“Action speaks louder than words”.
Obviously, any Nigerian who deeply considers or reads deep meaning to what this maxim above represents, he or she would surely understand that within the Nigerian political climate, politicians who lambast or criticise those at the echelon of power so much, may eventually perform far more worse when given the opportunity by the masses. They mostly do this to gain publicity and persuade the masses into supporting their political ambitions.
A few years before Nigeria had one of its freest and fairest presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari and his fellow critics heavily lambasted the Jonathan Administration due to its failure to secure the country. We saw these politicians organize the #OccupyNigeria protests. Buhari as a retired general made a promise during his campaign that insecurity would be brought to an end within 6 months if he were given the opportunity. Majority of Nigerians seeing the intentness of Muhammadu Buhari (though as gloomy as the grey clouds) voted for him during the 2015 presidential election to profer solutions to most of the country’s problems.
Post-2015, the story did not change, the events became worse and more dreadful with the passage of time, the perpetrators of evil proliferated into other areas of the country with the media identifying these new terrorists as “bandits”. They brought about ceaseless violence and bloodshed that many Nigerians never knew would arrive at their doorsteps. This was never what Nigerians wanted. If we ever had the opportunity of having a prognostication of future events, the right persons for the job would have attained political and military power.
Look at the recent happenings in Kaduna State. There is no assurance of safety in using the trains or airplanes as a means of transportation. The roads were for long unsafe to ply. This was never the way it was before. This was never what the rich who used the trains and aeroplanes as a means of transportation had ever expected it to be like. The insecurity situation might have never escalated to this point if the government were not frivolous in handling the situation. Sadly, much propaganda from social media buharists on the train attack was flying in the air. They claimed that all 970 passengers in the train were safe and that the Nigerian Armed Forces had conquered the insurgents.
Appalling and atrocious as it may sound or be, there are still a few Nigerians who have chosen to be more patriotic to their leaders who oppress, repress and fail them than to their country which they wished to prevail and succeed. They have for a long time now being identifying themselves as Buharists. Anyone who calls out the president for his wrongs is tagged as his enemy. A true Nigerian who doesn’t stand by a political party or a politician would look at such an individual and say ‘Patriotism in the dustbin’ or ‘Patriotism, my foot’.
Unfortunately, the insecurity situation in the country has been and is still being politicised by these staunch supporters of the Buhari Administration. It makes one wonder if such people are still in touch with reality. I wasn’t surprised by the statement given by our Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who said that the country was getting safer everyday. In a bid to support this inept government in its failure to secure the country, they have to live in denial, continually spread propaganda and lies, and engage in blame shifting to the political opposition.
The supporters of this administration need to be reschooled on the reality of our country. They have for long opened their eyes to what they want to see and closed their eyes to what they do not want to see. They need to learn and understand the glaring facts about how this government has handled the insecurity situation in the country with levity.
Party stalwarts need to understand that no government ever de-escalated its security threats by sympathising with terrorists. The Nigerian Army captured some terrorists instead of terminating them. These terrorists numbering over hundred were rehabilitated, then tagged ‘repentant’, with some of them being recruited into the Nigerian Army. How can you trust such people? Military operations might even be hijacked by such people with them still serving as insiders or spies for their terrorist brothers or warmongers and feeding them with vital information.
Party stalwarts need to understand that a government that is serious about its country’s security would have apprehended and execute those who were involved in the sponsorship of these terrorists. They know their names and their locations but still allow them to roam freely around the country.
Party stalwarts need to understand that a government that’s serious about ending insecurity would have directed its army to do the most needful thing, and that is, taking the battle to the hideouts of these criminals.
Party stalwarts need to also understand that a government that’s serious about combating insecurity would not threaten to sanction media houses who disseminated information on insecurity issues in order to prevent the masses from knowing about events going on in the country.
I urge die-hard Buharists and APC party stalwarts to put humanity first before political interests no matter how well-performing and underperforming a government might be, and also open their eyes to burning issues in the country. Patriots stand by their country not by their president.
