By Col. Kemi Peters (retd)

Our nation is at crossroads! Many doomsday forecasters have said or insinuated that our nation will disintegrate after the elections on February 14th 2014.The latest of such declarations came from the so-called retired Niger Delta militants. It was reported that the militants had threatened to take up arms again if President Goodluck Jonathan failed to win the presidential election.

Prof Obafunwa

This utterance would not have been taken seriously if not that the threat was made in the presence of Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, who hosted the militants. One of the militants was reported to have said that ‘We are Nigerians but not one Nigeria in that what brings us together is oil. The North wants to use insecurity excuse to push out our own’. This is highly inciting, irresponsible, arrogant and unnecessary.

Are we no more running a democratic system of governance? Do they smell defeat already for their ‘oga at the top ?’. We must give democracy a chance to grow in our country. We must remember that no one group has the monopoly of violence.

Recently, these short-sighted and selfish characters have been flying a kite with the suggestion for the enactment of an Interim Government.

Then just recently President Goodluck Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) came out openly to canvass for the postponement of the elections for three months. These develpoments are not in the best interest of our fledgling democracy. Is it because the polls seem to make the opposition candidate, General Muhamadu Buhari the leading candidate?

Recently we have seen ruling governments voted out of power because the citizenry wanted a new beginning. Where sitting leaders insist on clinging on to power through manipulations of the electoral process like postponing the election date, the result is usually disastrous for the country. We must not allow our election process to degenerate into chaos and anarchy.    It will do no one any good.  INEC should be careful and be firm to avoid being manipulated to accept this postponement argument.  AS General David Jemibewon (Rtd) is quoted to have said, ‘We are being guided by the constitution of this country. Certainly, there is no provision for postponement of elections’

There are many things that make a new beginning inevitable in our nation.  The first is the palpable desperation in our land. Poverty has so eaten into the fabric of our society that anything goes for everyone. To survive is the most important thing for every Nigerian. As commentators have asserted, this more than any other factor gave rise to the swollen ranks of insurgents known as Boko Haram. Kidnappings, ritual sacrifices of human beings, political murders to mention a few are on the increase.

Today, there is so much suffering in the land, which has resulted in fear and uncertainty. The rich even cannot sleep because the poor are hungry and constantly agitating for a slice of the national cake. This is a dangerous phenomenon for it means the society is sitting on a ‘time bomb’ which could consume everyone. What is the answer? We must restructure the society, seriously, tackle the issue of corruption, diversify the economy with measures that will reduce our dependence on oil and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths, to mention a few.

The second point is the issue of insurgency ravaging the North East part of the country. Hardly any day passes without Boko Haram killing scores of people. It has come to be taken as the norm. We hardly feel any pain. Recently over hundreds of people, including women and children, were slaughtered by the insurgents. In a report recently, General Abdusalami Abubakar, GCFR, former head of State stressed that it was important for government to re-emphasise its capability to stop the insurgents.

Apparently the government has not shown enough political or military will to put down the insurgency. It has not rallied the citizenry to support the fight the way it did in the war against Ebola. The fighting capability of our troops has been seriously compromised by the lack of appropriate equipment. The result of this is that Boko Haram routs the Nigerian troops who abandon their positions in the face of superior fire power.

Unfortunately government is making a ‘scapegoat’ of these men. Whereas the correct position should have been to find out what happened, why it happened and how the losses can be reversed and the insurgents stopped. It is not one, two or three units that abandoned their positions, showing clearly that there are some fundamental things wrong which must be addressed. It most likely has nothing to do with the fighting ability of the men.

If the men do not have the right equipment to prosecute the war and meet a superior fire power, then we are asking them to commit suicide by waiting and confronting the enemy. When whole units abandon positions, this should not necessarily call for trials of the men as is happening now. History teaches us that we cannot write off units that have been routed and which abandon their positions.

During the Second World War, the Japanese forces routed the United States Forces stationed in Philippines under the command of General Douglas McArthur. The US troops had to abandon their position and flee to Australia. No one was put on trial, instead they went back to the drawing board, retrained and soon after, the same General McArthur returned to the Philippines with the same troops and routed the Japanese forces stationed there and retook the Philippines. The right thing for government to do now is to stop the trials of these men, equip them properly and send them back to fight the insurgents. These trials could lower the morale of the   fighting men.

General Abdusalam Abubakar underscored this point recently when he opined that government should ensure its military and security forces are sufficiently equipped. He also called on government to consider the mobilization and re-absorption of all retired able-bodied security personnel. These are far-reaching suggestions. Obviously, he was pointing out that modern weaponry is required to fight these insurgents who seem well armed with more sophisticated weapons. Even the best fighters in the world cannot confront a ravaging well armed group if they are not adequately trained and properly equipped for the type of warfare going on.

They will invariably abandon their positions. Suggesting mobilization and re-absorption is obviously saying that the Commander-in-Chief should take another look at the military high command, its strategy and tactics for fighting the insurgents. It is obviously an indictment on the military high command. The General went short of asking them to be sacked. We must fight the insurgents with all our strength as a nation.

The entire citizenry must be mobilized. We must view it as something touching the whole nation not just the North East. The National Assembly should get more involved and ask questions from the government. We must show sympathy to the displaced persons. We must show sympathy and appreciation to the families of deceased and injured soldiers.

We therefore need a new beginning. We need a change. We need someone who can put our economy on the right footing. We need someone who has the ability to confront the insurgents. We need someone who is firm and committed to this country.  We need someone who can give us back our dignity as a nation.  Can President Goodluck Jonathan do it? Or is it former Head of State General Muhamadu Buhari? The time for a new beginning is now.