1. Appeasement has never worked to stop those bent on taking others as slaves. It is the reason freedom fighters often proclaim, “fatherland or death!”
2. APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was measured in his response to our contrived national security crisis, which has overwhelmed President Muhammadu Buhari. And, that is understandable because he wants to be Nigeria’s next President. But the summary of his position, to me, is that, those responsible for the current state of insecurity MUST be dealt with decisively. And, that is not happening yet. Thus, it does appear there is a disconnect within the ruling Party at the national level.
3. Up North, the cluelessness of the Political Leadership and a myopic religious paddy-paddy system ensured the emergence of Boko Haram. Northern Leaders want the old ways of life for their people, while the immediate families of these leaders get the best of Western ways of life.
The response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s inauguration of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Kebbi State during his first term in 1999 was the introduction of Sharia Law by Zamfara State. Instead of embracing this laudable move, which made education free and compulsory from Primary 1 to JSS3, the leaders were busy with Sharia. And, Obasanjo, just as Tinubu today, was tepid in his response.
The equivalent down South are religious leaders, who enjoy the best of life, but continue asking their impoverished followers to look up to bliss in heaven. They are protected 24/7 by armed mobile policemen, but always encourage their followers to pray for protection. Southern political leaders are always more than happy with this arrangement, which allows thinking men and women to become zombies of organised religion.
4. The North has more land than the whole of Southern Nigeria. Why not factor that into the current situation and simply modernise animal husbandry there? Sadly, it appears what is coming might be similar to the Kaduna, Zamfara and experiences of other states, where farmers are not spared the anger of rampaging organised terrorists officially recognised as bandits.
5. What to do? Southern political leaders need to wake up from slumber. There is an urgent need to rework Nigeria’s constitution. We failed to see the future in1967, because the Aburi Accord should have redefined Nigeria. Do everything possible to carry, like-minded persons of North-Central descent, along in this agitation for a restructured Nigeria.
