Dear Nigerians, let me first welcome you all
to a brand New Year. I find it interesting
that this column falls on the first day of a
much anticipated year in the history of our
nation. It is just as well because it serves
as an opportunity to reflect on how the
socio-economic and political situation of
2014 will play out in a year that has been
the subject of doomsday predictions. While
2014 has, thankfully, come and gone, the sad
memories of what has turned out to be a
distressing and bloody year for Nigeria will
remain etched in our collective memory.
Now that 2014 has become history, we
should not forget those Nigerians, especially
in the North-East zone, who were victims of
Boko Haram brutality and our government’s
tepid response to the security situation.
While I consider the victims of the endemic
communal killings in Jos, Plateau State, Boko
Haram terror war in the North-East and
Fulani herdsmen rage in Middle Belt as
unnecessary, the victims have become
martyrs in our unending search for
nationhood.
My wish for the New Year is to see that
those who died in these crises did not die in
vain. It is sad that our country continues to
lose the lives of innocent citizens. In 2015,
I want to see an end to the maiming and
killings in our country. I want to witness the
rebirth of a country whose leaders are
committed to steering the ship of state
from its present calamitous course to a
more stable and prosperous future where
citizens are safe wherever they reside in
the country. I wish to see a commitment by
our leaders to build a country where citizens
are not locked in bitter political bickering,
ethnic mistrust and religious bigotry that are
threatening our existence.
One of the tragic highlights of 2014 was
the Boko Haram insurgency which peaked
with the abduction of the Chibok girls. The
gory tales of abduction, suicide bombings and
killings brought Boko Haram atrocities to the
attention of the world and cemented
Nigeria’s reputation as an unsafe nation. In
2014, more Nigerians were abducted, killed
and maimed than in any other year since
Boko Haram began its terror campaign. A
recent report has put the number of those
abducted in 2014 alone at 528. This is not to
talk of the 15,000 deaths recorded in the
past five years.
How long can we continue to lose innocent
people to these senseless killings? Now,
children are being used as suicide bombers.
What Nigerians have failed to realise is that
it is these abducted children who are being
brainwashed, indoctrinated and forced to
carry bombs. According to the 2014 report
by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflicts,
children in the North-East are serially
abducted and used as suicide bombers. This
has introduced a dangerous dimension to the
terror war. In 2015, I wish to see a more
robust and pragmatic approach by the
Jonathan administration in its war against
terrorism.
Our country really needs to be rid of this
Boko Haram menace once and for all. The
government owes our country a duty to put
an end to the conflicts and tragedies that
made 2014 one of the bloodiest in our
nation’s history. Given the number of those
who were victims of terrorism in 2014, we
certainly cannot continue on that bloody
path in the New Year. Beyond the usual
condemnation of Boko Haram atrocities, I
want to see a more proactive response
devoid of blame game and accusation. I want
to see a country where the military forces
will conduct this war according to all known
international best practices while protecting
the helpless civilian population in the North-
East.
Closely related to the Boko Haram
insurgency is the widespread concern over
the 2015 elections slated for next month.
Nigerians are understandably worried that
violence may mar the conduct and outcome of
the elections. The violence that
characterised the 2011 elections has raised
serious doubts about the 2015 elections. The
stakes are higher and predictions have
revealed that the outcome of the elections
may yet signal the end of Nigeria.
Unfortunately, politicians and supporters of
the two dominant parties have been issuing
threats and making hate speeches. The
political parties must ensure that our
country is not set ablaze because of their
ambitions. No personal ambition can be
greater than the safety and well-being of
citizens and the future of our country.
What has become worrisome for me is how
public debate has become an exercise in hate
peddling and ethnic baiting. I have also
noticed how religion has made a dangerous
incursion into politics. Now, we have
graduated from ethnic consideration to the
religious. Appointment or election for political
post is not complete if the parties do not
consider Muslim-Muslim ticket, Muslim-
Christian ticket, Catholic-Anglican ticket or
Pentecostal-Animist tickets. How low have
we sunk as nation?
We seem now divided on issues of ethnicity
and religion than we were a few years ago.
In 2014, we saw how Nigerians openly
displayed hatred to one another. Ethnic
irredentists hurled xenophobic slurs at one
another as if we are no longer one country.
I blame the political leaders for this descent
into primordial ethnic sentiments that had
caused us a calamitous civil war. If we
continue like this in 2015, we may be heading
the way of the Rwanda genocide and the
2007 post-election violence in Kenya. Those
beating war drums should take lessons in the
horrors of war from the Central Africa
Republic and Congo DR, countries which have
been torn apart by ethnic and religious
violence.
We must not allow our support for politicians
to blind us to the fact that we have been
the victims of poor leadership that has held
our country down for the past 16 years. A
ready example of our common affliction is
the power sector. Can any Nigerian (either in
the Peoples Democratic Party or the All
Progressives Congress say confidently they
have not suffered the consequence of the
drainpipe the power sector has become? Why
then do we allow ourselves to be used by
selfish leaders? Don’t our children attend
the same broken public schools or the
notoriously expensive private schools which
are direct consequence of the bastardisation
of public education? Do we not use the same
public hospitals and glorified private ones
that charge exorbitantly for common
ailments? Don’t our loved ones die on the
bad roads?
How many Nigerians can afford to send their
children abroad to attend expensive schools
that have become the exclusive choice of
our leaders at all levels? How many of us can
afford to buy houses in choice locations
abroad? Why can’t we unite against our
common enemy – the greedy, selfish political
elite and their cronies? In 2015, I want to
see Nigerians demand good leadership
without ethnic or religious considerations.
That is the only way we can move forward
as a nation.
Those misguided youths who post ethnic and
religious slurs on social media should not
allow themselves to be used by politicians
who will escape abroad when our country
breaks into chaos. While I wish everyone a
happy and prosperous New Year, our leaders
owe our country the patriotic duty to ensure
a peaceful, free and fair election in February.
Only then can we hope to prevent the curse
of disintegration long predicted for this
year.

Bayo Olupohunda