Independence Anniversary Speech: Remembering Ubulu-Uku’s Obi Ofulue III

With the uncountable problems facing Nigeria at present, one would have expected President Muhammadu Buhari to address all the problematic areas of our polity and assuage the fears of Nigerians. 

He is the President for goodness sake, and so he should have used the once-in-a-year opportunity presented by the nation’s Independence Anniversary, to present his best speech for that given year that was rolling away. Also, he should have used the podium to showcase what he, the nation’s chief servant, would do for the populace so that Nigeria would occupy a better position among nations. 

Whether or not it is clear to us, Nigeria does not exist in a vacuum; she is locked in a do or die contest with other nations for the control of the world’s resources. And so far, we are in the gutter. Given the way nations function, a nation’s leader leads … and he either leads aright or the nation suffers. 

So, which problems did Buhari address in his speech? Which solutions did he proffer? What exactly did he tell Nigerians that he would do? I have searched for such tangibles and came away with nothing – virtually nothing. 

Now, may we please interrogate the speech, all the 2,425 words in that speech, from the “Dear Compatriots” opening to the “May God bless you all, and may He continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria” conclusion. 

The areas over which the achievement of the government should be judged was not lost on President Buhari. He actually mentioned the issues immediately after his preambles: “In the past four years, the majority of Nigerians have committed to Change for the Better. Indeed, this administration was re-elected by Nigerians on a mandate to deliver positive and enduring Change – through maintaining our National Security; restoring sustainable and inclusive Economic Growth and Development; and fighting Corruption against all internal and external threats.” 

So, how well did Buhari score himself on National Security? He said next: “This Change can only be delivered if we are united in purpose, as individuals and as a nation. We must all remain committed to achieving this positive and enduring Change. As I stated four years ago, “Change does not just happen… We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust… simply put, to bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.” 

What would anyone make of the above paragraph please? Did Mr. President score himself on the topics he, himself listed? No, is the obvious answer. If all it would require to bring about national security is a change in our lawless habits, I am sure that Buhari himself would not have bothered to contest election to become Nigeria’s President. Or have we forgotten that he and his party, made specific promises to end the national insecurity that had become a national shame when former President Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock Presidential office? Now that shame has been accentuated. Now, the matter of national insecurity has become a national disaster, not just a national shame. 

What is the nature of this wanton insecurity in the land? Buhari’s answer: “In the last four years, we have combatted the terrorist scourge of Boko Haram.” He added: “This clearly demonstrates our commitment to arrest the incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes across our nation. 

We remain equally resolute in our efforts to combat militant attacks on our oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta and accelerate the Ogoni Clean-up to address long-standing environmental challenges in that region.” 

My point is this, if Buhari had the presence of mind to list the “combat militant attacks on our oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta” as he usually does, why did he refuse to mention the killer herdsmen that have reduced a large swart of Nigeria (the South-South, South-West, South- East and North-Central) into a vast killing field? Why, please someone, tell Nigerians why. 

Well, as a Nigerian, I feel duty bound to bring this to Mr. President’s attention: It is a report in THISDAY newspaper of June 7, 2020; “Between 2017 and May 2, 2020, Fulani herdsmen conducted 654 attacks, killed 2,539 and kidnapped 253 people in Nigeria, a report obtained by ThisDay has shown. The report titled, ‘Working Document — Fulani Militias’ Terror: Compilation of News (2017-2020),’ revealed blood-curdling statistics of vicious attacks, deaths and kidnappings by the herdsmen.

It stated that the herdsmen assaults against farmers in Nigeria were “regular, systematic, targeted attacks.” 

The author of the report José Luis Bazán, an independent researcher and analyst, based in Brussels, Belgium, said, “Nigerians are suffering widespread and systematic terrorist attacks by, mainly, Boko Haram, the ISIL-aligned Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), Fulani militias and Ansaru.” 

Bazán, however, pointed out: “The Global Terrorist Index 2019 published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, indicates that the primary driver of the increase in terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa was a rise in terrorist activity in Nigeria attributed to Fulani extremists: in 2018, Fulani extremists were responsible for the majority of terror-related deaths in Nigeria (1,158 fatalities), with an increase by 261 and 308 percent respectively from the prior year.” 

The report noted that most of the “Fulani attacks were armed assaults” (200 out of 297 attacks) against civilians (84 percent of the attacks).

So, when will Mr. President recognise this as a special threat that needs a special focus from the security agencies? When? 

One major topic that angered Nigerian like nothing before was the so-called Home-Feeding of school children…even when schools had been shut down owing to the Covid-10 pandemic. Huge sums of money have been said to have been spent on it. Yet, incredulous Nigerians have been wondering how on earth could whatever government agency had identified the families of out of school children to benefit from the exercise. 

