THE terror attacks in Oyo and Borno States, which involved the abduction of tens of people, according to multiple reports, a majority of whom were school children, are more than another episode in the ugly history of Nigeria's failed security system. While the sad events follow the usual template of the terrorists assaulting Nigeria via public and social institutions, the new angles in the Oriire and Mussa schoolkid kidnappings go to show that the men of the underworld continue to metastasize like the cancer that they are, despite the self-acclaimed security strides of Tinubu's administration. It also shows that President Tinubu, like his predecessors, on the security front, for now, is nearly as effective a President as medication is to a person after their death.
At the height of insecurity under President Jonathan in 2014 and 2015, Tinubu, then fondly called National Leader of the APC, the then opposition party, had a lot to say, including this tweet:
"On matters of security, the bulk stops at the President's table. Like in other countries, Jonathan is the Chief Security Officer. Stop Boko H" (tweeted at 2:31pm on 14 April 2014 via @officialABAT).
Not minding the malapropism where the President mistook "bulk" for "buck," what Tinubu said was simple: the President of the country is the country's CSO, and he should be held directly responsible for matters of security. In fact, in deference to principle, and going by some of his other tweets and public outbursts where he called Jonathan incompetent and asked him to resign, Tinubu himself should have resigned by now.
Incidentally, Tinubu made the call for Jonathan's resignation in Kwara State, one of the North Central states of Nigeria, where the terrorists now surge into Southwest Nigeria, where the noise was loud enough to reach the ears of Donald Trump late last year. In truth, Tinubu was not wrong about Jonathan, but the reality of Jonathan is currently his reality. A good leader, by Tinubu's takes, ought to be responsible enough to give succor to the people and when they cannot, they ought to be honorable enough to resign.
I do not expect Tinubu to resign over killings and kidnappings under his administration. I say this as a Nigerian who has experienced the political class, knowing that Nigerian leaders do not resign until death takes their lives. Nigerian leaders love power, and no politician in the current dispensation embodies the love of power more than Tinubu. The question is: Does Tinubu's love of power outweigh his value for the lives of Nigerians?
The strife within the opposition parties in Nigeria already suggests that Tinubu might love power more than the lives of Nigerians, but I would presume, even if that makes me a Devil's Advocate for a moment, that the President wants a Nigeria where the security of lives and properties is guaranteed. If my presumption is any good, the President would make good of his electoral promises on security and welfare of people. That will require more than reactionary efforts that his administration has been mostly seen doing. Indeed, prevention is better than cure. Handing out press statements to commiserate with mothers and fathers who would rather love to deal with endless petty requests of their children on Eid and Children's Day feels discordant. There is no renewed hope there; that is a grief room sermon.
The President of Nigeria is not expected to be its missionary who is given to, of all things, rendering a homily at a press interview. God knows there are many clerics in Islam and Christendom doing His work in Nigeria already. But, perhaps, talking about sermonizing, the President would do better to look at Khalīfa Umar, the second leader of Muslims after Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, for some lessons. This is more befitting for him, notwithstanding the correctness of what he shared with journalists about the Islamic traditions and the story of Eid-l-Kabīr, the story of Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, to illustrate the sacredness of human lives.
During the reign of Umar, he used to go on night patrols to see the status of things among the people of Madinah for himself. One night, he went out on his usual rounds with Aslam, his slave. While on the routine, they saw a campfire towards Harrah (a suburb of Madinah) and decided to check if it was a caravan that could not enter the city because it was nightfall. Moving towards the fire, they had decided to help arrange their protection for the night. There, they met a woman and her children instead.
While the children cried because of hunger, the woman had put some water, the only thing she had, on fire. Her plan was to make them drink some water while they fall asleep waiting for what was being cooked to be ready for consumption. In their conversation, the woman, not knowing that it was Umar who was talking to her, said, "On the Day of Qiyaamah, Allah will judge between Umar and me for neglecting me in my distress." Umar, while weeping, said: "May Allah have mercy on you! How can Umar know of your distress?" The woman replied: "When he is our Amir, he must keep himself informed about us."
To remedy the situation, Umar, without revealing his identity, immediately went to Baitul-Mal, where he fetched the family a load of food items and some money. Although Aslam offered to carry the load, Umar refused, telling him that the burden was exclusively his to bear. Upon getting to the family, Umar made them their dinner and even prepared extra meals for them to eat later. The family was well fed and happy. The woman was so happy that she remarked that the man ought to take the place of Umar as the Khalīfa, unbeknownst to her that that was Umar himself. Umar told her that she would meet him whenever she came to see the Khalīfa. Shortly after they parted with them, Umar stood at some distance to keep watch on them before he and Aslam went back.
