2023 Hopefuls: Let Us Interrogate Them

Femi Akintunde-Johnson

We are now in the home run, or shall we use the more familiar “last leg” of the race to Aso Villa, specifically for the front runners – Atiku Abubakar, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Peter Obi (in order of their declared ages). If we are not paying the cliched lip service to conducting the ideological and intellectual inspections of the candidates’ submissions, promises and declarations, let us take ourselves seriously, and interrogate them dispassionately. We mean in a manner that prioritises fixation on important issues and evaluation of character, commitment and perceived competences, while shunning sloganeering and propaganda. Let us focus on the most talked about, and therefore the most worrisome issues to most Nigerians: security, economy, constitutional reforms (aka restructuring, devolution of powers, reducing government size, etc); corruption, public service reforms, education and manpower development, public health infrastructure, food security, public welfare, peace and unity.

  While the issues are not exhaustive, the many years of violent exploitation and molestation of the Nigerian psyche makes it a near eldorado if only four or five of these issues are effectively confronted and passionately executed. Thus, we shall devote our attention, in the next few editions of this column, reviewing and highlighting the published thoughts and statements of our three candidates on the above issues. Perhaps, swing voters, those who are not completely sold on the “final offer”, would permit the opportunity of cross referencing positions and ideas so as to arrive at the “the man for the job” – with as little bias and opportunism as possible.

  Let us start with the very critical job of securing Nigeria, and keeping her citizens safe. What do the candidates – none was ever in the military – plan for improved security? Any fresh ideas to reflect the urgency and gravity of the Nigerian security condition? Now, let the interrogation begin.

  Atiku Abubakar’s most trenchant criticism of the current handling of the Nigerian security system was reported in a ThisDay exclusive chat published on 7 April, 2022. His quote: “The key to ending these spate of attacks on our military formations, from the point of view of civil authority, is to end impunity. These killings keep recurring because previous killings have not been punished. We need to go beyond the rhetoric of mouthing that those behind these killings will face the full wrath of the law. The fact remains that those behind such previous killings have not been dealt with. That is why these killings keep happening, and even as we speak, these belligerents are likely planning future killings. So, we must end impunity.” 

  “Secondly, from a military standpoint, I am of the view that the president should not talk at the military. Quite the opposite. The holder of that office has to listen to them. They know their strengths and weaknesses. They know better than anyone the threats facing Nigeria. They know where the shoe pinches.

  “I intend to listen to them and provide them with everything they need. To that end, our soldiers have to be motivated. And I am not just talking about their wages. They have to know that their lives are important to their Commander-in-Chief.

  “Under my watch, such losses of lives will be minimal. However, where even one soldier is killed, it is the duty of the C-in-C to personally empathise with their families, so, those left behind are motivated, because they see that their service to the nation matters.

  “If you join the military, you should have financial and social security. At the barest minimum, if you die in service, then your family becomes the responsibility of the federal government. Our troops need the right leadership, the right weaponry, and the right conditions of service. When our military know that the nation and the C-in-C are behind them, these incidents of insecurity will also soon be behind us.”

  At the kick-off of his 2023 presidential campaigns in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State (captured in a ThisDay report of 11 October, 2022), Abubakar decried the spate of insecurity, assuring his supporters that he would unify and restructure the country, while protecting all Nigerians. So, how does Mr. Abubakar hope to perform the magic where veteran generals, retired and serving, had found the task herculean? He believes in a panacea, like his opponents, that will change the dynamics of our law and order imperatives in a positive and proactive way.

  As far back as many months before he contested the 2019 election with the incumbent president, Abubakar had expressed strong opinions about alternate policing suprastructure. In 2018, he boldly supported the huffing of the eighth National Assembly, led by Bukola Saraki, to amend the constitution and make provision for state police and community policing in order to arrest worsening insecurity pillaging the country. He was quoted thus: “A peculiar crisis demands a decisive action, and I am one hundred percent behind the National Assembly in their efforts to strengthen the hands of state governments in providing security to their citizens.”

  He noted his dismay at what appeared that the Buhari administration was overwhelmed by security challenges, and hailed the strategic intervention of the legislators, insisting further in a Premium Times report of 4 July, 2018 that security strategies ought to be reviewed periodically as criminal elements were equally studying public security loopholes, and devising novel means of circumventing the system.

  Few years later (20 January, 2020 – Vanguard), the former Vice President confidently reiterated his support for community, state and zonal policing. His quote: “The time is ripe to seriously confront the reality of insecurity in the country by addressing the urgency of introducing state police, zonal police and community policing to complement the efforts of the current federal police.”

  “The issue of security shouldn’t be politicised and monopolised in the face of our current alarming security challenges characterised by the fear of even travelling on our highways by the citizens who might be intercepted by kidnappers and taken hostage for ransom.

  “It is a given perception that when people have a role in their own security, they are going to help to defeat the criminal in their tracks and that the more they are involved, the more likely they would perceive the police as their friends… Local policing shouldn’t be mistaken for an effort to hijack the role of the federal police or competition with the federal government.”

  While there are many Nigerians who support Abubakar’s view as a critical step towards stemming our embarrassingly frightening insecurity, and hope he has the political will and fortitude – beyond campaign stump sophistry – to stimulate consensus around it; there are also many who fret at the propensity of the political class to destroy the intrinsic values of communal policing by deploying forces meant for safety and protection as political gangs or counterforce to browbeat opponents, and foment all sorts of turf wars and brutalities in pursuit of personal or political advantages – part of which is seen done even with this current federal structure! And we are back to the same cankerworm of impunity.

  So, the moral of Abubakar’s submission on dealing with our security quagmire is wrapped in a troubling question: Is it adequate, enforceable or sustainable?