Divided over 2023 general elections
Canvass socio-economic inclusion to end banditry
el-Rufai’s threat, dangerous proposal, vote of no confidence on Presidency, Armed Forces
BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, TIMOTHY AGBOR AND AGNES NWORIE
Nigerians have reacted angrily to the alarmingly deteriorating security situation in the country, especially in the north western states, describing it as unacceptable and deserving of immediate declaration of a state of emergency by President Muhammadu Buhari.
They also held that Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai’s threat to engage foreign mercenaries in a bid to arrest the worsening security situation in the state, along with other governors in the region was not just a dangerous proposal, but a damning vote of no confidence in both the Presidency and Armed Forces.
Reacting to the threat by el-Rufai, a legal practitioner and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Osun State, Niyi Owolade, said Buhari has failed the country and should resign.
He wondered why the President has not declared a state of emergency on the dangerous turn of insecurity in the north western states.
Bandits and terrorists have wreaked untold hardship on Nigerians by inflicting emotional and security agonies on them.
In the first quarter of 2022, no fewer than 1,545 persons were allegedly killed by terrorists a joint report by the Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities and the Joint Action Civil Society Committee under the aegis of Nigeria Mourns recently revealed.
The report also disclosed that at least 1,321 persons were allegedly abducted by the terrorists between January 1 and March 30, 2022 in which the north-western states of Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi and North Central state of Niger, came under intense attacks by the terrorists.
Owolade, a chieftain of the Yoruba Socio-Cultural group, Afenifere, and the People’s Democratic Party, equally carpeted the 9th National Assembly, saying the lawmakers have failed the country.
He declared that Nigeria is currently going through a period that is worse than the three years of the civil war between 1967 and 1970. He argued that the 2023 general election may not hold if the situation is allowed to deteriorate any further than this, insisting that “no one votes in a theatre of war.”
He said that “The president should declare a state of emergency. He can even constitute a committee of security experts to look into the security situation in this country and report to him. But the people around him are not telling him the truth. It’s now so bad that Nigerians are no longer surprised or pained when they hear figures of casualties owing to insecurity.”
He added that “Nigeria is part of the signatories to International Organisations and I don’t think the protocols support that aspect of bringing in mercenaries but the more important issue that he (el-Rufai) has raised that we shouldn’t lose sight of is that the Federal Government has failed this country. Security issue is a constitutional issue that is the primary aspect of government and if you have somebody high up there like el-Rufai saying that the Federal Government, led by his party has not done enough to secure the lives and property of the people, it’s an indictment on the party, the government and the leader of the government.
“How many marching orders will Buhari give to his Service Chiefs? He should resign if he cannot secure Nigeria. This is one of the reasons we are clamouring for a younger man who is not seemingly bugged down by age. For goodness sake a younger person as President would not have failed woefully like this in terms of securing the lives and property of Nigerians”
“Because if you have an issue that is persistent and consistent, that is the issue of insecurity in our country, then we have a government that cannot even think out of the box and doesn’t have a solution to insecurity.
“The 9th National Assembly has been soft and they have also failed. If others had followed Senator Smart Adeyemi to put pressure on the executive, things wouldn’t have turned this way. The National Assembly has been looking at the tragedy befalling this country from a party angle. This man belongs to my party! And it’s beyond that. Governance is not about party affiliation. It’s about the protection of the people. Forget about the fact that he is a former General. He doesn’t have the power to secure Nigerians. We now have non-state actors who are stronger. It’s a sad development. Even during the civil war, we never had it this bad. Yes, the area of the war was the Eastern part and when the Biafran soldiers moved to Benin that was when we felt it at the University College, Ibadan, that they were coming close. But, what is the difference now?
“I have traveled by train from Ibadan to Lagos but I can’t dare to do it now again. We are all scared and we have a government? Anarchy is around the corner and this president should resign,” he added.
A Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, also weighed in, stating that el-Rufai doesn’t have the power to engage mercenaries and that only the President has the constitutional power to embark on such a gambit.
Ozekhome said the issue of inviting mercenaries is akin to deployment of the military to repel and contain external aggression.
“It has to do with the command and operational use of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, whether in peace times, war, or under a state of emergency. All of these are solely and wholly vested in the president, with some moderational effect by the NASS. See sections 217, 218, 219 and 305 of the 1999 Constitution. These are federal matters. Only the president of Nigeria who doubles as the Commander-in-Chief has the constitutional powers to carry these out. Even the Police is, by virtue of sections 214 and 215 of the 1999 Constitution, squarely under the purview of the Federal Government.
