President Muhammadu Buhari must be commended for recognizing June 12 as Democracy Day. It is has even gone beyond recognition, it is now a law made by the National Assembly. June 12 Democracy Day took its roots from the 1993 presidential election held on that day, which was won by MKO Abiola, but annulled by the military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The political crisis that followed the annulment was experienced most in south western Nigeria—where Abiola comes from. The struggle to enforce the mandate of the Abiola who was then in detention was primarily waged by Yoruba people although support came from few persons in other ethnic nationalities. It is however a thing of delight that June 12, which had only been observed as holiday in the 6 states in the SW, has been elevated to a national celebration of democracy.

Democracy, however, is not just something to be celebrated on a day. It is supposed to be a philosophy that undergirds the existence and workings of a nation. Going by this, one wonders how much we should celebrate. On one hand recognition of June 12 as a celebration of democracy by this administration builds a sense of togetherness. On the other hand quite many of its behaviours pull the country apart.

On this same June 12, 2019 some socio-cultural groups in south west Nigeria decided to hold a rally against kidnapping and general insecurity in the region. These Yoruba groups perceived threats to the peace and stability of the region. The social media has been awash with accounts of the experience of kidnap victims. Based on these accounts, perpetrators of the kidnappings have mostly been by Fulani. This is against a backdrop of other heinous crimes allegedly committed by Fulani herdsmen in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna States. Clearly, our national security architecture is weak because it is not intelligence driven. But beyond that there are concerns that security and safety is skewed in favour of some parts of the country. Concerns and fears are subjective. Let’s examine some hard data. The heads of the following security agencies are headed by persons from northern Nigeria.

National Intelligence Agency, State Security Service, Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Army, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Prison Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Security Adviser, Nigeria Customs Service. The National Security Adviser who coordinates national security is also a northerner. Throughout President Buhari’s first tenure the ministers of defence and internal affairs were also from the north.

Some say, ‘competence is what matters regardless of where the person comes from’. I would be the last person to advocate for incompetence in order to fill in a quota system. However, the question is: Is competence to head security agencies found only in certain parts of the country? Of course not. What if the lopsided security appointments are coincidental? The decision of the President Buhari to reverse the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s (then acting president) appointment of Matthew Seiyefa from Bayelsa State as acting head of the State Security Service (SSS) shows it is no coincidence. In his place he appointed Yusuf Magaji Bichi. Seiyifa is senior to Bichi and is due for retirement in July 2019. But the presidency somehow felt that the 10 months Seiyifa was to be Director General of the SSS was not appropriate for the country’s security architecture.

Given this exclusionary manner of appointments, one wonders the philosophy of nation building the administration has. Is it only through infrastructure? By constructing roads and rails alone? By Npower alone? Through half-hearted fight against corruption? Doing projects and social empowerment is good, no doubt, but it can be likened to a family in which the father pays the school fees for all the children but forbids some children from publicly associating with him while he warmly welcomes others. Envy, jealousy, rivalry, animosity would have a field day. That’s clearly not how a family is built.



Back to the rally organized in the across Southwest Nigeria. The Oyo and Ondo States’ rallies were crushed by the SSS and other security agencies. Some of the leaders were arrested. Ordinarily, there was no reason for such action against a rally against insecurity in the region. But maybe the security agencies perceived some self-determinist tendencies in the rally. Here we go again.

There is a real feeling in southern Nigeria that the way the country currently operates (and has been operating since 1966) is faulty and must be altered. This feeling must be addressed by talking. The closest we got to addressing it was the 2014 National Conference. Unfortunately, the current government thinks it is meant for the ‘archives’—in other words, the rubbish bin.

A nation is essentially a feeling of oneness. A true feeling of oneness is not achieved by coercion, not through a barrel of a gun. Territory is secondary to nationhood. The Jews have always been a nation even when there was no geographical Israel. Many people in southeast Nigeria hate the way the country exists currently. Some Igbo people even want to leave the Nigerian State entirely. Likewise the feeling of Nigerianism has started waning in the south west. The actions of this central administration have aggravated the lack of nationalism.

I will conclude this way. Journalists and writers report and comment on the socio-political reality. They also participate in setting agenda for society. These two roles are intertwined. The agenda setters of yesterday are partly responsible for the socio-political reality of today. Now this is what a repressive government does. It tries to crush the agenda setting role of writers. It goes further to also maliciously tag the reporting of socio-political reality as agenda setting and seeks to crush it. We have been there before as a country during the various military regimes. We hope never to come there again because if we ever do, then, is all hope not lost?

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/june-12-democracy-day-and-threats-to-nationhood/

"Likewise the feeling of Nigerianism has started waning in the south west. The actions of this central administration have aggravated the lack of nationalism."

I doubt this. Give Gani Adams a national honour tomorrow and you have pressed their central mumu button

They will sing One Nigeria for another 20 years.