I oelieve that the government will not be involved in development. That was part of the reasons I went to Bangladesh. I went to look at a model where an agency is working in social enterprise and making greater impact than government. An NGO, BRAC is employing more than 130, 000 people, oeing responsible
for stopping the traditional cholera in that country. My idea of public service is to serve the people. Hopefully, my book, In pursuit of poverty , I will be able to finish.
Some opposition parties such as the ACN and CPC are already talking of merger or alliance now. Do you think that dislodging the PDP at the national level is what is required for the country to make progress from 2015?
I am glad you did not ask me about alliances and why the opposition is not doing it. It is something I don't want to discuss it. But the question is appropriate in the sense of dislodging the PDP if it will galvanise Nigeria. Yes, it can, in the sense that the power of being replaced could make you to think of who you are, review yourpast behavior. It could be the PDP that will eventually save Nigeria.
If an opposition chases it out of power and behaves like bandits when they get there, the PDP can regroup and when they come back to power, will do better. That is why you don't assess a democracy, until there is a change of government back and forth. That is when it becomes a democracy. Why Ghana is so superior to us is because the incumbents have had a change of party, back and forth.
That is why when you see Ghana up there, you see Nigeria down there. Essentially, that is benefit of fetting rid of the PDP, not ecause this is necessarily better than the other. So, if the succeeds in edging out that opposition after four or eight years, that other opposition will go back and retool and you then get two serious political groups. Nigerian will then have a choice and the parties will struggle to impress the people.
It is true. It is true. So, if your institutions are gone, cultures are gone, definitely, the society is gone. You don't have to look far to see that. Nigeria is seemingly in a post death situation.
How does Otedola allegations affect that report? Should it affect it?
No. It should not affect the report. You take the facts. How does this affect that? You crosscheck. After 13 years of democracy, rather than move forward, it appears we are heading backwards from all that is happening now. Do you think we are going backward?
You know, you are looking at whole scenario from 1999. Don't isolate it and look at Jonathan in the last one year.
There is the perception that he is a weaker person and as such people are now taking impunity to another level. We were bad under Obasanjo, very, very bad. It just kept getting worse but when Jonathan came, the perception, true or false that he is less a power man than Obasanjo, has encouraged them to go more ballistic in doing all the wrong. Most people who know willtell you that corruption is far worse now than any time in Nigeria's history.
We are talking of Farouk and Otedola now. That is not the story of corruption. We have forgotten all the pension fund and all the major corruption that have taken place. I was talking to one parastatal chief recently and he said to me, 'you don t know what we are facing. A minister will tell you, you must return to me, N12m every month as head of the parastatal.
That is my general weekend spending, not trie big one.' I said my God, what are still doing there? He said what can I do now? I need a job'. The people who are doing this are still. They can see their cousins who graduated six years ago who have no job. At a very personal level.
I have got to a level where I oelieve that the government will not be involved in development. That was part of the reasons I went to Bangladesh. I went to look at a model where an agency is working in social enterprise and making greater impact than government. An NGO, BRAC is employing more than 130, 000 people, oeing responsible
for stopping the traditional cholera in that country. My idea of public service is to serve the people. Hopefully, my book, In pursuit of poverty , I will be able to finish.
Some opposition parties such as the ACN and CPC are already talking of merger or alliance now. Do you think that dislodging the PDP at the national level is what is required for the country to make progress from 2015?
I am glad you did not ask me about alliances and why the opposition is not doing it. It is something I don't want to discuss it. But the question is appropriate in the sense of dislodging the PDP if it will galvanise Nigeria. Yes, it can, in the sense that the power of being replaced could make you to think of who you are, review yourpast behavior. It could be the PDP that will eventually save Nigeria.
If an opposition chases it out of power and behaves like bandits when they get there, the PDP can regroup and when they come back to power, will do better. That is why you don't assess a democracy, until there is a change of government back and forth. That is when it becomes a democracy. Why Ghana is so superior to us is because the incumbents have had a change of party, back and forth.
That is why when you see Ghana up there, you see Nigeria down there. Essentially, that is benefit of fetting rid of the PDP, not ecause this is necessarily better than the other. So, if the succeeds in edging out that opposition after four or eight years, that other opposition will go back and retool and you then get two serious political groups. Nigerian will then have a choice and the parties will struggle to impress the people.
But 13 years of democracy; is it not enough to see some changes that nave occurred in the life of the country?
It is enough but you know it has to do with the character of the elite.
What is this character of the elite you keep talking about?