“No state government under our constitutional democracy and legal regime can unilaterally act to invite mercenaries to Nigeria. It is ultra vires their powers. Their only resort is a collaborative rapprochement with the Federal Government. However, they can tackle their state security matters within the permissible limits of our constitutional organogram,” Ozekhome explained.
Another chieftain of the All Progressives Congress from the South West who wouldn’t want his name in print for obvious reasons angrily said, “By now one would have thought that a state of emergency would have been declared in those north western states where bandits and terrorists are having a field day. The security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of any government. Non-state-actors are holding sway in Kaduna, of all places. This is a state that has more than 10 military and para-military formations.
“Forget the issue of being in the same party. This is an existential problem. And we will be making a grave mistake to think that we are in the South West and so insulated from the insecurity currently ravaging the North West. This is not a party thing. It is a matter of competence and being alive to duties and responsibilities.
“They are burning houses, killing people, raping women, taking hostages, storming the airport and attempting to prevent aircraft from taking off, bombing train on its track, killing and injuring innocent and law abiding people.
“How many marching orders will Buhari give to his Service Chiefs? He should resign if he cannot secure Nigeria. This is one of the reasons we are clamouring for a younger man who is not seemingly bugged down by age. For goodness sake a younger person as President would not have failed woefully like this in terms of securing the lives and property of Nigerians,” he declared.
Dangerous proposal
An aide of one of the South-South governors described el-Rufai’s threat as a joke taken too far. He said the governor probably didn’t think it through before uttering it.
“Governor el-Rufai knows that was a dangerous proposal. He probably was bragging and didn’t think through what he uttered. What if all governors begin to talk of bringing in mercenaries to protect their people? I can tell you that those mercenaries would soon become warlords scrambling for territories to control and you will have Somalia in your hand. So I call on the President to wake up or resign and the NASS to stop being a mere rubber stamp, approving debt requests and approving appointments into boards only. If they don’t act, we have a big and terrible situation at hand,” he concluded.
Also speaking to The Point, another lawyer and former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Osun State, Kolapo Alimi, agreed that the constitution doesn’t empower governors to use foreign security mercenaries to tackle insecurity in Nigeria. He stated that it was a dangerous proposal which must not be allowed.
According to the chieftain of the APC, “The constitution does not give the provision whereby a governor will bring mercenaries to secure any part of the country. Even in the country, there is a limit to where a governor can just employ anybody on security. State Police have not been approved. So, a governor can use the Police but if he wants to use the Army, he needs the permission of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. So, it’s just a mere brag, he (El-Rufai) can’t do that. If he tries to do it, the Federal Government will arrest those people (mercenaries). The Army and Police won’t spare them.
“Assuming he wants to do such, it has to be with the approval of Mr President. Bringing mercenaries will be undermining our security. When you talk of mercenaries, you are talking of foreign security agents and that would be undermining our security agencies. It’s like a vote of no confidence in our security agencies.
“If I were to be the president, I would send some security agents abroad to study how security is being tackled. Police stations have been bombed, senior security officers have been ambushed, killed and kidnapped and nothing has happened. So, it means the Army and Police themselves are not secure. With the sophisticated level of attacks, it would be difficult to use human ways to tackle it. We need sophisticated means. I doubt if Nigeria is ready for this.”
On whether the federal lawmakers have done the needful, Alimi said the issue is beyond the National Assembly.
“If the executive is not doing anything, there is nothing for the National Assembly to act upon. When the Chief of Army Staff is not secured, then, what about others who are not in the security? The bandits have changed their tactics. It’s a guerilla war and you can’t win it with mere hands or usual ways. And nobody wants to sacrifice his life now. So, it’s incumbent on the Federal Government to take maximum advantage of technological equipment to tackle insecurity. There should be proper record keeping where those who are born are immediately registered and those who die are also documented. We don’t have records of those who have died and those who are being born. It’s even affecting our electoral process. Biometric and data should be taken seriously. Clandestine cameras should be plotted across the country for security,” he said.
Ebonyi Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission, Onyekachi Okorie, also agreed that Governor el-Rufai has no such powers and there had been a conspiracy between international terrorists and the Nigerian government.
“My answer is my personal opinion which as a citizen, I am entitled to. I do not speak for or on behalf of any agency, body or group of persons. The question is not even about if el-Rufai has the power. The issue is whether it’s necessary in the first instance to do so.
