By – Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.

I have observed with intense circumspection, the body language, actions, and inactions of President Mohammadu Buhari and I can boldly say that Nigeria has never been this divided, since the ill-fated Nigerian Civil War! Murderous Fulani Herdsmen are marauding through the Land, leaving in their trails, callous massacres of innocent Nigerians, while the Government trivializes the issue describing it as communal clashes! I have not seen any of these Terrorists who kill or maim our people going through a trial! This in itself, is tacit approval of the activities of the Herdsmen and an invitation to anarchy, as Communities will have no option but to arm militias to protect them. With that, we are heading for a Gangster’s Paradise. Nigeria for some persons is on an inter state lock down. Travelling on some federal roads is like a suicide mission .It is either you are kidnapped for ransome , or you are killed if you try to run away , or even after your love ones have paid the ransome .Our President has been lame duck on the issue of Security. A President should speak to his people and not through his spokes men , who are said to be part of the Presidency .We voted for a President and not the Presidency .

Another aspect of the Buhari Presidency, that leaves much to be desired, is the lopsided appointments. As we speak, virtually all the apparatus of security in this country, are in the hands of Northerners. This is a grave injustice and a violation of the Nigerian Constitution, as it concerns Federal Character!. Even the Federal Character Commission itself (Headed by another Northerner ), does not follow Federal Character in its recruitment into the Commission. Heads of major parastatals like the NNPC, NPA, NCC, SEC, and their likes are firmly placed in the hands of Northerners, while small organizations like Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, National Root Crops Research Institute, Rubber Research Institute, and their likes are given to Southerners. President Buhari is not the First Head of State from the North , but he is the first from the North to be ruling the rest of the Country as a conquered territory , using bellicose rhetorics to exerxabate the agitations of proponents of balkanization , who are spurred by Buhari’s actions of favouring a section of the Country against others .

Interestingly, our Southern leaders are either collaborators with the oppressors or they are indifferent. Greedy sets of Politicians that are only concerned about their own , while their People suffer and left to suffer from total domination inflicted on them by Buhari. A Southern Minister is supervising the building of Rail Lines to Niger Republic , while we do not have any Railways in places like Benin City and while they are many roads in Nigeria that are death traps and kill Nigerians every day .

We condemn the divisive stance of the President on national issues while proscribing IPOB, which has not taken arms against the State, Myetti Allah, the umbrella group for the murderous Herdsmen, has been issuing statements, rationalizing their annihilation of defenseless Citizens, with the Government giving them official endorsements, by playing the ostrich in the matter. The Proscription of IPOB was done the same day the Federal High Court gave the order of Proscription , but it took over 2 months for the Gazette tagging Bandits as terrorists to be effected , after considerable pressure from well meaning Nigerians . We will not stand by and watch, while our Country is turned into a killing field, without action from Government! We shall soon approach the Courts, to get an order of mandamus on the Inspector General Police and the Federal Government as a whole, if the situation persists, just as we shall challenge the lopsided appointments into Federal Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies and ensure compliance with the Federal Character Principle, as provided for by our Grund Norm. President Buhari may have been elected by a Party and some sections of Nigeria , but the day he was sworn into Office , he became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.He must therefore be fair and equitable in the distribution of resources and appointments in our Nation-State “I will stand for what is right, even If I stood alone “- Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, of Blessed Memory.

About the Author :. Douglas Ogbankwa Esq., @ [email protected] , a Benin Based Lawyer is the President of the Benin Writers’ Society.