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| Gowon, OBJ, Shagari, IBB, Shonekan, Abdulsalami, Jonathan and Buhari |
By Muyiwa Adetiba
The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki,
tongue-lashed the security
chiefs in public last week after another spate of
killings in Plateau State. He was blistering in his
comments about the manifest incompetence of our
security chiefs who neither saw the urgency of a
looming catastrophe in the country nor felt any
need to take personal responsibility. Coming from
the nation’s number three man, the outburst raised
a few eye brows.
Could it be an indication of his next political move?
Or was it the spilling out of weeks and months of
bottled-up frustration— and humiliation—at the
hands of security agents? Whatever the motive, he
was spot on this time. What is happening in the
Benue trough is a failure of intelligence, a failure of
professionalism, a failure of leadership. I would, in
his shoes, distance myself from such a failure as
well. My comment to those who say that by
criticising the security chiefs so publicly when he
has a more direct access than most, he was washing
his party’s dirty clothes in public and thus giving
powder to the ammunition of opposition, is that APC
itself had chosen by its handling of the situation, the
very public Benue river to wash its considerably
soiled garments.
He was not the only one. Dogara, his counterpart in
the House of Rep, has also spoken out though with
less vitriol. Tanbuwal, a former Speaker has
recently spoken out with, again less vitriol. They are
all ABC top shots. They are all nPDP stalwarts, the
vocally disgruntled faction of APC. Are they
exploiting the chink in the armour of their party to
send a political message? I still wouldn’t blame
them for that. That’s what politicians do. Especially
the Machiavellian ones.
They might have the constitutional right to express
their opinion; they might have the political right but
do they have the moral right? This is one instance
when I will look at the message as well as the
messenger. The three of them have watched the
increasingly disproportionate allocation of the
nation’s resources to the National Assembly. They
have passed budgets that are increasingly skewed
towards recurrent expenditure.
They have presided over the fraud called
constituency projects. They have dined and wined
with the executive to impoverish the country. They
have, with the exception of Dogara, been executive
governors and therefore in the position to directly
affect poverty and unemployment. But they entrench
poverty so that the unemployed can be used as
cannon fodders; as foot soldiers.
Rather than use politics to serve the people, they
have used politics to promote their burning personal
ambitions. If they leave ABC tomorrow, it is because
they want more and not because of any ideological
difference. These lot will be just as comfortable on
the white side of the chess board as on the black
side. Politics to them is a power game. The nation is
the board and the people the pawns to be
manipulated at will.
In the 20 odd years of this republic, we have seen
youth unemployment rise. We have watched rural
poverty rise. We have watched as civil unrest
increases annually. We have seen the dislocation of
family units. We have seen the flight of skilled
professionals rise to unprecedented level. We
have watched migration of the desperate increase
and have been helpless at xenophobic attacks of our
citizens in different parts of the world.
We have watched as the country and her citizens
are diminished around the world and described as
‘fantastically corrupt.’ We have, at the same time,
also seen the affluence of our politicians. We have
seen a man come from prison to become a
billionaire financing multi-billion naira projects
including a university. We have seen a tout become
a Senator flaunting cars and wealth. We have
witnessed an assurance of marital love through a
public presentation of a G Wagon. We have
witnessed multi-million naira weddings of governors
and senators. We have witnessed treasury lootings
that make you feel dizzy. We have read of those who
kept their wealth in tax havens and in choice
properties in Europe. We have read of one who
virtually controls the resources of a state and
employs pliant politicians to tend ‘his estate.’ We
have, in these 20 years, witnessed across states and
across parties, an unconscionable abuse of state
funds.
You can’t but wonder how such an excruciating
poverty where people die because they can’t afford
simple drugs can be in bed so comfortably with the
opulence of our public officers. Our leaders must
know that this kind of an arrangement cannot be
sustained but are too selfish and too blinded by
greed and self-glorification to worry about the
consequences of this social dislocation. Even when
the rooster, as it does occasionally, comes home to
roost. The militancy in the Niger-Delta is as a result
of injustice fuelled by poverty. The Boko Haram in
the North-East is as a result of ideology fuelled by
poverty.
The Herdsmen menace in the North-Central is as a
result of ethno/religious conflict fuelled by poverty.
The flash points will increase across the country as
the economic situation worsens. Those who are
manipulating these fragile situations for their
selfish advantages are riding the tiger’s back. Those
who are supplying logistics either in form of money
or ammunition to these groups are riding the tiger’s
back.
Those politicians who arm unemployed youths and
use them as foot soldiers for political intimidation
are riding the tiger’s back. Those at the customs
who look away for pecuniary reasons as these arms
are brought into the country are riding the tiger’s
back. The religious leaders who are exaggerating the
religious aspect of the conflicts are riding the tiger’s
back. Those who are feeding the whole situation
through toxic tweets and poisonous comments on
WhatsApp are riding the tiger’s back.
They may not
disembark alive when the consequences of their
actions dawn.
One of the off-springs of poverty is a breakdown of
law and order which easily translates into violence.
Those who are manipulating the restless and
impoverished youths for selfish needs are feeding a
blind monster that could one day devour them.
