President Buhari or herdsman Buhari?

Having not suffered any traumatic dilemma over his overweening loyalty to herdsmen who are his fellow Fulani, President Muhammadu Buhari is oblivious of his rapid erasure as a statesman. Or if he is aware, he is not bothered about the grim verdict of history – here was a president of a great nation who ended as a leader of a segment of the country, Fulani herdsmen.

Yes, we must discountenance Buhari’s sense of justice that seeks to exculpate him from the tragedies being unleashed by Fulani herdsmen. He vouchsafed this notion of justice during his visit to Plateau after the Fulani herdsmen’s attacks whose death toll has been officially put at 135 while witnesses claim it is over 200. He wondered why he should be accused of being silent over the now perennial massacres.

The wonder is why Buhari should be surprised that he is being blamed for the Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism. His administration would not be identified with the legacy of solving the myriad of problems with which the nation is contending. Nor with directing the people’s energies towards a collective goal that would produce greater unity for the nation. Hobbled by its inability to respond to existential challenges that pose a mortal blow to our individual and collective existence, the Buhari government demurs at the prospect of conquering the moon. Thus, unlike other nations of the world whose stellar socio-economic, political and technological strides would etch them in the memories of other countries, Nigeria gains the attention of the world because it is trapped in the comparison of the death statistics of the Buhari administration and those of his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

While it is true that Boko Haram gloated about its suzerainty over swathes of the nation’s territory under Jonathan, the rash of deaths since Buhari emerged as president has shown that insecurity was only at its inchoate stage under the Ijaw poster boy of good luck. Jonathan was evicted from Aso Rock when he had only Boko Haram insurgents to contend with. But since the emergence of Buhari, insecurity has increased. In addition to Boko Haram, there is now the Fulani scourge. Buhari was voted into office because he claimed to possess the magic wand to end the insecurity. Nigerians believed because he is not only a retired general, he has been a head of state. It was assumed that he was very familiar not only with governance but strategies for countering insecurity.

However, three years after, it has become clear that it was only an illusion. The people are now faced with the reality that Buhari has no magic wand. His failure to tame the Fulani herdsmen has only portrayed him as being in support of the plague of our common peace. Thus, on his watch, thousands have been killed by Fulani herdsmen. If Jonathan was considered to have lost the raison deter for his occupancy of Aso Rock to the abduction of 273 Chibok schoolgirls, can Buhari claim any legitimacy to his stay in Aso Rock after thousands have been killed by Fulani herdsmen on his watch?

But what do the Fulani herdsmen really want? Why have they declared themselves implacable foes of our peace? Their implacability is seen in the fact that in less than a week after Buhari announced an iniquitous budget of N179 billion for them to have ranches, they savagely attacked residents of Plateau State.

No matter how much Buhari whines that he is pained by his alleged complicity in the killings, the charge cannot easily be dismissed. For, Buhari has neglected the responsibility of curbing the lunacy of the herdsmen that inevitably results in destruction on an apocalyptic scale. While the citizens are still in confusion as regards who could have been responsible for the killings that have convulsed the nation, Fulani herdsmen often claim culpability. The Miyetti Allah is often ready with the claim that Fulani herdsmen are killing to avenge the rustling of their cattle or grazing laws that threaten their business. This has been the case in Benue and now Plateau State. In essence, the perpetrators of the killings are not hidden. So, if Buhari really wants to arrest and prosecute the killers, he could easily arrest the Miyetti Allah leaders since they can explain why the killings take place.

Buhari deserves to be blamed for the Fulani herdsmen’s killings because he has refused to accept the need for him to review his security architecture. He has stuck to the nepotistic security architecture that is anchored on incompetence .If Buhari really wanted to check the killings why has he not appointed new service chiefs? Why has he not sacked the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris and Defence Minister Mansur Dan Ali?

Discerning Nigerian patriots think that the Fulani herdsmen’s crisis can be resolved through restructuring. It has been observed that restructuring would enable the states to work out their own security strategies to check a crisis like that of the Fulani herdsmen. The baleful consequence of the absence of a restructured polity is now seen in the predicament of Governor Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari of Zamfara. He has no control over the security system in his state. The security chiefs in the state receive directives from Abuja. So no matter how much he is outraged at the carnage that is claiming his citizens, he cannot take a decisive measure to intervene. Yari has underscored his frustration with this incapacitating structure of the polity, when he declared that he was resigning from the office of the chief security officer of the state.

While Buhari refuses to check the killings, we must be alert to the harm they are causing the nation. They have stoked ethnic hatred. The victims who survived their attacks only feel safe in their ethnic cocoons. The erosion of Nigerianess that the killings has provoked can be seen in the light of the prayer of some of the citizens during the Super Eagles’ match against Argentina in Russia. They were opposed to Nigeria winning because such victory would make Nigerians to forget the tragedies at home. They were afraid that banters would now centre on the Super Eagles’ victory and not on the killings and the overarching need to check their recurrence.

It is obvious that the nation urgently needs clear-cut measures to check all these crises. But this sense of urgency is lost on Buhari. Such sense of urgency is blurred by Buhari’s quest for another four years. But it should be clear that Buhari needs another four years not to serve the nation but to demonstrate more loyalty to his fellow herdsmen. Blinded by this loyalty, Buhari cannot grasp his derailment encapsulated in the warning of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group that he has to choose between the presidency of Nigeria and that of Miyetti Allah.

Perhaps, these killings are too far from the federal seat of power and this is why Buhari and his officials are not aware of the tragedies under which the nation is currently choking. In that case, we need to appropriate the admonition of the maverick Senator Shehu Sani that the victims of the Plateau killings should be buried close to Aso Rock. May be, when Buhari and his aides are confronted daily with these sad reminders of their tragic fecklessness, they would devise effective strategies to check the Fulani herdsmen plague. But it is not likely that this would even weaken Buhari’s ambition to snatch another four years from unwilling and bloodied citizens. But if those who want his return have their way, they should be ready for another four years of death and pain as he diminishes himself further and inflicts his Fulani herdsmen on them.

The power elite who signed away June 12

MKO Abiola

The Federal Government, which was last week basking in the glory of its boldness in recognizing the June 12, 1993 election winner, Chief MKO Abiola spoke in tongues about the power elite who conspired against June 12 election result. Even my brother, Olusegun Adeniyi in his June 12: A Complicated Story (Thursday 14 June, 2018) referred to a tripartite committee comprising the military and representatives of the two political parties, the (defeated) National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

It should be noted that The Guardian on Sunday then had on June 11, 2000 published a list of G-34 members who signed the tripartite agreement, which nailed the coffin of June 12 presidential election result.

The exclusive (lead) story I wrote for The Guardian then as Abuja Bureau Chief was a good reference point in Professor Olatunji Dare’s (2010) book, “Diary of a Debacle: Tacking Nigeria’s Failed Democratic Transition (1989- 1994)”. The scoop with a headline: “Exposed: Men Who Signed Away June 12”, contained the names of the power elite in the Federal Republic of the Nigerian Army then who signed away Nigeria’s democracy and subverted Nigeria’s sovereignty expressed on June 12, 1993. This was after General IBB then operating a strange diarchy, addressed what was constituted as a National Assembly operating then at the International Conference Centre.

So, 18 years ago, The Guardian listed the following military officers and political leaders who signed on behalf of the Federal Government and their parties the document purporting to be setting up the Interim National Government (ING).
Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, Vice President under the military presidency of General Ibrahim Babangida;
Lt. Gen. Joshua Dogonyaro, Commandant, Command & Staff College, Jaji;
Lt. Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, then National Security Adviser;
Brigadier-General Anthony Ukpo, former Federal Commissioner for Information and later assigned to Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna;
Brigadier-General David Mark, then serving with the National War College (now National Defence College) Has served as Senate President;
Brigadier-General John Shagaya, then serving as General Officer Commanding 1 Division Kaduna. (He died early this year);
Also, Alhaji Abdulrahman Okene, then serving as Secretary for Internal Affairs in the Transitional Council signed on behalf of the Federal Military Government;
The SDP members who signed the document setting up the ING to dismantle Abiola’s mandate were:
General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former presidential aspirant who had won the SDP presidential ticket in the primaries that were also annulled before Abiola came in. He died in Abakaliki prison where he was being detained by General Abacha;
Chief Tony Anenih, then SDP National Chairman, called Mr. Fix-it who declared that the day the ING document was signed was his happiest day. He later became Works Minister under President Obasanjo (1999-2003).

