The lack of political will to fight insecurity has again been identified as the major challenge in Nigeria, as it battles with insurgency.
National Secretary-General of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Ahmed Sulaiman, was a guest of Sunrise Daily on Channels Television and he expressed his view that the first problem was that “something is still being pushed under the carpet.”
He noted as a second major challenge, the issue of statesmanship and leadership where it is expected that there would be a will to execute the fight against the insurgency but which has remained a dogged issue every time solution is sought.
“If I am seen to be up and doing, even if I failed, the testimony would still go that he tried, he did his best but his best was just not good enough”, he said.
One of the solutions he suggested was the need for Nigeria to have a systematic record of all its citizens, which he said he had suggested several times. “If you don’t get first things first, you cannot get your fingers on the answers.”
He noted that most of the leaders who had led Nigeria for the past years have been accidental heads of state or presidents, and by this they have shown that they were not prepared for the possible challenges ahead.
“Every one of them who comes has his hands full and he did not itemise or prioritize the work that he wants to face.”
Sulaiman also made reference to former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, who referred to the state of insurgency as a civil war. “If you have a civil war, what do you do? You rise to the occasion. Being a statesman, he ought to be one of those who would tell the leadership openly; this is the way to go.”
While discussing the possibility of Nigeria separating ethnic and religious differences from the matter, in an effort to end the state of insecurity, he said that there was no way insurgency could be fought without the political and religious inclination.
“How do you separate yourself from spiritualism?” he asked, noting that 95% of human beings have a background of religion with “a fall-back provision on God – the unseen force.”
He stated that until Nigeria reverts to the traditional structure that makes up Nigeria, it would not be able to fight the situation. “Where is the Oba, where is the Emir in the scheme of things?”, he asked. He stated that these were the primary custodians of “who is who” in the communities and Nigeria at large, but they have been relegated to the backgrounds.
He said that he had spoken to some traditional rulers and discovered they have been made to feel like they were not valuable, adding that these classes of people have quality information that the state would need but they would not be willing to share it when they are made to feel unimportant, despite being the ones at most risk.
Despite several meetings held with traditional rulers in recent times well reported in the media, Sulaiman insisted that more needed to be done beyond the ceremonial consultations.
He also took a swipe at the Nigerian Army and the Federal Government: “Who pushed the Nigerian Government to announce that they had eliminated Shekau when they announced it to the world?
“How many days ago now Shekau is out with a 27 minute video clip of telling them that he did the (Nyanya bus park bombing) in Abuja.
“What impression do you want me to have of such security outfit called the Army or the Police or the SSS? How do you want me to be confident?” he asked.
The youth leader said that the northern youth was in a state of comatose, having been at the lowest ebb of events in the country. He said that “this is because the political will to execute what is right was lacking from top to bottom.”
He insisted that insecurity would remain a Nigerian problem until the Nigerian Government rises up to truly take on the challenge.
