In the year 2000, there was a riot in Kaduna as a result of the introduction of the sharia legal system in the state. Many lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
The Council of State meeting convened by Olusegun Obasanjo, who was president then, as a way to resolving the crisis, ordered a return to status quo ante in states of the north where sharia had been introduced.
General Muhammadu Buhari who, as former military head of state, is a statutory member of the council, was conspicuously absent at the meeting. He addressed the press some days later, claiming that the sharia issue was not on the agenda at the meeting and, therefore, was not discussed.
I was covering the State House then for my medium, Daily Star Newspaper.
To put lie to Buhari’s statement, a copy of the minutes of the meeting was issued to us (which was not a usual practice), which, contrary to Buhari’s claim, contained a decision on sharia.
It is against this background that the recent statement credited to General Buhari on the state of emergency declared by the federal government on three northern states, where there has been Boko Haram insurgency since 2009, should be viewed with all seriousness.
The former head of state was said to have made comparison between the way the federal government handled the militancy in the Niger Delta and the current Boko Harma insurgency in the North. He was quoted to have said that, “When the Niger Delta militants started their activities in the South-South, they were invited by the late President Umaru Yar’adua.
“An aircraft was sent to them and their leaders met with the late President in Aso Rock and discussed issues. They were given money and a training scheme was introduced for their members. But when the Boko Haram emerged in the North, members of the sect were killed.”
One wonders what Buhari intends to achieve by this statement, which is capable of pitching the people of the North against the federal government. As an elder statesman, the former head of state ought to exercise some caution when commenting on sensitive national issues. In the case of the insurgency in the North, Buhari did not present the true picture.
To start with, the agitation of Niger Delta militants was for resource control and environmental conservation as a result of oil exploration in the region.
Till date, nobody has established the demand of the terrorists in the North.
Again, Buhari may have forgotten, or deliberately omitted to tell his listeners, of the Odi massacre of 1999 and the Gbaramatu military invasion of 2008, where over 2,000 people were killed and several buildings (including the palace of Gbaramatu king) destroyed. The attack was in search of Government Ekpemupolo (otherwise known as Tompolo), one of the leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
Buhari did not speak when members of the Boko Haram sect mercilessly bombed churches and attacked hapless Christians.
While other Nigerians, including notable Northern leaders, were condemning the attacks on innocent Christians and offered condolences, Buhari remained mum.
The former head of state was voiceless when members of the sect bombed military formations and the UN House in Abuja; our modern day defender of the weak and oppressed was unable to advise members of the sect to embrace the federal government peace initiative and stop senseless bloodletting.
The Niger Delta militants heeded late President Yar’Adua’s order and surrendered their arms in return for amnesty. But members of Boko Haram sect rebuffed the federal government dialogue and peace deal; instead, ferocious attacks were launched on military formations and unlucky Nigerians.
The belief is that the insurgency in the North was as a result of the election of Goodluck Jonathan as president in 2011. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that as a former head of state and politician, General Buhari’s statement is capable of inflaming passion in the North, thereby complicating the already security situation in the region.
And the question that not been answered over time is if Buhari becomes president, is he going to be president for the Muslims only? What about people of other faiths?
Among Nigeria’s former heads of state, Buhari has remained intransigent, fanatical and narrow-minded in the affairs of the country. He sees himself as a sectional leader, yet he wants other sections to vote for him as president.
He has refused to see himself as an elder statesman who should see the whole country as his constituency.
This brings me to the character of Nigerian politicians. What we have in Nigeria are political merchants who do not care if Nigeria remains as a country or not, so far they can have access to the national treasury.
Before now, the opposition parties accused President Jonathan of doing nothing to protect Nigerians from terror attacks. Now that a state of emergency has been declared, they are kicking against it.
In 2001 when there were terror attacks on landmark buildings in the United States of America (USA), the people, irrespective of political leaning, were united in the condemnation. They did not blame the attacks on the administration of President George W. Bush (Jnr.), neither was the 2005 train attack in London blamed on Tony Blair’s government.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) as a political organisation is yet to convince Nigerians that it is an alternative for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). And except the ruling party fails to puts it’s house in order and resolves its internal crisis, the APC is simply working for the success of PDP in the 2015 general elections.
The point I am trying to make is that our politicians should be circumspect in their comments.
They should know when to play politics and when to unite for national interest.
Nigerians are becoming matured politically; they are no longer deceived by political rhetoric or gimmick.
The earlier our politicians realise this may be the beginning of them to play politics with moderation.
After all, politicians are all the same; the one crying foul now may be the worse when he gets there.