By Leo Igwe<\/p>\n
Nigeria is a deeply divided country and a nation that is polarized along ethnic\u00a0and religious lines. Even though the various ethnic and religious
\nconstituents have coexisted for a long time, there is no love lost among them. Many Nigerians consider ethnicity, and religion before the humanity of their fellow countrymen and women. Nigeria is a nation that is on the edge and prone to ethnoreligious convulsion. The country easily\u00a0descends into ethnoreligious bloodletting. The creation of the trans-ethnic\u00a0and trans-religious entity called Nigeria has not helped
\nmatters. Instead, it has complicated the situation. The Nigeria project has\u00a0not diminished or minimized the divisive impact of these centrifugal
\ncurrents. It has not weaned Nigerians from ethnoreligious hatred and bias. And this is unfortunate because Nigeria cannot make any meaningful progress if the various ethnic and religious components cannot cooperate and\u00a0coexist in peace.<\/p>\n
Part of the problem is that Nigerian state actors are hypocrites, and mischievous\u00a0political opportunists. Nigerian politicians pretend to be
\nstatesmen but they are tribesmen. They claim to be democrats but they are theocrats and ethnocrats. They present themselves as detribalized and dereligionized steerers of the Nigerian polity.\u00a0 But the state pretensions are mainly to acquire power, win elections, or lay claim to resources that belong to the people. Many politicians don this garb of one\u00a0Nigeria so that they would be allowed to champion their ethnoreligious agenda. That is why, once elected to govern, many Nigerian politicians lapse into forgetfulness of the One Nigeria project and\u00a0promise. They make decisions based on primordial sentiments and parochial\u00a0loyalties. They use their policies to wage an ethnoreligious
\nvendetta.<\/p>\n
It must be noted that even in cases where such pursuits are not intended or\u00a0orchestrated, decisions and policies of state actors are closely
\nscrutinized and are likely to be given such ethnoreligious interpretations. That is why those who are saddled with theresponsibility of governing Nigeria must be careful, mindful, and
\nthoughtful in the decisions that they make and in the way that they go about\u00a0the business of running the Nigerian state. Sadly, this is not the
\ncase with President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari’s ethnoreligious agenda is glaring. It is no longer an issue of debate. The bias is so obvious.
\nLook, it is either that this man does not care, or he does not know orw wantto know. Or better, he does not get it.<\/p>\n
Buhari has succeeded in weaponizing the Nigerian state and turning stateagencies into devices to settle ethnoreligious scores. Put simply, Buhari\u00a0has turned the Nigerian state against Nigerian citizens. This is evident in his mis\/handling of the security challenges in the country and his obstinate refusal to change course despite worseninginsecurities and glaring inequities and unevenness in dealing with the
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
Before he was elected president, Buhari was largely seen as an Islamic fanatic\u00a0who opposed his predecessor’s handling of the crisis. Some
\npeople warned that he would not be a president for all Nigerians. Thathas become a self-fulfilled prophecy. Other people expected him to tackle\u00a0and eventually resolve the ‘insurgency’ and other security challenges in a fair manner. But he has not. And from all indications, he\u00a0will not. Instead, the security problem has worsened because Buhari
\nis more interested in using state structures to settle ethnic, religious, and regional scores than building a nation where all citizens are\u00a0treated equally.<\/p>\n
The approach of his government to the security challenges drips withincompetence, bias, and unfairness. Buhari has compromised the security
\nof Nigerians. He has sown the seeds of mistrust of state agentsincluding the army and the police. In the northern part of the country, his government is rehabilitating Boko Haram militants, and enrolling repentant ones’ in the army and police. Let us say by any stretch of<\/p>\n
imagination that this is a sound policy. Where else in Nigeria is Buhari using\u00a0the same measure to address insecurity? Where else in Nigeria is
\nBuhari using government appointments to reward and rehabilitate terrorists? Boko Haram attacks have morphed into banditry in many parts
\nof the North. What has the government of Buhari done to address the metastasized\u00a0insecurity and criminality in the north?<\/p>\n
His government negotiates with bandits, pays them money and other benefits at the expense of the state. Where else in Nigeria is the Buhari\u00a0government treating bandits and criminals this way? In the southeast? In the South-South or southwest? Where else in this country do government officials sit and negotiate side by side with those who have\u00a0kidnapped and murdered Nigerians? Do not get me wrong, there is
\nnothing wrong in using dialogic means to resolve the complicated crisis and\u00a0insecurity challenges that Nigeria faces. But Buhari has been unfair
\nin his approach. For instance, Buhari proscribed IPOB and sent the army after\u00a0real and imagined members and other Biafra agitators. What was
\ntheir crime? Soldiers tortured and killed many that they identified or linked\u00a0to the Biafra separatist campaign including innocent civilians.
\nNow let us face it, no president would stand by and allow some people to work\u00a0and campaign to break up a country. Buhari’s government did not
\nexplore or use dialogue or negotiations in dealing with suspected IPOB members\u00a0who have largely waged a nonviolent separatist campaign in
\nresponse to misgovernance and mismanagement of state resources. Instead, he\u00a0deployed the soldiers and security agents, some of them are
\nethnoreligious bigots and ex Boko Haram members who carried out – and are still perpetrating extrajudicial killings of real and imagined IPOB members\u00a0in the South-east.<\/p>\n
Nothing has demonstrated Buhari’s ethnoreligious prejudice more than his handling\u00a0of the killings by Fulani herdsmen. The conflict between Fulani
\nherders and farmers predates the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. In fact on one occasion some years ago, after some clash between
\nherders and farmers in Oyo, Buhari reportedly traveled down to warn the then\u00a0governor, Lam Adesina “to stop killing my people”. Since Buhari
\nbecame the president, the attack by Fulani herdsmen has taken a more vicious dimension. Fulani herdsmen have engaged in savage attacks and bloodletting of persons in different parts of the country. In Benue, suspected herdsmen attacked and killed over 70 persons. Meanwhile, the Buhari government has not sent the army and police to attack or kill the herdsmen. Buhari government has not proscribed Myetti Allah and other Fulani herdsmen associations that threaten to kill and carry out revenge attacks. Instead, the government deploys the army and police to protect the herdsmen and look the other way while the herdsmen engage in a killing\u00a0spree of locals. The state agencies take sides with the killer
\nherdsmen while leaving local communities to their fate. Now imagine if these herdsmen were Yorubas or Igbos killing farming Fulani communities in the Katsina and Kano, would the Buhari government respond this way? Just\u00a0look at how Buhari deployed soldiers who shot, killed and wounded
\nEND SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate. What was the offence of the protesters? The Buhari government has refused to arrest and prosecute
\nkiller herdsmen in Benue, Oyo, Ondo, etc The Buhari presidency ordered the\u00a0arrest of Sunday Igboho but has not ordered the arrest of the
\nleaders of Myetti Allah. Buhari sent the army\/police to protect the Fulani\u00a0community in Oyo and Ogun. Is the government of Buhari for the
\nprotection of Fulanis or the protection of lives and property of all Nigerians?<\/p>\n
I mean, the Buhari government should rethink its mis\/management of insecurities in the country. It should desist from using security agencies and the state apparatus to settle scores and waging a vendetta against other ethnoreligious constituencies in Nigeria. Enough is enough!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Leo Igwe Nigeria is a deeply divided country and a nation that is polarized along ethnic\u00a0and religious lines. Even though the various ethnic and religious constituents have coexisted for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n