If the master strategist, the king, is so good at his political games that he wins all or most of his moves on the chessboard, what is the point of his mastery when nearly all his subjects are already eliminated before the endgame?
There are many lessons for the President to pick here. For one, the consciousness to mind the welfare and security of the people as closely as possible, which informed the routine of night patrols. For another, the humility to take criticism from the subject even when it is a face-off. Even more so, the immediacy of corrective action — not mere words — when there is an anomaly. Most importantly, differentiating between the place and time of spirituality and the place and time of practical, human steps.
Of course, the proposal is not that the President should be at the vanguard of military efforts to protect the country; it is not that he can be in every mourning home, it is, in fact, not that he can completely rid Nigeria of insecurity in his time as the President. Insecurity has been a problem in Nigeria even before the Fourth Republic — the peculiar things about it since 2002, when it became more pronounced, are its scale and manner.
The scale and manner in which insecurity has rattled the country have long called for holistic, more local-based solutions. When Tinubu made a case for State Policing, it gained traction amongst Nigerians. Although fears have been expressed about funding, misuse, separation and overlapping of jurisdictions, State Policing still holds promising outcomes for the country. What is causing the delay in institutionalising the process is, summarily, a lack of political will. When Umar decided to go on night patrols, it was because he had the political will to take the risks and face the dangers of the nights.
Indeed, patrolling a city cannot be compared to securing a country against terrorism, but one shudders to think that a President who values the lives of Nigerians, who has lawmakers singing "On your mandate we shall stand," is unable to speedily mobilize his henchmen in the chambers to cogently deal with expressed concerns and start the required constitutional process for State Policing three years into his administration.
The delay in preventive efforts in policymaking — think even the delayed appointment of Nigerian ambassadors until Trump's gaffe — goes to show that seriousness in combating insecurity in Nigeria is a parallel idea to Tinubu's administration. Unless there is a public outcry or a need to save face, this remains to be true. In many cases, in place of preventative and corrective efforts, the administration has doled out bags of rice to victims of floods and to people who lost their means of livelihood. Food is good, but only for the hungry. The hunger for safety of life, for sound health, and for properly rewarded labour, far outweighs rice and beans. The concern in the climate of fears, to put it in pidgin parlance, no be beans.
In the East (South South and South East geopolitical zones), there is the Eastern Security Network; in the West (South West geopolitical zone), there is Amotekun; in the North (North West, North East, North Central geopolitical zones), there is Shege-Ka-Fasa. These are efforts already geared towards a more community-based solution to insecurity. Whether or not they are integrated into State Policing, if there is State Policing eventually, is another discussion entirely, but it can be likened to knowing the place of practical steps differently from spiritual ones.
You do not ask a dying people that they should pray "that bandits should abandon their ways and have a change of heart." You do not say that "that is the lawf." Instead, you, the CSO, just be the CSO.
That is the Umari lesson for President Tinubu here. You do not ask a dying people that they should pray "that bandits should abandon their ways and have a change of heart" — not when you often pardon them. You do not say that "that is the lawf." Instead, you, the CSO, just be the CSO, without complaining, without appearing clueless — because you knew what was at stake on the job before getting it. You do your job without your praise singers complaining on your behalf or getting annoyed too.
Without mincing words, it is most annoying and most disappointing, the propensity of APC supporters to ingratiate themselves with the President. It is a known niche of political jobbers, but APC loudmouths are proponents of an excruciating kind of it. For Tinubu, Khalīfa Umar holds the lesson that even when Nigerians are throwing vitriols, tantrums, even when anger clouds every discussion group and forum, there is always something to pick and act on.
The people who are the President's ears and eyes are therefore best to stop being so good at attacking critics while being so poor at letting the President know the truest concerns of the people. Aslam did not do this for Umar — he, instead, helped him resolve the problem. You make the President blind and dumb, you make the President distant and cold. At this rate, he will either have no mandate that you can stand on, or his mandate will be so soaked in Nigerian blood it slips you into a whirlpool of citizens' carcasses. If the master strategist, the king, is so good at his political games that he wins all or most of his moves on the chessboard, what is the point of his mastery when nearly all his subjects are already eliminated before the endgame?
Leave a Comment