Between Obasanjo And Jonathan: Boko Haram - Creation Of Bad Governance by Faseyiku

In my last post, I wrote about the historic responsibility that has been bestowed on the present generation of young Nigerians to change their country.

In 1999, a certain Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was "elected" in a very flawed process to lead the country. He had just been released from prison. Most of those who saw the first published photographs of Obasanjo after his release would doubt they were seeing a man they once knew. Prison life had battered him.

When he got into government, many thought prison had also changed him and he would be a better leader. But we were disappointed. Nigeria ended up much worse under his tenure. Under him a serving attorney-general was murdered in yet unresolved circumstances. A comical perspective to his reign was summarized by Pius Adesanmi in his writing for Saharereporters http://goo.gl/l8CKU8. Motor park tout, Tokyo, became the lord of Ibadan, Uba became the garrison commander of Anambra. One Adedibu became the treasury keeper of the government in Oyo State.
Rigging was in the era gone bye a nocturnal affair, but during Obasanjo's reign it became a daylight thing aided by men of the Nigerian police and the Army. Vote stealing was the only way any government was installed. As of today, Nigeria has gone much further back in reputational and material terms that a senile, old, dying, capricious leader, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, could take a dig at us. Roads that were once passable have become death traps. Schools and universities that were once reference institutions had become unrecognizable in terms of product and in infrastructures.

One Mr. Tony Anennih is renowned as the Mr. Fix-it of any government in power. I have only given the above review because most readers can identify with it. This is what the International Crisis Group has said about our country: "most Nigerians are poorer today than they were at independence in 1960...The government is unable to provide security, good roads, water, health and reliable education" to its citizens. Yet between 2006 and 2010, Nigerian earned $196 billion from oil and gas. In 2011 and 2012, the country earned an average $52 billion per annum. Between General Obasanjo's ascension to power and 2006, the country earned no less than $140 billion from oil and gas.

Where has all this money gone. How come there are no jobs and no prospects of jobs. Without jobs, man become insecure - first, emotionally and next, physically. When live and living ends on the "now" point, and the future holds no prospect whatsoever, what becomes of man is insecurity. This is fundamental and an interpretation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory.

The Boko Haram of today may be a weird and unacceptable interpretation of religious doctrine, but it is a product of the criminality of governance and democratic institutions in Abuja and in the government houses in all the states of the "federation".

Even the "leader", Mr. Bola Tinubu, has just bought himself and his family a brand new private jet, his second. From what? And from where? His pensions as former executive governor? Or his savings as a former treasurer in Mobil? Or from an unknown inheritance bequeathed unto him by his later "mother", Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji? It is not only the executive and legislative institutions that are problematic. Law and order does not exist in our country.


The judiciary is a market for buyers and sellers of justice and only the highest bidder gets to buy it. My Nigerian judiciary quashed 197 counts of criminal charges against James Onanefe Ibori. The same man is languishing jail in the UK today for exactly the same offences. When the same man was unmasked as a thief in Nigeria, an Abuja court cleared him that he was not the same person who was convicted. When a certain Bode George was sent to jail for criminal conspiracy and theft, a court cleared him.

When no court could clear Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the presidency granted him a pardon. In a nation where there are no morals and no sacredness of values. In a nation that could bestow centenary honours on its worst ruler and kleptocract, the rise of Boko Haram and similarly incongruous ideologies was only a matter of time. Niger Delta militants, south-east zone based kidnappers, ritualists and human part sellers in the south west, etc, are all part and parcel of the creation of bad governance and ineptitude of the state in focussing on improving the lives of the citizens. 

To return Nigeria to a path of sanity will take years but we can start now. 

The ICG says the insurgency in Nigeria are "unlikely ever to be completely suppressed, unless the government wins local hearts and minds by implementing fundamental political reforms to address bad governance, corruption and underdevelopment." I cannot agree any less.

The present order in Nigeria where a senator earns nearly or over $2m per annum cannot win local hearts and minds. A government that cannot account for $12 billion of our resources cannot win local minds and hearts.

What becomes of Nigeria is what you do when you go to vote. What becomes of your children in future is what you do when you vote today. Before you cast your vote, ask them questions: What do you intend to do for me? What do you intend to do for my community? How can I call you to account anytime - not just after you leave? Ask questions. Do not vote for anyone without a clear manifesto or a clear idea of what they want to do in office.

Let us educate our people and mobilize them. We can do it. We can contribute a £1 or $1 a week to mass mobilization. People need to know that insecurity can be defeated if bad governance is attacked.