You see human beings all over the world are too self serving. What prevents people from behaving badly is institutions. When you get to the Muritala Mohammed Airport when you are traveling, Nigerians behave anyhow they like, climbing chairs and tables. The governors will be escorted to the door of the plane by about 20 aides, who carry their bags. When they get to tne US or UK, they change entirely.
On Easter Sunday, I flew out of Nigeria to the United Kingdom. On that flight were about five governors and the governor ofCentral Bank. We were all in the same plane. When we landed in UK, everybody was carrying his bags and walking like the humblest of men. I was laughing. If they told you those people were big men in Nigeria, you won't believe it. If you bring Americans to Nigeria, men who would not dare run the red light in their own country, if you see them in Falomo on a Sunday, you will not believe it.
So, at the heart of what regulates man is the fear of punishment. So, you ask how these institutions come about. Let me go academic a bit. One of the best discussions of how institutions come about is that of Douglas Moore, a historian. Institutions evolve because people are trying to shuffling to become one thing or the other and people see that when your son becomes the governor today, you are eating as if you are a King. My friend becomes a governor; I am eating as if I am a king.
It is enough but you know it has to do with the character of the elite.
What is this character of the elite you keep talking about?
You see human beings all over the world are too self serving. What prevents people from behaving badly is institutions. When you get to the Muritala Mohammed Airport when you are traveling, Nigerians behave anyhow they like, climbing chairs and tables. The governors will be escorted to the door of the plane by about 20 aides, who carry their bags. When they get to tne US or UK, they change entirely.
On Easter Sunday, I flew out of Nigeria to the United Kingdom. On that flight were about five governors and the governor ofCentral Bank. We were all in the same plane. When we landed in UK, everybody was carrying his bags and walking like the humblest of men. I was laughing. If they told you those people were big men in Nigeria, you won't believe it. If you bring Americans to Nigeria, men who would not dare run the red light in their own country, if you see them in Falomo on a Sunday, you will not believe it.
So, at the heart of what regulates man is the fear of punishment. So, you ask how these institutions come about. Let me go academic a bit. One of the best discussions of how institutions come about is that of Douglas Moore, a historian. Institutions evolve because people are trying to shuffling to become one thing or the other and people see that when your son becomes the governor today, you are eating as if you are a King. My friend becomes a governor; I am eating as if I am a king.
When it continues like that, they see that it is not good and say can we do it like this? That is an institution. When people know that the consequence will come; that their children do not like what has happened, it then becomes a communal way of living. That is an institution. So, you go to New York and you think that it is part of their life not to run the red light?
These are the children of people who saw the consequences of running the red light. How do you fasktrack this and not to wait for people to kill themselves in 30 years before change will come? That is the Singapore story- the Lee Kwan Yu story. Nigeria had the opportunity in doing that in Olusegun Obasanjo, who had an opportunity to transform this country two times but did not. That is why we have to see whether history will be kind to Obasanjo; not because of what happened or not when he was there.
But because he was prepared by God to have been Lee Kwan Yu twice over but he chose not to do it. That is the bigger tragedy of the Nigerian story. Anyway, that is left for historians to determine. The character of the elite is defined by a new idolatry- the worship of money. Until you in the media begin to treat with contempt people who just made money and became powerful, we will not move. You know in media studies, there is the status conferral duties of the media.
These are the children of people who saw the consequences of running the red light. How do you fasktrack this and not to wait for people to kill themselves in 30 years before change will come? That is the Singapore story- the Lee Kwan Yu story. Nigeria had the opportunity in doing that in Olusegun Obasanjo, who had an opportunity to transform this country two times but did not. That is why we have to see whether history will be kind to Obasanjo; not because of what happened or not when he was there.
But because he was prepared by God to have been Lee Kwan Yu twice over but he chose not to do it. That is the bigger tragedy of the Nigerian story. Anyway, that is left for historians to determine. The character of the elite is defined by a new idolatry- the worship of money. Until you in the media begin to treat with contempt people who just made money and became powerful, we will not move. You know in media studies, there is the status conferral duties of the media.
If we celebrate these characters, who never did anything; what did he do? He is into oil. He is a minister's bad man and suddenly buying all over the place, going to Las Vegas and spending $750, 000 in one night and he is now an oil merchant. Until he is treated as a scum; you won't galvanise the society to work hard, value culture and appreciate sacrifice.
Today, young people don't value hard work. Young people need to show more respect to people who have worked hard. I am sure if you ask Emeka Anyaoku to bring out $200, 000, I am sure you are going to wait a long time but his life has so much value. What is important is to affect the lives of people positively.
What do you make of the general insecurity in Nigeria?
It is becoming very scary everyday with bombs going off regularly. Sacked National Security Adviser, Gen. Azazi said it was a PDP thing. Many people believe it was part of the reasons he was sacked.
