The Critical Issues In The Crack Down On Opposition -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

The situation of the Nigerian state at present is deeply troubling. Everything is in a state of topsy-turvy. The economy is in shambles. There is high level of insecurity. Nigerians can no longer sleep with their closed. Traveling on our highways is like walking in “the valley of shadows of death.’ The country is in a situation that Thomas Hobbs describe as a state of nature where life is short, nasty and brutish. But regrettably there seems to be no respite in sight as every new day comes with more horrifying tales and those in power seem to be enjoying the situation. They have no solution or willingness to tackle the myriads of problems they created but instead they trade blames. When they are not blaming the past administration for their failures, they are blaming the opposition, the victims of their misdemeanors or some imaginary beings or unidentified others.

Nigeria has never had it so bad. For the almost 11 years that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in power, what they have demonstrated to Nigerians is that the party is an assemblage of unscrupulous power-hungry political pettifoggers bereft of capacity for governance. Those at the leadership position do not know what leadership and nation-building entails. Paradoxically, many of them claim to belong to the progressive camp but they are a bunch reactionary elements in the polity. At best, they are religious bigots and ethnic irredentist; what the Greek philosophers describe as tribesmen. There are obviously no statesmen, nationalists or patriots in their fold. The party has become an assembly of corrupt politicians and jobless political contractors who have no other job but politics; who can do anything to remain at the corridors of power. It is also a safe haven for corrupt politicians running away from anti-graft agencies.

Those who realized that the party is just a political amalgam meant to wrestle power without purpose left the party. They saw the early warning sign and retraced their steps. They are the conscientious ones: Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Odigie Oyegun and recently, Chris Ngige, Abubakar Malami, El-Rufai and many others.

Right from the time of Buhari when the party repudiated all its campaign promises and rejected the strident calls for restructuring the nation till now, the party has always put its foot in the wrong direction and in the process destroying the fabrics of the nation, stoking the fire of hatred and mutual recrimination, hitting hard and accentuating our fault lines and fracturing national unity and cohesion. The situation has grown worse under Tinubu whose inordinate ambition to hold on to power at all costs has dragged Nigeria deeper into socio-economic crisis and political instability with his exclusionists and revanchists policies.

Analysts and concerned observers believe that the APC regime has taken Nigeria more a century backwards. From the biggest economy in Africa in 2015, Nigeria has retrogressed to the unenviable position of the poverty capital of the world where over 60% of the population are multi-dimensionally poor. Nigeria has become a nation trapped in a heavy debt burden, rising youth unemployment, acute balance of payment problem and where over 30 million children are out of school while the government borrow to finance frivolities, the political leaders live in opulence and the greater majority in misery and pain.

Unfortunately, those in power don’t care about the pains they have subjected the people to. When Fela Anikulapo Kuti was singing about “Vagabonds In Power” in 70s, I think it is now that Nigerians have come to feel how it is to have vagabonds in power. We have a situation where those in authority are insensitive to the groaning of the people. And instead of listening, they are doing everything possible to suppress free speech and civil advocacy. They also deny the people the right to protest. State institutions have been compromised, the mainstream media have been bought over. A humungous amount of tax-payers’ money is spent on propaganda and false narratives. The government has wasted more time and state resources trying to intimidate and whittle down the strength of the opposition than governance.

In my last essay on this series I have tried to highlight the devious strategies of the APC aimed at destroying the opposition and I will continue on this series to draw the attention of the public to the inherent danger in this anti-democratic trend. Indeed, the attack on the opposition by the APC has taken a very dangerous dimension that may truncate Nigeria Democracy with the mayhem unleased on Mr. Peter Obi and members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Benin City, Edo State a few days ago. This is an event that need critical analysis for if it is not addressed as it should, the trend will continue and in a more dangerous dimension. Nigeria, as the count down to 2007 election begins, you must be alive to your responsibilities. Do not allow the unscrupulous elements to intimidate you and rob you of your future. You must fight to take back your country or regret forever. The choice is always yours.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com

An actress, social activist, politician

London, UK