By Steve Osuji
Point Of No Return? Fire on the mountain! Nigeria totters at the precipice right now. That’s where the ruling party, APC and its successive inept presidents, Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu have led Nigeria to. Remarkably, they represent the worst presidents and the puniest presidencies in Nigeria, ever.
This explains why today, Nigeria is on the verge of getting disembodied if drastic actions are not taken quickly.
Russia is acting up from the sahel and could jolly well breach the northwest of Nigeria by stealth (Katsina State is being surrendered to bandits).
China is deep in the northeast, surreptitiously carting away precious minerals and with a game plan to hold down her portion of the booty if push comes to shove.
WHERE’S THE PRESIDENT AND SOVEREIGN: Well, our man in Aso Rock wanted to be president by hook or crook (you all know the story!).
But to grab a leadership position is one, to lead is another. Tinubu, like his predecessor Buhari, have introduced a new form of leadership which EXPRESSO would like to describe as DO-NOTHINGNESS: it’s like a man who gets on top of a woman and immediately begins to snore as if he’s on an orthopedic mattress.
Simply put, Tinubu, like Buhari before him, lacks the capacity to preside over a country. That’s the long and short of the story.
For instance, EXPRESSO avers that Tinubu has done only two major things in two and half years in office: One, he has massively fortified his private estate and two, he is plotting for re-election.
That is why he doesn’t know that many states in the north have fallen to bandits who are probably enabled by Bukina Faso which is in turn enabled by Russia.
It explains why many public officials are sharing with China, the spoils of rogue mining operations going on across the north. And he pretends not to be aware!
IF NIGERIA IMPLODES: Could it be that our president and his government aren’t seeing the big picture? Or, since they are benefitting immensely from the chaos, they don’t care about the imminent consequences? Perhaps, they can’t help the situation?
But brash and swashbuckling President of the United States of America (POTUS), Donald Trump, somehow, sees all the shenanigans going on in Nigeria.
He knows that a few more years of Tinubu may damage Nigeria irretrievably.
He sees China and Russia turning Nigeria, the jewel of Africa into their playground.
Recall that Nigeria is within the sphere of influence of NATO.
Recall that Nigeria is a ‘democracy’ of the Presidential kind for that matter.
Recall again, that both China and Russia are already branded CPCs (Countries of Particular Concern) by America.
A CPC by America’s standard, means a country where violation of human rights is systemic and severe. It’s such a country where torture, prolonged detention without charges, forced disappearances, denial of life and security of citizens, among other vices, are rife.
China and Russia fit squarely into these descriptions of a typical CPC.
Some have queried why Trump is acting post haste in the Nigerian situation if over 20 countries are on the CPC list? The answer is that Nigeria’s situation is immediate and urgent.
There’s indeed a clear and present danger! What looks like a precipitous human tragedy that needs to be averted.
Implosion of a country of over 200 million people would surely create a crisis the size of Armageddon.
The human tragedy may be such that history has never witnessed.
This is why the majority of Nigerians support Trump’s action and the designation of Nigeria as a CPC state.
Consider that more than 50 Nigerians have been slaughtered in less than one week even after the CPC designation was announced.
WHAT DOES TRUMP WANT: Yes, let no one be fooled that President Trump or America loves Nigeria and her hapless Christians so much they would throw their dollars and men after their survival. Never. No free lunch anywhere. Not the least, American.
So let’s conjecture that the US seeks to ward off Russia and China from what’s supposedly her turf, why not. If that would help rid Nigeria of the scourge of terror which has plagued her for nigh two decades; and which she might succumb to if she doesn’t get help.
TEN THINGS TINUBU MUST DO: Trump is no doubt the best of all options available to President Tinubu right now. Better to deal with Trump than Xi or Putin. He must reach out, consult, find lobbyists and indeed, do whatever is necessary to get Nigeria back on track.
And above all, he must have a blueprint of his own.
Below are suggestions from EXPRESSO:
ONE: Sharia must be outlawed immediately. Nigeria is one country and must be under one constitution. To create separate bodies of laws is aberrant and dangerous.
TWO: Make laws to ban the almajiri system. Where else in the world do we have a system that only damages children and breeds the youth for terrorism?
THREE: Make a clear proclamation outlawing extra-judicial killings, especially trial by mob, arising from so-called ‘blasphemy.’
FOUR: Draw a one-year plan to close all IDPs and ensure that inmates are returned to their ancestral homestead.
FIVE: Restore all lands seized from non-indigenes in the last decade.
SIX: Outlaw cattle grazing in Nigeria giving a one-year moratorium.
SEVEN: Established model cattle ranches in the 36 States of Nigeria and Abuja and get the Livestock Ministry to work.
NINE: Open a six-month window for all terrorists, etc, to seek amnesty or be crushed.
TEN: Convoke a National Restoration Conference.
And also important is the need to sanitise the military, security and intelligence community and eliminate rogue officers.
These are some of the broad- based and holistic actions President Tinubu must consider quickly if he must get Nigeria back on track again.
Osuji was editor at The Guardian and THISDAY.
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