Alhaji Sule Lamido, then Secretary of the SDP, later Foreign Affairs Minister under Obasanjo and had served as Governor Jigawa State;
Chief Jim Nwobodo, former governor of old Anambra state and later Senator in this dispensation;
Chief Dapo Sarumi, former Governorship aspirant, Lagos state, served the ING as Minister of Communications;
Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, former Kano State Governor and and a regular face in Abiola’s residence in Lagos but later said, “I am not in politics because of Abiola”. He later served as Communications Minister under Sani Abacha,
Dr. Patrick Dele Cole, former “Daily Times” Managing Director, Political Strategist to Abiola, former Envoy to Brazil later served Obasanjo as Special Adviser; and
Okechukwu Odunze, then national Treasurer of the SDP
Prominent among those who signed the ING document in the then NRC were:
Dr Hamed Kusamotu, then Chairman of NRC (deceased);
Arc. Tom Ikimi, former NRC Chairman and later Abacha’s combative Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, earlier declared, “Abiola won fair an square” earlier secured party ticket as presidential aspirant but was annulled by IBB; later served as Agriculture Minister under Abacha and later as Finance minister under Obasanjo;
Okey Uzoho, then National Publicity Secretary, NRC (deceased);
Joe Nwodo who signed with unstated “reservations”;
Theo Nkire;
Professor Eyo Ita;
Dr. Bawa Salka;
Prince Bola Afonja;
Alhaji Y. Anka;
Mr. Alba Muritala;
Alhaji Halilu Maina;
Alhaji Muktari A. Mohammed;
Also in the G-34 list were Alhaji Ramalan, later a traditional ruler in Nassarawa State, and Joseph Toba who signed that infamous document that sealed the June 12 death sentence then before general IBB was forced out of power on August 26, 1993.

Some Unsung Heroes of June 12…
As I was saying here last week, no matter the tenor of debate over motives and all that stuff, President Muhammadu Buhari has stolen the thunder of June 12, 1993. We can tell it in Minna and publish it in the streets of Abeokuta, Katsina and Otueke that the spectre of June has been laid to rest. And so, the 25-year-old open wound (conscience) has been healed by some truth-and-reconciliation flash in the pan in Abuja.

Meanwhile. I agree with Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi in The Verdict that drawing up a list of heroes and champions of June 12 can be a delicate business. Those who are not too young to run may also not be old enough too to remember the role of so many other significant champions and contributors. Only the prominent ones can easily be remembered about the multidimensional June 12 debacle.

A simple desk research from some institutional memories on the June 12 peculiar mess could have produced a more comprehensive guide on honours’ list including NADECO, Campaign for Democracy chieftains such as Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, General Alani Akinrinade, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Dr. Amos Akingba, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Ayo Opadokun, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, etc who were quite bruised for singing redemption songs for June 12.
A little diligence could have included foremost civil rights activists such as Olisa Agbakoba who founded Civil Liberty’s Organisation (CLO), Clement Nwankwo, Chima Ubani, Festus Iyayi, Shehu Sani (Kaduna) among other civil rights activists then.

Who remembered Col. Abubakar Umar Dangiwa who lost his commission for weeping on the grave of Abiola? What of Bagauda Kaltho, a The News/Tempo journalist who was killed in Kaduna? Who would remember Mohammed Adamu, of the then African Concord who was detained for one year by Major Al Mustapha’s deadly squad who alleged that he (Adamu) a literary stylist, wrote a cover story (without a byline) titled, “Al Mustapha, The Ruthless Man Behind Abacha?
Did anyone remember Alhaji Bukar Zarma, publisher of the premier newspaper in Abuja then, The Abuja Newsday, which the IBB military regime also closed down in the wake of the June 12 crisis? Alhaji Zarma was arrested by security agents in his farm in Kaduna after the closure of his newspaper.

I was the Editor of the newspaper in Abuja at the time. I escaped from Abuja to Lagos under very dangerous circumstances in July 1993. Our trouble began when we didn’t know the hidden agenda of those who didn’t want Abiola in power despite the result of the June 12 election everyone already had and we started reporting the results and consequences including setting up of the transition committees.
Our first sin was a scoop we ran on the romance between MKO’s Abiola’s son, Deji and IBB’s daughter, Aisha while the June 12 crisis was raging. We saw them together in many places inside Abuja while NADECO and other democratic forces were stoking wild fires for the actualisation of June 12 election result.

Then the last straw was another exclusive story we ran on a secret night meeting between MKO Abiola and General Ibrahim Babangida, inside Aso Villa. The headline was, “IBB, Abiola in Secret Meeting”. The scoop contained details of the nocturnal meeting Abiola attended with his wife, Simbiat and his first son, Kola without the knowledge of the grieving Party (SDP) officials who were meeting in Benin over the June 12 crisis at the time.

I recall as if it were yesterday that when an aggrieved June 12 election result fighter could not get a copy The Abuja Newsday (which carried the scoop) in Lagos, he called to inquire if he could get a copy should he send a person to collect it in our Wuse Zone 6, Abuja Office. Unknown to us, the angry supporter in Lagos asked his office assistant to fly the Nigeria Airways then just to collect a copy of the newspaper and read the incredible story: that Abiola and IBB actually met secretly in Abuja while June 12 supporters were being harassed in the streets all over the country? The man called to thank us for ‘opening his eyes’ to what he called Abiola’s hypocrisy at the time for meeting IBB secretly with only members of his family’.

Who would remember those who suffered under the despotic General Abacha after consolidating powers in 1993-1994 through 1995? Who would remember The Guardian, which was shut down for publishing a Sunday lead story, “Inside Aso Rock: The raging battle to rule Nigeria (Sunday August 14, 1994)?
The remarkable scoop was anchored by the newspaper’s Editor then, Mr. Kingsley Osadolor.
I can also recall that The Guardian coined the June-12 crisis reporting terms then such as “MKO, Abiola, the man generally believed to have won…, “the presumed winner”, the acclaimed winner of…” for the Nigerian press.

Who would remember The Guardian members of staff who suffered 11 months closure in those days? Who would remember that The Guardian publisher Dr. Alex Ibru was also targeted and shut at as Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, Chief Alfred Rewane and other heroes who didn’t survive the gunmen of the perilous time?

Did anyone remember the significant roles of Joe Igbokwe and S.M.O. Aka who were writing letters daily to all Nigerian newspaper editors then on June 12?
Specifically, Joe Igbokwe, who introduced himself then as an engineer who was writing from Surulere, Lagos (now APC Publicity Secretary in Lagos state) was so prolific that all media houses and activists knew him in the country. Joe insulted me on Facebook the other day for writing about “three years of excuses and 19 years of anomie”. He is now in partisan politics I can understand. But despite that, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who later compiled his historic Letters to the Editors into a book, deserves a place in “June 12 Hall of Fame”.

Did anyone remember last week, Mr. Alex Kabba, a journalist with The News/Tempo who fled (without his family) to the United States at the time through the NADECO routes? Alex, a fiery reporter then, got a tip-off that he was no longer safe. He fled. He is still in New York City where he publishes “Africans Abroad”. There are more unsung heroes.

All of the heroes of June 12 cannot be identified and honoured now. But the only honour that will touch all of us is this: there should be more attention to security and welfare of the people, which is the primary purpose of government.