Open grazing is another topical issue and most agree that it has now become an unsustainable practice. Opinion leaders drawn from across our geographical and ethnic divide now advocate ranching in line with best practices of animal husbandry that obtains all over the world. Even Governor Aminu Masari of President Buhari’s home state of Katsina, was quoted to have said that open grazing is un-Islamic and not the best for herders. The only little problem is that the oligarchs in control of the levers of power have no intention of listening to anyone but themselves.
Within the ranks of the Nigerian oligarchs, especially from the north, there seems to be this gross misconception that restructuring is some kind of cold-war the south is openly waging against the Arewa house. Or how else to explain Attorney General Abubakar Malami’s diatribe against proponents of restructuring. For many like him, that word is only but a smokescreen used to conceal a sinister motive which is to permanently wrestle power and resource control from the north and has nothing to do with the overall health and well being of this republic.
But it’s not only with restructuring; even the issue of Boko Haram is another area where the fight against the deadly terror group is hampered by the warped perceptions of some critically important stakeholders. Part of the greatest impediment to defeating the insurgency is that some Hausa-Fulanis in the Moslem north see the fight against insurgency as some sought of religious war.
Both President Buhari and his current Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami, at various times have both been quoted to have made statements that seemed to suggest having soft spot for the terror group. “Our Muslim brothers did not deserve to be killed like pigs”, the minister reportedly said. And by Muslim brother, he meant battle-hardened Boko Haram terrorists.
Just recently, Bukar Tanda, a legislative aid to Abdulkadir Rahis, the member of the House representing the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, was booted out over his Facebook post about Abubakar Shekau. He was reported to have described the erstwhile blood-thirsty Boko Haram leader as courageous, saying he lived a life of a hero and died a true hero. Really?
The Nigerian house is being consumed by a raging inferno but instead of looking for ways to quench it, the landlords of Aso Rock are busy standing guard at the door with rifle in hand and shooting at some phantom targets. In the end, when the house gets razed to the ground, they will realise that, all along they have been fighting an imaginary war.
The biggest threat to restructuring is that humans generally detest any action that could potentially whittle down their power for any reason. This predilection for territorial protection is not unique to leaders of northern extraction but also shared with their southern counterparts. It doesn’t even matter that such action would in the long run serve their interest better or make way for a greater societal good. Except of course, if your are a Mikhail Gorbachev and in love with such fancy terms as Perestroika and Glasnost.
Humans naturally are about that power grab and even not long ago we heard the story of a certain Attorney General who advised his principal, an elected civilian president to suspend the constitution and roll out marshal laws. The chief law officer of the land urging the one who swore to protect the constitution to break the law. Only in Nigeria!
President Jonathan would have gone ahead with implementing the 2014 confab recommendation but instead kicked the can down the road, hoping to win the second term. We can only speculate what would have been the fate of our country had his government acted fast and decisively. Even Obasanjo before now was not a big fan of restructuring. In fact, a Vanguard newspaper article of July 8th, 2017 quoted him as being against restructuring, stating that what needed restructuring was the mindset of Nigerians.
Today most of the oligarchs resisting the needed structural changes to make Nigeria work cannot even travel back to their village, let alone spend a night in their stately but lizard-infested mansions. Instead, they have become unfortunate inmates in the high walls of their Abuja prisons. These people are so drunk with money, power and privilege which they traded with personal freedom and mortgaged their country’s future. Like the golden fish, they have fed fat on Nigeria till their stomach ripped apart and it’s easy to tell that these emperors have no clothes.
•Dr. Agbo, a public affairs analyst is the coordinator of African Centre for Transparency and Convener of Save Nigeria Project. Email: [email protected]
