In these days of heightened insecurity in the land and frequent talks about “security threats”, many of us who are not schooled on the complex act of managing stability and security have gotten more confused if not lost because of deployment of those concepts or terms like insecurity, national security and security threats. We don’t know the meanings and are desiring to know.
The quest to know has become more urgent than before because of the deployment of those terms by various governments across the country in their efforts to maintain their hold on state matters.
The importance of government includes “protecting fundamental rights of individuals, establish a legal framework to ensure order and managing resources efficiently and resolving conflicts to promote social harmony.” Do our governments do all these in real practical terms? Can they be doing these and the state of the country remains what it is – down, underdeveloped and perilous?
We claim to operate a democracy but every indication suggests that what we do in actuality reaches the border of military dictatorship. Many would argue that dictatorship can’t co-habit with a civil administration. Such thinking isn’t in line with historical lessons. Adolf Hitler of Germany and Joseph Stalin of the defunct Soviet Union hid under the cloak of civil regimes to unleash the worse forms of tyrannical administrations yet to be matched in world history. Most civilian administrations in Africa are very dictatorial governments.
The polls are shams, the hold on the citizenry is total and abuse of human rights commonplace. Tyranny executed under very crafty subterfuges. Pure window dressing, they present democracy on the surface but beneath practice tyrannyism.
In military regimes one way to ensure regime survival was to put so much emphasis on national security. We know what scholars have defined that to be and the features but for dictators there’s this substitution of regime survival efforts and perpetuation in power for maintaining “national security”. Nigeria currently appears to be staging a return to the discredited order
In our country today just anyone can get killed without any qualms. The security forces are taking people out just as imported terrorists are creating killing fields across the entire country. They shoot and kill and everyone is applauding or exclaiming depending on who is involved in the killing but none has paused to say what is involved are human lives not animals and if the processes are right, desirable or wrong. We all believe the solution is in snuffing off of lives.
Israel fights terrorism and terrorists, the Gaza invasion is a different matter entirely, just like the Americans do and the Russians also, just to mention a few. The first line of action in their operations is the intelligence gathering. When they say they bombed or locations have been attacked, the targets are precision correct. This doesn’t seem the case with our efforts.
Few days ago the Federal Government clamped a state of emergency on Rivers State, the democratic set up was dismantled entirely including the removal of the state governor and elected public officials. A former military officer was appointed the “Sole Administrator.” If sacking of elected officers is a misnomer, appointing a retired military officer in their place is an abominable action. It is a manifest obstacle to democratic growth for those who think we should spend centuries learning about effective governance practices.
In Sokoto State, a budding female citizen, still in school or ought to be in school learning was convicted and sentenced to two months imprisonment. Her offense was using the social media to criticize the performance of the state government. As you read this she may be serving jail term because in our country today it has become suicidal to speak the truth and place a demand in an atmosphere where everyone has virtually become a system subverter. We are all hungry and lacking, barely surviving, busy looking for what to eat. None wants to incure the disfavour of men of power and means.
We have been told when good men keep quiet and pretend everything is running well, that repulsive picture becomes the oxygen evil men require to be strong and to extend their wicked acts against the people and the nation as a whole.
Anti-democratic culture has continued to extend and gain traction. Governor Diri of Bayelsa State virtually banned the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike from venturing into the state to hold a gathering. Whatever may be the level of disgust with some aspects of the Minister’s antics concerning politics in the country, it is within his democratic right to enter any state and to hold lawful gathering. Meeting his men in the state is one of such rights.
In Benue State, we saw Governor Alia technically ban visitors from entry into the state. He went overboard trying to stop Mr Peter Obi from entering the state to empathize with citizens who lost relations and property following attacks by Islamic jihadists in the states. It didn’t make sense to the governor who also is a clergy that the attack was unwarranted and most barbaric and that innocent citizens lost relations and property including facing dislocations in a country they called theirs. Even if Mr Obi was going there to play politics that was a good example of finer politics.
If lessons of history are true, then undermining democratic principles helps no one. For the leadership,it will erode confidence and trust, which basic reasons government was instituted in the first place. Continuous erosion of democratic values would ultimately produce a crisis situation. Who wants that?
NEXT WEEK I WILL PUBLISH THE RESULTS OF MY SEARCH FOR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATIONAL SECURITY, INSECURITY AND SECURITY THREATS.
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