Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,153,016 members, 7,818,008 topics. Date: Sunday, 05 May 2024 at 03:41 AM

Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War - Politics - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War (975 Views)

Ladoja: Agitation For Yoruba Nation May Degenerate Into War, If.. / 2023: Igbos In The PDP Are Sleepwalking! - By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo / Nigeria Sleepwalking To Disaster With Shia Muslims (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 11:31am On May 10, 2021
SLOWLY but steadily, Nigeria is sliding into war. Shortly after bandits slaughtered three of the kidnapped 23 undergraduates of Greenfield University, Kaduna, Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, captured the moment explicitly in a statement entitled, ‘Endless Martyrdom of Youth.’ He said, “This nation is at war, yet we continue to pretend that these are mere birth-pangs of a glorious entity.” Seriously, Nigeria is on the brink of catastrophe because of the bloody violence that has ensnared it on the watch of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Soyinka’s perspective on the current “cowardly savagery” coincides with other notable voices, all calling on Buhari to seek help, review the impotent security system or return Nigeria to true federalism. But there is a sense of doom with Buhari in charge. The President has not shown the willpower to steer Nigeria out of violence.

State failure is playing out extensively. Before the ink dried on Soyinka’s warning, the bandits, who demanded a ransom of N800 million, had killed two more of the Greenfield students. Their audacious threat to massacre the remaining 17 students in their custody is foreboding.

Plainly, Buhari has lost control of non-state actors; Nigeria is at war in many theatres. The human and economic costs of this anarchy are simply unsustainable. In the North-East, Islamic terrorists have regained the upper hand over the military. Boko Haram, which has killed more than 100,000 persons and displaced millions, is better armed than the military. Insurgents are recapturing territories, with Geidam, Yobe State, and southern Borno State their latest prizes.

Hitherto relatively safe, bandits have seized control of the North-West. Mass abduction at schools and random killings are their signature atrocities. Apart from the deadly mission to Greenfield, bandits abducted scores of students at the Forestry College in Kaduna. In the Sahel region, writes Larisa Brown, The Times (London) Defence Editor, jihadist insurgent groups are also becoming “blurred” with bandits who steal cattle and money from local people, making it extremely difficult to distinguish who is working for whom.

The Kaduna State Government said 393 persons lost their lives in the first three months of 2021; 926 were kidnapped. Despite the presence of the military in internal security operations in 34 states, 741 Nigerians were killed and over 1,000 kidnapped in the first 96 days in office of the new Service Chiefs. That excludes the deaths and destruction of property from communal strife. This is nothing but a descent into war. In Israel, where 44 people died in the annual Lag B’Omer religious festival stampede last weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promptly visited the site and declared a national day of mourning.

The North-Central is bleeding blood again. Eleven soldiers were butchered early in April in Benue State. Between late April and early May, bandits and Fulani herdsmen slaughtered 70 people in an IDP camp in Makurdi. Before this died down, 19 others were massacred on Monday in the Gwer LGA of the state. The bloody frenzy has spread to Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba and Kogi states. Its more deadly version occurs in Niger State, where Boko Haram has hoisted its flag in 50 villages in two LGAs. Various international reports categorise Nigeria among the world’s three most terrorised countries.



The South-East is at the point of anarchy. Police, soldiers, and government institutions have been attacked since March. Attacks on the Imo State Police Command HQs, the prisons, military checkpoints, and police stations in Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu states depict the weakness of the Nigerian state in arresting the slide into internecine war. In Anambra State, there is hardly a day that goes by without loss of lives from cult-related clashes, especially in Awka. The Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, lost his country home in Oru to invaders. Offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission are under serial attacks in the South-South and South-East. Lives are being wasted in Rivers State. Beyond empty rhetoric, the security agencies rush to blame the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra as the mastermind.

Insecurity is ravaging Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, and Osun in the South-West. A duo was abducted in Ofada, Ogun State, last weekend. A group of ranch owners was abducted in Ibarapa, Oyo State, where Fulani herders are rampaging freely. ‘Freedom fighters’ and self-determination groups are emerging from the chaos. The United States Embassy has just issued an advisory, warning American citizens to be careful of traffic robbers in Lagos. Kidnappers are moving to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the adjoining areas without any serious pushback from security agencies. With an uncontrolled influx of commercial motorcycle riders, it is a matter of time before criminals seize control of the megapolis.

All over, the threat level is higher than what triggered the Civil War in 1967. Several factors are to blame, some of them self-inflicted. The Buhari regime is mistrusted by the other regional groupings because of its divisive, clannish appointments into the security apparatus. The police are short-handed, their plight aggravated by the deployment of a third of the force in illegal VIP duties. Any President serious about security will clamp down on this anomaly and initiate a decentralised police system. The military is poorly armed, under-motivated and lacks inspiring leadership in a time of war. Unnecessarily obdurate, the Buhari regime endangers the corporate existence of Nigeria by rejecting the agitations for a just restructuring of the political system.

Today, the country faces a break or save dilemma. As society breaks down, the breakup of the state is a foreboding reality. It will be dangerous to allow Nigeria to slide into a war it can ill afford. The readiness of the state governors to maintain law and order without fear or favour will help stanch the slide to chaos. As an immediate step to counter this trend, the President should declare a state of emergency on security, initiate security reforms and take necessary measures towards running an inclusive government. Eventually, fashioning a constitution that truly reflects the plurality of Nigerian society remains the only viable option to prevent the country from falling apart.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/nigeria-is-sleepwalking-into-war/

1 Like

Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by 3pointsagree: 11:39am On May 10, 2021
iwaeda:
SLOWLY but steadily, Nigeria is sliding into war. Shortly after bandits slaughtered three of the kidnapped 23 undergraduates of Greenfield University, Kaduna, Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, captured the moment explicitly in a statement entitled, ‘Endless Martyrdom of Youth.’ He said, “This nation is at war, yet we continue to pretend that these are mere birth-pangs of a glorious entity.” Seriously, Nigeria is on the brink of catastrophe because of the bloody violence that has ensnared it on the watch of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Soyinka’s perspective on the current “cowardly savagery” coincides with other notable voices, all calling on Buhari to seek help, review the impotent security system or return Nigeria to true federalism. But there is a sense of doom with Buhari in charge. The President has not shown the willpower to steer Nigeria out of violence.

State failure is playing out extensively. Before the ink dried on Soyinka’s warning, the bandits, who demanded a ransom of N800 million, had killed two more of the Greenfield students. Their audacious threat to massacre the remaining 17 students in their custody is foreboding.

Plainly, Buhari has lost control of non-state actors; Nigeria is at war in many theatres. The human and economic costs of this anarchy are simply unsustainable. In the North-East, Islamic terrorists have regained the upper hand over the military. Boko Haram, which has killed more than 100,000 persons and displaced millions, is better armed than the military. Insurgents are recapturing territories, with Geidam, Yobe State, and southern Borno State their latest prizes.

Hitherto relatively safe, bandits have seized control of the North-West. Mass abduction at schools and random killings are their signature atrocities. Apart from the deadly mission to Greenfield, bandits abducted scores of students at the Forestry College in Kaduna. In the Sahel region, writes Larisa Brown, The Times (London) Defence Editor, jihadist insurgent groups are also becoming “blurred” with bandits who steal cattle and money from local people, making it extremely difficult to distinguish who is working for whom.

The Kaduna State Government said 393 persons lost their lives in the first three months of 2021; 926 were kidnapped. Despite the presence of the military in internal security operations in 34 states, 741 Nigerians were killed and over 1,000 kidnapped in the first 96 days in office of the new Service Chiefs. That excludes the deaths and destruction of property from communal strife. This is nothing but a descent into war. In Israel, where 44 people died in the annual Lag B’Omer religious festival stampede last weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promptly visited the site and declared a national day of mourning.

The North-Central is bleeding blood again. Eleven soldiers were butchered early in April in Benue State. Between late April and early May, bandits and Fulani herdsmen slaughtered 70 people in an IDP camp in Makurdi. Before this died down, 19 others were massacred on Monday in the Gwer LGA of the state. The bloody frenzy has spread to Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba and Kogi states. Its more deadly version occurs in Niger State, where Boko Haram has hoisted its flag in 50 villages in two LGAs. Various international reports categorise Nigeria among the world’s three most terrorised countries.



The South-East is at the point of anarchy. Police, soldiers, and government institutions have been attacked since March. Attacks on the Imo State Police Command HQs, the prisons, military checkpoints, and police stations in Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu states depict the weakness of the Nigerian state in arresting the slide into internecine war. In Anambra State, there is hardly a day that goes by without loss of lives from cult-related clashes, especially in Awka. The Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, lost his country home in Oru to invaders. Offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission are under serial attacks in the South-South and South-East. Lives are being wasted in Rivers State. Beyond empty rhetoric, the security agencies rush to blame the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra as the mastermind.

Insecurity is ravaging Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, and Osun in the South-West. A duo was abducted in Ofada, Ogun State, last weekend. A group of ranch owners was abducted in Ibarapa, Oyo State, where Fulani herders are rampaging freely. ‘Freedom fighters’ and self-determination groups are emerging from the chaos. The United States Embassy has just issued an advisory, warning American citizens to be careful of traffic robbers in Lagos. Kidnappers are moving to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the adjoining areas without any serious pushback from security agencies. With an uncontrolled influx of commercial motorcycle riders, it is a matter of time before criminals seize control of the megapolis.

All over, the threat level is higher than what triggered the Civil War in 1967. Several factors are to blame, some of them self-inflicted. The Buhari regime is mistrusted by the other regional groupings because of its divisive, clannish appointments into the security apparatus. The police are short-handed, their plight aggravated by the deployment of a third of the force in illegal VIP duties. Any President serious about security will clamp down on this anomaly and initiate a decentralised police system. The military is poorly armed, under-motivated and lacks inspiring leadership in a time of war. Unnecessarily obdurate, the Buhari regime endangers the corporate existence of Nigeria by rejecting the agitations for a just restructuring of the political system.