Today, young people don't value hard work. Young people need to show more respect to people who have worked hard. I am sure if you ask Emeka Anyaoku to bring out $200, 000, I am sure you are going to wait a long time but his life has so much value. What is important is to affect the lives of people positively.
What do you make of the general insecurity in Nigeria?
It is becoming very scary everyday with bombs going off regularly. Sacked National Security Adviser, Gen. Azazi said it was a PDP thing. Many people believe it was part of the reasons he was sacked.
My analysis of the situation has to be very deep rooted because it is not just something that happened; there are several layers of problems that have merged into the thing we now call Boko Haram. My understanding of it is that it started as a very small sectarian thing in the North East which is a product of earlier frustration in the North West regarding leadership.
First, the underclass or lower classes were frustrated with lack of progress in the north, a lot of injustice, no education and all kinds of things. They turned to their faith to explain and seek justice. My friend Bishop Kukah does a very goodjob of the analysis. Islam is a religion of justice- make justice come back. Christianity is one of seeking justice. In desire to make sure that justice is achieved, the northern lower class began to seek a faith-based definition of governance.
That was the original Sharia. The northern Eolitician jumped the andwagon, even though the original Sharia was against them. They were the unjust people who the underclass was seeking justice against. They jumped into the fray, took over the leadership of the Sharia movement, and established it, starting from Zamfara. Governors became champions of Sharia, took it away from the masses and used it against Obasanjo because they felt frustrated because a southern president was in power.
First, the underclass or lower classes were frustrated with lack of progress in the north, a lot of injustice, no education and all kinds of things. They turned to their faith to explain and seek justice. My friend Bishop Kukah does a very goodjob of the analysis. Islam is a religion of justice- make justice come back. Christianity is one of seeking justice. In desire to make sure that justice is achieved, the northern lower class began to seek a faith-based definition of governance.
That was the original Sharia. The northern Eolitician jumped the andwagon, even though the original Sharia was against them. They were the unjust people who the underclass was seeking justice against. They jumped into the fray, took over the leadership of the Sharia movement, and established it, starting from Zamfara. Governors became champions of Sharia, took it away from the masses and used it against Obasanjo because they felt frustrated because a southern president was in power.
Because it was a lie, it was not sustainable. The elite of the north aborted the Sharia plot. But there was always the simmering problem between the original Karnem Bornu Empire and the Hausa Fulani. The Kanuri believe that they are better Muslims but were shortchanged by the British.
They decided to fight core constituted authority. The north underclass has come to identify one leader who was more assertive, who was less corrupt or not corrupt in the person of Gen Buhari. Unfortunately, he did not win. Gen Buhari. because of his own political disposition could not make victory come. So, people saw him as the rallying point. But given the way Nigerian politics is played, he was seen to have been robbed. That was compounded by the incompetence of the regime that took over from him- the Jonathan government.
Frustration with that regime- if it was that that regime was not competent, it was have seen that there was the need to address the problem by cutting into the opposition and saying that out country is falling apart and we need to save it first. So, frustrated politicians began to buy into that movement and you now see a whole lot of problems manifesting into making the country ungovernable, coupled with the mismanagement of the NigerDelta Amnesty Programme, which gave the impression that if you carry a gun and shoot long enough, people will talk to you. So, we are dealing with a very complex problem. That is why we are where we are.
They decided to fight core constituted authority. The north underclass has come to identify one leader who was more assertive, who was less corrupt or not corrupt in the person of Gen Buhari. Unfortunately, he did not win. Gen Buhari. because of his own political disposition could not make victory come. So, people saw him as the rallying point. But given the way Nigerian politics is played, he was seen to have been robbed. That was compounded by the incompetence of the regime that took over from him- the Jonathan government.
Frustration with that regime- if it was that that regime was not competent, it was have seen that there was the need to address the problem by cutting into the opposition and saying that out country is falling apart and we need to save it first. So, frustrated politicians began to buy into that movement and you now see a whole lot of problems manifesting into making the country ungovernable, coupled with the mismanagement of the NigerDelta Amnesty Programme, which gave the impression that if you carry a gun and shoot long enough, people will talk to you. So, we are dealing with a very complex problem. That is why we are where we are.
What is the solution?
Let us begin to talk. The elite have to tell themselves the truth that we are either travelling the road to Somalia or we are traveling the road to Sudan. There is no country without elders. People should just speak up. (Compass)
Let us begin to talk. The elite have to tell themselves the truth that we are either travelling the road to Somalia or we are traveling the road to Sudan. There is no country without elders. People should just speak up. (Compass)
No comments:
Post a Comment