Friday 13, December 2024.

 

On 13 November 2024, Nigerians were treated to a public display of bizarre emotional outburst, a conduct unbecoming of the office, by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu while representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Comptroller General of Customs conference in Abuja. He spoke on national security, the economy, and the state of the nation. He made strenuous efforts to make a case for substituting the unflattering label of Tinubu Pains (T-Pains) that President Tinubu is tagged with for a new slogan he called “Tinubu Gains”.

 

Beneath the comical smoke-blowing theatrics and the overzealousness in praising the “Oga at the top”, one could clearly see a pent-up frustration of a government that is not connecting with the citizens in spite of the over-bloated team of 13 media advisers, praise singers, actors, clerics and desperate job seekers assembled to market its hardships-inducing economic policies. Most importantly, the speech came across as Tinubu government’s jumpiness, insecurity, thin skin, and impatience to the legitimate rights of citizens to criticize it. The NSA had this to say on the following issues.

 

1. On Banditry: “Hundreds of bandits are killed every day, many are surrendering or running away, Tinubu Gains !! You can move everywhere in our country free of fear, Tinubu Gains !! Many parts of our country are living in peace today, Tinubu Gains !!.” 

The NSA

 

Is security in the Northwest (NW) and North Central (NC) improving as the NSA wants us to believe?  As we speak today, many of our people in rural areas are not sleeping in their homes; thousands are held in captivity in the forests by bandits, and farmers can not go to their farms. Federal Highways like Funtua to Gusau in Zamfara state and Kankara to Katsina in Katsina state have become death traps with bandits blocking and abducting passengers at will

 

The NSA asserted that all security services in Nigeria are, for the first time, working together as one. The expectation is for that to translate into better security. But the realities on the ground do not bear that out. 

 

The October 2024 Nigeria security report from Beacon Security and Intelligence LTD, a leading security, intelligence and risk management company in Nigeria, showed that October 2024 recorded the highest monthly fatalities of 1,545 (51% rise from September 1022) and the highest rate of abductions of 971 (24.42% rise from September 807). The total recorded fatalities from January to October were 12,000, a figure not seen since 2013 during the dark days of  Boko Haram when it was classified as the deadliest terror group in the world. 

 

With total fatalities of 13,545 recorded from January to October, the year 2024 will have the unenviable record of being the deadliest in over a decade.

 

The reason is partly because of over-reliance on kinetic measures, which only serve as recruitment tools rather than addressing the root cause. Other important components in the fight against banditry, like adequate policing, intelligence gathering, alleviating the high cost of living and climate issues, are all being ignored.

 

The words of Albert Einstein remain as true today as when he said them: “Peace can not be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

 

2. On Boko Haram (BH), “Boko Haram, which has been ravaging our country, is now on the run. Its members are now moving to other neighbouring countries because Nigeria is no longer conducive for their operations.” 

The NSA

 

In addition to fleeing to neighbouring countries, BH fighters have relocated their operations westwards to the NW and NC, where they are forming deadly alliances with bandits, teaching them the arts of making and using explosives. We saw some of the results of this unholy alliance in the deadly attacks of the Abuja to Kaduna train on March 28, 2021, and the Kuje Correctional Centre break on July 4, 2021. In its home turf in the Northeast, BH remains a big threat with the resurgence of the use of IEDs and female suicide bombers.

 

3. On Lakurawas: “The so-called Lakurawas or whatever they call themselves are making a mistake, you are going to be defeated, and we will kick you out of Nigeria.”  -  The NSA 

 

Contrary to what Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, the Director of Defense Media Operations, said in one of his press briefings that the group is new in Nigeria, we now know that it has been around since 2017 at the invitation of local communities to help them fight off bandits. This strange invitation happened under the noses of the state and federal governments and all security and intelligence services. 

 

What is shocking is that a foreign terrorist group was invited into Nigeria, a sovereign country, to do the job of our security services. The real questions Nigerians should be asking are: Why is the military now feigning ignorance of this terrorist group’s seven-year presence in  why is there an uptick in its activities now? 

 

The horrors that these terrorist groups are inflicting daily on our people are real and immediate to us from the frontline states in the Northwest and the North Central parts of the country. Indeed, it is very personal to me coming from Katsina state, where 65% of the state is under siege by bandits. 

 

We, therefore, feel insulted when we hear the NSA repeatedly peddling this propaganda and half-truths about the state of security in our states. At a time when citizens are facing debilitating insecurity and excruciating hardships from increasing cost of living and hunger, what citizens need to hear from their leaders are soothing words of compassion, not heartless, boastful words that show a complete disconnect from their daily sufferings.

 

Repairing and restoring Nigeria’s diplomatic ties with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali is crucial for our peace and security. Any foreign military presence on Nigerian soil in whatever guise will only worsen the security threats from Bandits, BH, ISWAP, Lakurawa, and many other terrorist groups.

 

4. On Niger Delta: “Go to the Niger Delta, things have calmed down. Nigeria is today producing 1.8m barrels per day (bpd), a figure not seen for a long time, Tinubu Gains !!.”   - The NSA

 

The NSA was tactfully silent on illegal oil bunkering. Nigerians would like to know what is being done to stop it and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators. 

 

5. On The Economy: “The CBN is clean today, nobody is making a dime in our CBN unlike before 2023, Tinubu Gains!!”. The Naira will be stabilized, just wait, it will come. The Nigerian Customs Service for the first time is hitting over N5 trillion, Tinubu Gains !!.”  - The NSA 

 

All these numbers mean little or nothing to citizens because they don’t translate into any relief from the increasing cost of living they face. President Tinubu’s economic policies have added millions of Nigerians to the 133 million already in multidimensional poverty. 

 

Instead of reducing the cost of governance, cutting taxes and giving genuine relief to citizens facing the worst cost of living crisis of their lifetime, President Tinubu’s government continues taxing citizens and businesses beyond their ability to pay.

Five major multinational companies exited the country in 2024 because of unfavorable business conditions.

 

Stakeholders from all across the country have objected to the contentious tax reform bill President Tinubu sent to the National Assembly (NASS) because it gives undue economic advantages to Lagos, Ogun and Rivers states while disenfranchising the rest of the 33 states of the country but, the President is adamant on getting it passed into law. I do not doubt that all this brouhaha about the tax bill is engineered to distract citizens from the hardships imposed on them by the government’s disastrous economic policies.

 

President Tinubu’s arrogant style of governance and lack of consultations on major policy decisions like the removal of fuel subsidy, devaluation of the Naira, lopsided appointments into federal agencies, the tax reform bill and his misguided romance with France have increasingly widened the trust gap between his government and citizens and has dangerously Balkanized the country.

 

6. To critics of the government: “This is Nigeria of 2024, I can assure you that the critics will be quite one after the other. To the critics, we will shut you up, we will do that.” - The NSA

 

President Tinubu’s thin skin to legitimate interrogation of his government is understandable because his 25-year rule of Lagos as an Emperor was unquestioned by its citizens, and he assumed it would be the same on the big stage. 

 

We criticize this government and its policies, as is our right as citizens in a democracy because we love this country we call home. In the words of Mark Twain, “Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.”

 

7. On President Tinubu: “Nobody ever dares Tinubu and wins, nobody. Nobody has ever defeated Tinubu. Tinubu is a success, he has never been a failure.”  -  The NSA

 

The NSA needs no reminding that Islam seriously frowns at praising any human being, no matter how highly placed, and elevating a fellow mortal to the level of a deity is one of the biggest sins in Islam.

 

8. On International Relations: “Today, the whole world is looking for President Tinubu, the Prime Minister of India, and the President of Germany to visit, and Nigeria has been invited to G-20. More than 20 requests for President Tinubu to visit, Tinubu Gains !!.”  - The NSA

 

President Tinubu’s love fest with France and its Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron should worry every Nigerian. At a time when almost all Francophone West African countries (Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Senegal) are severing their military ties with France, President Tinubu is dragging Nigeria into France’s embrace without consulting anyone. 

From its history in Africa, France has nothing to offer Nigeria but worsening insecurity and pillaging of our natural resources. 

 

France's main goals in Nigeria are to get concessions to exploit our vast mineral resources located mostly in Northern Nigeria, explore opportunities in oil and gas exploration and establish military bases to replace the ones they were kicked from the 5 countries listed above. 

 

Nigerians will vigorously resist any attempt by President Tinubu to permit the establishment of any foreign military base on its soil or exploitation of our resources without following due process. 

 

The biggest threat to any country’s security is hunger; there is severe hunger in the land, which, according to a recent WHO report, will worsen in the months of November 2024 to May 2025. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has already raised the alarm of severe malnutrition in the Northwest, with 30% of children in the towns of Jibia, Mashi and Mani in Katsina State suffering from severe malnutrition. 

 

President Tinubu’s answer to the hunger ravaging our people is to distribute rice palliatives which he has so far done nine (9) times without any relief.

 

Recent data has shown that up to 60% of students in tertiary institutions in Northern Nigeria have not returned to their schools because of the increased cost of living and their inability to pay. The number of children out of school has increased exponentially since President Tinubu came to power. Universities are groaning from increased electricity tariffs,and the mass exodus of academic staff continues unabated. All this will have serious negative implications for Nigeria's national security. 

 

Nigeria’s healthcare system is crumbling with a mass exodus of healthcare staff, skyrocketing costs of drugs resulting in increased mortality for easily treatable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, and hospitals are groaning with unbearable increases in electricity tariff.

 

Never in the history of this country have 17 out of the 36 states of the federation (all in the North) been thrown into darkness for 14 days, as happened on 29 October 2024. This power outage, which was attributed to an “act of vandalism by insurgents”, resulted in the loss of lives, particularly patients in hospitals and livelihoods,with trillions of Naira lost in the economy of the region. 

 

This was a cruel blow to a region already reeling from insecurity, excruciating poverty, and hunger never seen in our lifetime brought about by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s World Bank-prescribed economic policies.

 

There is now a very worrisome trend happening in the North during President Tinubu’s reign; we are seeing a deliberate and premeditated assault on the traditional institutions in the region as is playing out in Kano, Sokoto, and Adamawa states, aided and abetted by the state governors who are doing the bidding of their masters.

 

My candid advice to the NSA is that this is no time for an early victory lap; show some humility, stay away from the limelight, work hard in silence, keep off the treacherous trenches of politics, consult widely, acknowledge the sufferings of our people and show some empathy by your words and deeds. Live up to your oath of office because, on that day, that is certain, you will be called upon to account for all you did in this important office that affects the lives of millions of Nigerians. 

 

May God Almighty Make It Easy For Us All.

 

Usman Yusuf is a professor of

Haematology-Oncology and 

Bone Marrow Transplantation