When An Irresistible General Meets Immovable Lawlessness

…the meeting between our strongman and the irresistible forces ranged against the state eventually produced a near-apology. Finally, in General Buhari (Rtd.), “We”, the people voted for change. And then ended up with a damp squib. Or how else did it become okay that this government is now but an ersatz imitation of the Jonathan administration?

If the current security situation in the country is ugly, our governments’ responses to the diverse tests that this has thrown up has been far more unsightly. Even as we cannot agree on the appropriate descriptions for them, the harm to the commonwealth from the activities of an assortment of marauders, Islamic militants, and kidnappers in the northern part of the country (metastasising across the country) must be held against the threat to the social fabric from a rising listlessness in the southern part as the ranks of the unemployed swell, and a new precariat develops. On one issue we can at least agree. And that is that if lawlessness threatens the state from without, the innumerable problems with which managers of the economy have had to contend of late are akin to fuel wanting a trigger.

Does it then matter whether the Nigerian state explodes or implodes? The way I have heard this discussed, the latter outcome carries the least externalities. An explosion will hurt neighbouring economies, as much as it would the domestic one. This is why it is shocking that on the basis of the Federal Government’s response to either threat, the answer to this question is a resounding “No”. The Federal Government has offered excuses for its handling of the deteriorating security situation, ranging from the wacky to the risible. Its spokespersons have told us that as crime, kidnapping is a concern for sub-national governments. Presumably, because those matters on the exclusive federal list have been properly taken care of. The same spokespersons have admonished the nation for worrying about the casualties from the worsening security situation because, apparently taking a leaf off the Bible, these deaths have always been with us.

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You do not have to look to far, therefore, to find the many examples of the Buhari government’s failure to fix the many problems afflicting the Nigerian state. Besides the evidence provided by our eyes ― the riot of young people at our major traffic intersections, for one ― all the measures of economic performance have been headed in the wrong direction; and rapidly so.

…the strongest indictment of the incumbent government at the centre is how easily it has set aside its campaign promises. A key element of the contract between voters and this government, nearly eight years ago now, was that the Jonathan government was not working. 

Yet, the strongest indictment of the incumbent government at the centre is how easily it has set aside its campaign promises. A key element of the contract between voters and this government, nearly eight years ago now, was that the Jonathan government was not working. It had the benefit of buoyant oil prices, but it was spending money, including our rainy day funds hand over fist, with no noticeable gains therefrom. More than this, non-state actors had gotten more brazen under its watch. Moreover, the government did not seem to have the foggiest idea what to do about any of these. In other words, the “cost of government” ― defined as that yawning space between the promises made on the hustings and the popular sense of what government wrought in office ― was widening.

So, we turned to an ex-military man. A general, no less ― because he at least would know how to nip the threat posed by non-state actors in the bud. And not just any military man. One whose service lore included his hot-pursuit (to the Chadian government’s chagrin) of Chadian rebels (who had hotly pursued their opponents across our borders) all the way to Ndjamena, at the height of the ceaseless fighting between Goukouni Oueddei and Hissène Habré. This same hero of the people had led the country in the “War Against Indiscipline” and appeal to order that succeeded the shambolic Shehu Shagari civilian administration.

Contrary to what those who would have us vote in a different candidate thought, in voting for the Buhari administration in 2015, we did not so much as ignore Benjamin Franklin. For not only were we not giving up “essential liberty”. No, we were prepared only to trade but a minuscule part of it to obtain long-lived safety.

There were niggling worries. And there were many who continued to point these out. But we assured ourselves that the maths was different this time around. Contrary to what those who would have us vote in a different candidate thought, in voting for the Buhari administration in 2015, we did not so much as ignore Benjamin Franklin. For not only were we not giving up “essential liberty”. No, we were prepared only to trade but a minuscule part of it to obtain long-lived safety.

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This process reached its apotheosis recently. Remember how Hegelian dialectic was supposed to result in a new qualitative state from the reconciliation of quantitative contradictions? Well the meeting between our strongman and the irresistible forces ranged against the state eventually produced a near-apology. Finally, in General Buhari (Rtd.), “We”, the people voted for change. And then ended up with a damp squib. Or how else did it become okay that this government is now but an ersatz imitation of the Jonathan administration?

Uddin Ifeanyi, journalist manqué and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin.