Principal Partner of Abuja-based law firm, Pelumi Olajengbesi and Co. Law Corridor, Mr Pulumi Olajengbesi, speaks with JOHN ALECHENU about the decision of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to visit his ranch at a time over 300 students are being held in captivity by terrorists in Katsina State, among other things
There has been public outrage over a trending video of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) visiting his cattle ranch in his home state, Katsina, days after the tragic abduction of over 500 schoolboys in the state. Is the anger expressed by Nigerians justified?
For President Muhammadu Buhari to do that, at this time, goes to show that we have a leadership that is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The President is a person that is clearly not concerned about governance. Any government that has failed in terms of protecting lives and property, as well as taking care of the security architecture of the country, should be told in no uncertain terms that it has failed. It is most unfortunate that this is happening at a time when there is widespread insecurity across the land. Nowhere in Nigeria is safe today. As an individual, I feel that we have a president whose neck is not well screwed on his shoulders in terms of empathy. We have leadership without a clear focus or sense of direction; we have a leadership that has not given attention to the welfare and security of the Nigerian people in the last five years. I think, in a very serious country, President Buhari would have been sanctioned for that act. In a serious country, the National Assembly would have sanctioned Mr President for dereliction of duty. Unfortunately, we have a country where members of the legislative arm, who are supposed to serve as a check for executive excesses, don’t see beyond their sectional or political party interests. We have a serious leadership deficit and that is why somebody like Buhari is in a position of authority today. This is really disturbing.
The President is a decorated retired general of the Nigerian Army. He and his party, the All Progressives Congress, campaigned vigorously using these credentials. They informed Nigerians that the former military dictator was a thoroughbred professional committed to ending the menace of insecurity. How, in your opinion, has he fared in this area?
It is not difficult for anyone to determine this; you don’t have to struggle with facts for everyone whether in Nigeria or outside our shores to know that Mr President has failed in this area as he has in many others. Take a look at the party manifesto and tell me one area where you can say a campaign promise has been fulfilled. As a matter of fact, at the time President Buhari was elected, people were very concerned. Every Nigerian thought that this president who had a strong military background, and who has been military Head of State before, would jump down immediately and demonstrate to the Nigerian people that he has the capacity to do the job. But five years into his eight years term, he has shown clearly that his ineptitude is not just about the fact that he doesn’t have the capacity to address the issue of insecurity, but he is also not concerned about the people. The President’s handlers had told Nigerians that he has the capacity to address the issue of insecurity.
Nigerians voted for him believing that he would address the issue of insecurity, corruption and other ills affecting our country. I can now tell you for free that corruption now is now everywhere under the regime of President Buhari. We need a leader who is genuinely interested in and has the capacity to deliver. Look at the presidency we have, innocent citizens went to their farms, criminals attacked and murdered them in cold blood. Instead of sympathy, we heard a presidential aide saying they didn’t have permission to go to the farm; what a country! That is the kind of leadership we have.
Some Nigerians, including the National Assembly, have at various times called for the sacking of the service chiefs, arguing that they have run out of fresh ideas. Do you belong to this school of thought?
I sympathise with the Nigerian people because the situation we have found ourselves today is beyond imagination. The fact that the service chiefs are overdue for retirement is public knowledge. The Armed Forces Act which is the law regulating operations of the Nigerian Armed Forces is very clear as to how and when people should retire. My concern is that, are we sure that the president who we as Nigerians voted for is even capable of understanding the crisis and quantum of problems we are facing due to this gross violation of the provisions of this Act? Enough of the propaganda we are daily being fed with about the president’s capacity to lead. People are beginning to question his capacity to even recognise the facts staring him in the face. We are in a very delicate situation. If we want to solve the problem of insecurity in this country, Mr President should be humble enough to listen to the people and know that whatever he is doing in this area is simply not working. He must change strategy if he has any or simply just resign and allow someone who has the capacity to do the job to mount the saddle. There are a lot of complaints from the rank and file of the military; maybe it hasn’t come to the president’s hearing that the service chiefs are no longer productive and have run out of ideas. So, they are using old tactics believing they can use the same to deal with modern challenges. We need to allow people who are versatile and younger, people who want to demonstrate fresh ideas in handling modern security challenges. As a matter of fact, we all know that the service chiefs should have retired some years ago, but the president for reasons known only to him has refused to ask them to go. They cannot leave because he is their Commander-In-Chief and has asked them to stay. The military cannot sack them because the president is in charge. This is a terribly unbearable situation we are in; the National Assembly has been unable to act beyond making empty threats and playing to the gallery. Everyone appears to have been cowed into silence.
How then can we get our democracy to work for us as a nation?
It is simple, we must restructure. There is a need for us to restructure our country. Using provisions of our constitution, there is a need for us to reduce the powers currently concentrated at the centre. We need to give the federating units -in our case, the 36 states and the FCT- more powers to run their affairs. This is the only way we can ensure that we do not have a president who can become a monster; who will hide at a time the people need leadership in all areas. We must not wait until a time when people become laws unto themselves and anarchy sets in. Apart from the dire security situation we have found ourselves, the economy is in dire straits. Public universities have been shut for almost one year now and there appears to be no end in sight. We have a government that has remained unperturbed; we simply cannot continue on this path and expect to grow as a nation. It is simply not adding up, the frustration among Nigerians is palpable. Nigeria must be restructured; our constitution must be broken down to allow states to control their lives. Imagine, we are still having this conversation in 2020 when we have separation of powers. It beats the imagination that the Presidency can come out boldly to say the elected representatives of the people in the National Assembly cannot summon the president to brief them on the security situation in the country. This is not just laughable but very embarrassing. It shows that we have become very docile. The same lawmakers are falling over themselves to literally beg the president to forgive their “indiscretion.” Is this a democracy we are running or a monarchy?
In summary, for us to have a better nation, there is the urgent need for the president to come down from his high horse to understand that no sacrifice is too great for him to do to ensure the security and welfare of the Nigerian people he begged for their votes and swore by the Quran to protect and make life better for them. He must also be made to understand that any government, including his, that fails to protect its citizens and enhance their wellbeing does not deserve to remain in office. There is no sentiment; we need to come together as a people to demand better governance from those saddled with the responsibility of leading us.
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