Today, the country faces a break or save dilemma. As society breaks down, the breakup of the state is a foreboding reality. It will be dangerous to allow Nigeria to slide into a war it can ill afford. The readiness of the state governors to maintain law and order without fear or favour will help stanch the slide to chaos. As an immediate step to counter this trend, the President should declare a state of emergency on security, initiate security reforms and take necessary measures towards running an inclusive government. Eventually, fashioning a constitution that truly reflects the plurality of Nigerian society remains the only viable option to prevent the country from falling apart.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/nigeria-is-sleepwalking-into-war/


We are already at a state of war
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by blowjob: 11:40am On May 10, 2021
GOD GO DESTROY ALL PAST AND PRESENT LEADERS,OF DIS WONDERFUL BEAUTIFUL JOINT,CALL NAIJA undecided


FROM LUGARD TO BUBU undecided

1 Like

Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 11:41am On May 10, 2021
Buhari and APC are bringing Nigeria down and everyone is muted.

1 Like

Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by Goldbw122(m): 11:43am On May 10, 2021
Hmm, The war is already going on just like when your minimize your browser when you are downloading...
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by helinues: 11:44am On May 10, 2021
sad

Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by 3pointsagree: 11:45am On May 10, 2021
helinues:
sad
Oduduwa
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 11:46am On May 10, 2021
helinues:
sad

You again?

Your bubu is telling us not to call his name!
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by helinues: 11:49am On May 10, 2021
iwaeda:


You again?

What have I done again?
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by justtoodark: 11:49am On May 10, 2021
let me just say,not peotectin your head ist a serious mistake....

you call them vip,as if they are some type oft singers or comedians....

if you allow them to cut off your thinkers,then what you will have left are cownunus,gumis,ffk,dinos....
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by Racoon(m): 11:50am On May 10, 2021
"..All over, the threat level is higher than what triggered the Civil War in 1967.The Buhari regime is mistrusted by the other regional groupings because of its divisive, clannish appointments into the security apparatus.

The military is poorly armed, under-motivated and lacks inspiring leadership in a time of war. Unnecessarily obdurate, the Buhari regime endangers the corporate existence of Nigeria by rejecting the agitations for a just restructuring of the political system....."
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by Racoon(m): 11:54am On May 10, 2021
It’s time we all stopped looking up to Buhari for leadership and decisive action on the increasingly dire security situation. Lacking emotional intelligence, he’s simply unable to react differently. And for a man who’s totally reliant on those he trusts and who surround him, his appreciation of the urgency of the moment is badly compromised.

And because the military has proven again and again that it’s not up to the task of securing the country from the terrorists.The government has run out of lies to tell on, and excuses to make for, its abject failure to stem the dangerously rising tide of insecurity. And Buhari’s meaningless directive to the military and other security agencies to go after the terrorists after every massacre of innocent Nigerians has become tedious.


It’s no longer arguable that he doesn’t know what’s really happening and what to do about it. He keeps hiding as the country inexorably dissolves into chaos.Even the military no longer takes his directive seriously.In any case, they have never done so. 

The responsibility for the military’s failure to contain the growing menace of insecurity doesn’t lie with the commanders and other security chiefs. It’s irreducibly that of Buhari’s. He’s neglected, and continues to neglect, doing his job as president and commander-in-chief. And he’s not doing his job because he doesn’t have the capacity and competence do it.


He had openly demanded that Jonathan resign as president in 2014 for what he perceived as his predecessor’s failure to decisively deal with BoKo Haram. Having failed even more than Jonathan, is he prepared to walk his own talk? Resign? If he won’t resign, then what’s he going to do? He’s shown, indisputably, that he’s not equipped for the job of president.

And his default position of lying permanently prostrate on the job has become extremely exasperating for Nigerians.So when will he stand up and be president for real? Not just a ceremonial prop in the presidential villa, where he and his family are insulated from the sundry threats the people face daily. And all their needs are met by the state and taken care of by a vast contingent of personnel who serve them round the clock.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/tell.ng/wikitell/when-will-buhari-stand-up/%3famp
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by CodeTemplar: 12:05pm On May 10, 2021
Buhari himself is that devilish agent of the devil simulating the war. let him handle bandits like endsars protesters.

1 Like

Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by Grace001: 12:06pm On May 10, 2021
Mmmmm
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by BigSarah(f): 12:07pm On May 10, 2021
More like moonwalking to war!
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by KanwuliaExtra: 12:42pm On May 10, 2021
Na who wan fight the war?

You mean 'take-over'? cheesy
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 12:58pm On May 10, 2021
Lalasticlala.
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 6:36pm On May 10, 2021
Slipping, slipping
Re: Nigeria Is Sleepwalking Into War by iwaeda: 9:22am On May 11, 2021
They even tried to rob Aso Rock.

(1) (Reply)

Southern Nigeria Must Unite: Let All Southerners Gather Here / Buhari In Lagos: Striking Photos Of President Projects Commissioning / Why Tinubu Won't Be Welcome In Niger By Lawal Musa

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 44
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.