We are the
fire brigade, who did not check that we have a reservoir of water when racing
to put out the fire, even though this is our primary function. This is what
keeps us regressing and allows opportunists to exploit us and does untold
damage to our union. We are not prepared
for the general elections, the most important date in a democratic dispensation
and had to postpone the elections! Who has lost his head or his mandate?
Nobody.
Who are
these people that rule us, cloud our eyes for their own gain and give us only
snippets of information, ill conceived, poorly prepared and as a result allows
for poor emergency response mechanisms, which they get away with and in fact
profit from. We just are not process-driven
to enable us get a clear understanding of what is required to tackle our issues
head on. And now, how do we explain the long queues that have returned to
petrol stations?
Exactly this
time last year, we were in a similar dilemma. The most disturbing and fearful
thing about a disease is when its cause cannot be ascertained. No one can
categorically state why the queues have returned to our filling stations. When
this round of fuel scarcity first reared its head, the Federal Government, or
should we say the PDP (because we can rarely tell the difference these days)
said it was the opposition APC that engineered it to discredit Mr President.
Later, the government’s position was that the long queues at filling stations
were as a result of panic buying and hoarding. However, the scarcity persists.
Petroleum
marketers have responded to the allegation that their members are hoarding the
commodity. One source stated what the government of President Goodluck Jonathan
should seriously ponder on: “We cannot hoard what we don’t have, government
should avoid fire brigade approach to importation of petroleum products since
we do not refine petrol in Nigeria.” The government has, as a panic measure, started
shelling out huge sums of money owed to the marketers, to temporarily alleviate
the situation by panic importing the product. Fire brigade!
Whilst we
queue for a product our nation produces, INEC is sweating out the “are-you-ready-or-not-question.”
The strategy is to reincarnate the Devil’s advocate called the Association for
Better Nigeria, headed by the infamous Arthur Nzeribe used to scuttle June 12.
This time, the agenda is to either force Jega to proceed on terminal leave or
compel him to ditch the use of card readers or both. This way, the credibility
of the March 28 presidential election – or its lack of it – will rest on the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Already, many PDP satellite parties have
started championing both courses. The card reader is a biometric device that
does not allow for rigging, as it identifies the owner both facially and with a
thumbprint. One would have thought that this would be the best way to safe
guard our democracy and ensure that the people choose whom they want to rule
them. It is a security device. The matter has been taken to court at this late
stage, just to fuel even more uncertainty in our polity. There is talk of
further delays. Who is responsible for this uncertainly? Who?
On the
frontline, the Chadian president, Idriss Deby, seems to have combined his role
as his country’s commander-in-chief with ours. He obviously has more
information on Boko Haram and Shekau than our president and has given
ultimatums to the group and its leader. It is amazing and a shame that our
security agencies do not see the shame that would make a country like Chad call
for the surrender of a terrorist whose operation base is in Nigeria and has
terrorised and killed more Nigerians than Chadians. If by now the Nigerian
government does not know that it is operating in the shadows of its Chadian
counterpart, then something must be wrong with the swagger that comes with
being “the” regional power. Are we happy to rely on Chadian troops and
intelligence to liberate our towns and villages without taking to account, the
kind of implications it has on our national security.
“Abubakar
Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn’t give himself up he
will suffer the same fate as his compatriots. “He (Shekau) was in Dikwa two
days ago. He managed to get away but we know where he is. It’s in his interests
to surrender.” If I were a Boko Haram member, I would take these threats
seriously. Unfortunately, they are not from our own president. They are from
the president of a “small” friendly neighbour of ours called Chad, a country of
just over 10 million people and a total GDP of $15.986 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment