In my column last week, I described Nigeria as the giant of Africa albeit one suffering from many ailments and still crawling at 65.
Beside being a giant, I will also like to liken Nigeria to a father of 37 children (37 states and Abuja).This week, I will be x-raying the handicap and problems of Nigeria as a father, 65 years after birth, or if you like, as a 65 year old father of 37 children!
Numerous ethnic groups constitute the 37 states that make up Nigeria but unfortunately, unlike a natural, loving father who shares his wealth- properties, houses, finances etc- equally among all his children; the natural father who shows love and concern for his children equally so as to cement harmony, love and cohesion among them, Nigeria seems to be a partial, discriminatory, impassionate and unsympathetic father.
A compassionate father would punish and then correct his children with love without showing bias for or against any of them but Nigeria as a father, a 65 year old father relates to its children on the basis of ethnicity and religion.
Sixty- five years after attaining independence, political, ethnic and religious affiliations and considerations still play major roles in Nigeria’s politics and governance, especially in terms of political offices distribution, socio- infrastructural project distribution and distribution of government patronage per tribe or geo-zone. And how would one characterise such brazen impartiality if not to term it a brutal, an utter assault on, and negation of our national creed: “Though tribe and tongue may differ… where no man is oppressed”? This brings me to the meat of this piece: The continued incarceration of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. To be fair, every country has the right to bring the full weight of the law to bear on any of its citizen who contravenes it. I have no problem if Nnandi Kalu who has been in detention for four years is being prosecuted for perceived transgressions against the laws of the country but it defies logic to continue to punish him for thesame or similar transgression(s) some other “deviants” like him had committed in the past but was neither arrested nor tried or if arrested are now prancing the space free men.
To fully grasp my point, juxtapose Kanu’s alleged transgressions with those previously leveled against
Sunday Igboho from the South West, Asari Dokubo, Ateke, Government Tompolo all from the South south; and the heavily armed Fulani bandits who have destroyed farm lands, kidnapped for ransom hundreds of individuals and murdered hundreds more whose families were unable to pay lieved ransoms, now openly bestriding communities in some Northern states talking tough dictating terms of peace with local authorities.
Yes, there was Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, from the North East but it was unfortunate he was controversially extra- judicially murdered. Were he to be alive, he would have probably been pardoned since by the Nigerian state and his sins forgiven, afterrall his lieutenants who carried on with the bloody insurgency after his death are most often, upon captured or surrender, termed “repentant”, pampered, rehabilitated and reintegrate into the society
There is also Henry Okah from the South south. He is facing terror charges in South Africa. Were Okah in Nigeria, a political solution would have since been applied to his case and would have been left off the hook since. This would have been followed by a rehabilitation and a reward in the form of mouth- watering government contracts akin to Tompolo’s and Ateke, Dukubo and other Niger Delta militants, including the armed foot soldiers who were granted amnesty, placed on monthly stipends and sent abroad to receive quality education.
Let’s not forget that like Kanu, Igboho also preached secession- the secession of his ethnic Yoruba group from the rest of Nigeria which he called “Yoruba Nation”; like Kanu, Igboho spiced his agitation for “Yoruba Nation” with incendiary and inciting rhetorics but unlike Kanu, Igboho is not Igbo, he is Yoruba and his kinsmen wields powers of death and life at Aso Rock right now. So Igboho is favoured; he is today a free man- all charges against him withdrawn! Yes, Aso Rock smiled on him, the powers that be- his powerful kins in the corridors, sorry, “sitting room” of power- spoke for him and got him out of incarceration! And I say to Nigeria, “Father”, Nigeria this is certainly not how to be a father!
Not a few Nigerians believe that what is good for goose is also good for the ganda. According to an old adages, “forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend” and “a life lived without forgiveness is a prison”.
And according to Bernard Meltzer, a Radio Host in Philadelphia, USA, when you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future”
It is my opinion that the above should guide the federal government under President Tinubu in the Kanu saga.
Only recently, a delegation of Igbo elders drawn from all the five South Eastern states paid a courtesy call on Dr Governor Alex Otti of Abia.Speaking on their behalf, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezebuiro said Kanu’s prolonged detention was no longer tolerable. Citing concerns about his deteriorating health situation.
He urged Otti to rally his fellow South East governors to lead a delegation to PresidentTinubu to press for Kanu’s release arguing that only a united political front could influence the presidency.
The question I will want Nigeria, as a father of 37 children to answer is, how different is Nnamdi Kalu’s sin from the sins of the “deviants” mentioned in this column earlier?
Nigeria as a “father” has applied a psychological reformatory program on its aforementioned recalcitrant “sons” akin to what transpired in the Holy Bible when Saul, the “terror” got transformed into a good man, transmuted to Paul and eventually became an agent of change in his society but the question again, is how different is Kanu’s sin from the other recalcitrant Nigerian “sons” that Nigeria, as a “father” has refused to applied on him, the above reformatory technique?.
Undoubtedly, Nnamdi Kanu’s charisma would have been greatly utilised by Nigeria to its advantage in terms of leverage on it and using him to rally young people for peace, nation building.History and experience have shown that there are some politically induced incarcerations that can be positively used to the advantage of a given country when the incarcerated person is released.
Again, the question: Is Nnamdi Kanu the worst sinner among all of Nigeria’s “sinning children”? Throughout history instances of prisoners released in the interest of the public abound.We see that in the Bible when two prisoners were set free in the place of my Lord Jesus Christ!
President Tinubu, you stand on the threshold of history as far as Nnandi Kanu’s four- year incarceration is concerned, the ball is in your court!
Security hints
How to effectively secure your gadgets, sites and online information
As we enter the ember months, please be conscious of your security and secure yourself by doing the following:
• Use Strong Passwords: Create complex passwords with a mix of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. Avoid using easily guessable information like birthdays or names.
•Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Whenever possible, enable 2FA on your online accounts. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification.
•Beware of Phishing: Be cautious of unsolicited emails, messages, or links. Cybercriminals often use phishing techniques to lure you into revealing personal, family and official information. Ensure you verify the sender’s identity before clicking on links or sharing sensitive data.
•Update Your Softwares Regularly:
Keep your operating system, antivirus software, and applications up-to-date. Updates often contain security patches that protect against known vulnerabilities.
•Shop from Reputable Websites: When shopping online, stick to well-known and trusted websites. Look for “https://” in the URL and a padlock symbol to indicate a secure connection. (To be Continued)
-DCP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, DCP Operations, Delta state Police Command.
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