Two political analysts have tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to reassure the Igbo that they are still part of the Nigerian nation.
The two analysts, Mr. Dapo Ogunwusi, who is also a former editor of the Nigerian Tribune newspapers, and Mr. Musibau Lawal, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, said it had become imperative for President Buhari to dialogue with the pro-Biafran secessionists groups in the South East and to restructure the country.
Besides, the analysts, who were reacting to Buhari’s speech after his return to the country from his over 100-day medical vacation in London, said that the President should stop pretending that all was well with the country.
Ogunwusi said rather than finding lasting means of ensuring that Nigeria remained a united nation in the face of agitations for separation, Buhari had by his attitude and policies continued to threaten national unity.
He argued that the president had yet to show any seriousness towards addressing the challenges confronting the nation.
Ogunwusi, therefore, urged Buhari to dialogue with the Igbo people and desist from making policies and decisions that appear unfavourable to them, stressing that Buhari had yet to come to terms with the reality of the situation the majority of the people had found themselves.
He said, “Quite frankly, I was startled after listening to his speech. I couldn’t figure his reassurance to the people. There was no concrete positive ideas in the speech. There is no seriousness towards addressing problems like terrorism, ethnic jingoism, killings by Fulani herdsmen, among others.
“If people have been talking about their farmlands being encroached upon by cattle rearers and they are being killed by terrorists and this has been on for years and the Federal Government has no deliberate coherent policy to arrest this, it shows lack of seriousness.
“There are particular sets of appointments that Buhari made. There are two states that the President did not choose any ambassador from. Is he trying to tell us that there is no one fit to be an ambassador from these states? If somebody did something like that consciously, he has threatened national unity by his attitude.”
Ogunwusi further said, “Over 50 people from Katsina out of 400 recruited for DSS, joined the agency. You don’t do something like this and think there won’t be agitation. He is yet to come to terms with the reality of what people feel. Peace is not the absence of violence, but it is the absence of injustice. Where there is no justice, there can’t be peace. Certain rules of deliberate marginalisation and internal oppression, this agitation is not about something that just grew up.
“We can’t ignore the agitation. An injustice to one is an injustice to all. If you are not wanted in a state, you would want to be out of that place. The National Assembly is no longer fit for the task of ensuring national unity because they are products of compromise. They (lawmakers) don’t appreciate the dearth of what their constituents feel anymore.”
Asked how to bring sanity back to the system, he said, “I think he (President) should go to Eastern Nigeria to dialogue with them and reassure them that they are part of the present Nigerian collective. It’s probably odd. He should try and take a step further to bring them into the fold. Imagine a President saying he was going to take care of only those that voted for him. Who does that in a democratic setting?”
On his part, Lateef, expressed disappointment at Buhari’s speech saying he was expecting something “more unifying, deeper, consoling and inspiring. He should have addressed the issue of health care, anti-corruption, economy, public health, among other germane issues.”
“This is 2017 and the President cannot continue to pretend that all is well with Nigeria. Those agitating for restructuring and secession have underground issues to it. They have basis and their agitations are legitimate. Restructuring is long overdue. Nigeria is not working and unless we rejig the system and dissolve power in the centre, we may still be facing these challenges.”
He, however, charged President Buhari to double his efforts and attend to what he termed “delayed decisions” that the then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was not allowed to work on.
“Delayed decisions on economy, anti-corruption, restructuring and others must be attended to now with renewed efforts,” he added.