Instead of looking into the grievances of Nigerians that belong to that school of thought, or instead of explaining how such a scheme could have been pulled off when Nigeria has no social and population data that could be useful in anyway, Mr. President, in his Independence speech, gave his imprimatur to the project. Pray, how were the children to benefit from the programme identified? And did he, who spoke very much about anti-corruption in that same speech, determine that all the monies the officials claimed to have been handed out to the needy, actually got to the intended segment of the society? 

On this, here is Buhari’s stance and stand: “Our ongoing N500 billion Special Intervention Programme continues to target these vulnerable groups, through the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme. 

“To institutionalize these impactful programmes, we created the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development which shall consolidate and build on our achievements to date. To the beneficiaries of these programmes, I want to reassure you that our commitment to social inclusion will only increase”. 

Poor Nigeria!!! If President Buhari is actually satisfied that government officials were handing out cash instead of making the needed payments through the banks (e-payment). It means he will not even bother to wonder how on earth it will be possible to offer any meaningful evidence of actual disbursement. Beyond all else, he has actually announced in his speech that the outcry over the conduct of the officials involved is neither here nor there. 

I wanted to ask why the government has not seen the need to set down a template that should make it very difficult for people to be able to steal government funds, because it is better to make it difficult for people to steal than to keep crying to EFCC and ICPC after the milk has already been spilled. Or has the saying that there is no use crying over spilled milk no longer tenable? I actually wanted to dwell seriously on it but then I saw in the speech what comes next: “We must commit to installing a culture of Good Governance in all we do. This administration has fought against corruption, by investigating and prosecuting those accused of embezzlement and the misuse of public resources. We have empowered teams of prosecutors, assembled detailed databases of evidence, traced the proceeds of crimes and accelerated the recovery of stolen funds.” 

Sincerely, nothing about corruption has changed in Nigeria. Corruption will stop when it is difficult for people to steal; that is when impunity has been checked. But how do you check corruption when government officials would come to a place, and begin, in this day and age, to hand out fist full of Naira notes to individuals? How would any meaningful account be ever rendered? And yet, Buhari commended such a Stone Age practice in his Independence Anniversary speech. 

And what did Mr. President say about the calls for restructuring the polity, especially by introducing COMMUNITY POLICING? By his deep silence, he could have as well spat on the idea. Instead he spoke about increasing the numerical strength of the Police Force. Hear him: “The Ministry of Police Affairs has been resuscitated to oversee the development and implementation of strategies to enhance internal security. My recent assent to the Nigerian Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act has created a legal framework to support our Police with increased fiscal resources to enhance their law enforcement capabilities. 

These initiatives are being complemented by the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 constables into the Nigeria Police Force. This clearly demonstrates our commitment to arrest the incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes across our nation.” 

Resuscitated? From slumber? And in what ways has the Police Force been resuscitated? Killings and killings, the like of which has never been heard of in Nigeria until the inception of Buhari’s administration, now takes place almost on a daily basis. 

A recent report on the insecurity in Nigeria contained this: “In October 2018, President Buhari promised – on a visit to Southern Kaduna, which has seen endless violence over the past decade or more – the Federal Government’s resolve to prosecute the perpetrators. However, locals continue to plead for central government to respond.” 

On September 29, the Catholic News Agency reported the release of a Catholic Church Priest who was kidnapped in his farm near Issele-Uku, Delta State. That was the second time the humble priest was kidnapped. Those who kidnapped him the first time were never apprehended. So, should I be confident that those who kidnapped him a second time would be caught and punished? That would be hoping against hope. As you read this, those who met a woman, Wenhana Shaku in her farm, cut off her palm, and left her in a pool of her own blood, have not been apprehended. She is still alive and she said her attackers were Fulani herdsmen. But will she ever get justice? 

What about the abductors and killers of the late Obi of Ubulu, HRM Obi Ofulue III? Some persons were paraded as having something to do with the death. A name was mentioned but the faces of those paraded were not shown. I am from Ubulu-Uku town and we are still waiting for justice for the very amiable and gentlemanly Obi Akaeze Edward Ofulue. His blood is still crying for justice. The faith of the town’s folks in Nigeria is still shaky; if the Police can’t solve the murder of a king, who is safe? 

The killer herdsmen are the greatest security challenge facing Nigeria today simply because they are everywhere across the nation. Hey, we started with the killer herdsmen, and we have returned to them. Even if the President did not show that he is aware of this particular criminal behaviour of a certain group of persons, this should be the right place to stop this article. This I believe.