“My answer is that el Rufai doesn’t have the power in the first instance. Secondly, it is not necessary as Nigeria should have the necessary intelligence and arms to end the invasion.
Need for socio-economic inclusion
The need to deliberately ensure socio-economic inclusion by political leaders was highlighted by lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Aborisade.
He reasoned that once there is social and economic equity, there would be less terror on the streets.
“If I were to be the president, I would send some security agents abroad to study how security is being tackled. Police stations have been bombed, senior security officers have been ambushed, killed and kidnapped and nothing has happened. So, it means the Army and Police themselves are not secure. With the sophisticated level of attacks, it would be difficult to use human ways to tackle it. We need sophisticated means. I doubt if Nigeria is ready for this”
He stressed that “in the country, Kaduna, perhaps, is the most dangerous state to work, reside or visit. That is why the governor appears concerned. The desperation of the governor is reflected in looking for mercenaries where the Federal Government fails to provide physical security. Definitely, that would be unconstitutional as only the Federal Government can maintain apparatus of coercion. If mercenaries would solve the problem, whether it is constitutional or not would not have mattered to ordinary people,” he said.
However, he opined, “I think that the governor has not understood the root cause of physical insecurity in Kaduna State. It is not lack of adequate security forces that is responsible for unprecedented insecurity in Kaduna State. We need to be clear about the causes and possible solutions to avoid more of such tragedies in future. Merely calling the people who carried out the attack ‘terrorists’ and ‘criminals’ and asking for more resolute action by the security forces controlled by the Federal Government or recruiting mercenaries will not solve the root causes of insecurity. Until the root causes are addressed, the situation we are witnessing today would pale into insignificance later.
“The people of Kaduna State have suffered wave after wave of retrenchments over the last 20 years, and particularly under the regime of Governor el- Rufai. The textile mills used to employ tens of thousands, but they are now gone. Their workers have lost their jobs, in many cases, without being paid their entitlements even where the factories were owned by the state government. Then, the state government also inflicted retrenchments, including thousands of teachers in 2017 as well as local government employees.
“Young people in Kaduna State today are suffering unprecedented levels of unemployment and they all know family members who have been retrenched and thousands of pensioners in the state who have yet to receive their gratuities.
“Young people can also see the wealth of Kaduna represented by the outrageous convoys that transport top politicians, military officials and others. It is not surprising that a few turn to crime, and worse, when they know so many of the rich gained their wealth from corruption. We need to be clear that nobody was born a criminal or terrorist. Criminals and terrorists are essentially, and in the main, products of our unjust society. They are people pushed into committing illegal acts. The only enduring solution lies in policies that move towards far more equal societies. There is enough wealth in society to satisfy everyone’s needs, but not the greed of the few.”
In apparent agreement, one time Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Abia Onyeike said, “The security of any country depends on many factors and not on what the Commander in Chief does on military institutions. Factors that guarantee national security include youth employment, sound educational policies and solid national economic planning. Security is not the same as carrying arms by soldiers to intimidate people. Security can be guaranteed in a society where there is justice, equity and fairness. The President should consider the issues raised here as important ingredients of protecting the citizenry.”
2023: To be or not to be
Opinions, however, differ on the possible effect of insecurity in the country on the next general election which is just by the corner.
On whether the insecurity would serve as a reason for the 2023 general elections not to hold, Owolade said it is possible.
“Yes, in a theater of war, there can’t be any election. We have to secure our lives first. If you recall, we had to postpone elections for a couple of weeks during the Jonathan era for insecurity in some areas. But we have never had it so bad. Non-state actors have taken over local government areas in some parts of the North. These terrorists are taking over. If it takes us to declare a state of emergency, let’s declare it. If you have failed security wise, you have failed as a government. I don’t even know whether the president knows what is happening. Maybe he has been isolated.”
For Alimi, “Under no condition will the general elections be postponed or stopped. Periodic election is part of devolving solutions. Fresh hands will take over and do things differently. Since 1999, there has never been a time when elections were stopped because of insecurity. So, we need the election as part of solutions.”
Ezra Enwere, a lawyer and political analyst, is optimistic elections will be held in 2023.
He said, “By God’s grace, a new government will be inaugurated come May 29, 2023. Election was conducted in 2015 amidst insecurity. At that time, Boko Haram terrorism was at the crescendo. Elections were held even in Borno State and those locations were the hot spots. This present situation cannot be otherwise. At least substantial parts of Nigeria are not affected by the insecurity to warrant suspension of the election. That election will be held is not an issue at all. Only God can change that,” he said.
