City Crime
On Throes Of Revolution
One major challenge that stares the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Federal Government of Nigeria in the face is the gargantuan security problem.
Nigeria is besieged by an army of blood tasty demons that do all in their powers to wreak havoc and unleash carnage. Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara and Bornu state have had a disproportionate share of carnage.
The states of the middle belt like Benue and Plateau are victims of rampaging herders who prefer cow to human beings.
Unfortunately, the Boko Haram insurgency in the north east has left hundreds of thousands of people dead in the unending feud purportedly targeted at western civilization. In more than a decade of crisis in the north- east, Bornu State residents have been butchered, decapitated and rendered homeless. Internally displaced persons (IDP) have grown like a swarm of bees. Mendicants have also invaded city centre’s to eke out a living in spite of the social problems resulting from enormous displacements.
The hues and cries of the vagabonds, the putrid smell of rotten corpses, and the menace of hunger in the IDP camps paint a picture of a nation in disarray. One Nigeria, unity in diversity and sundry other cohesive slogans are best written as epitaph on the graves of victims of the carnage. But most victims cannot boast of occupying their own graves as they are often buried en mass.
Sadly, those who swore to protect lives and property of citizens, end up protecting themselves and their families. Regrettably, the iniquitous inequality widens by the day fueled by rapacious greed of our leaders. While the led are slaughtered daily in their numbers, there is a terrible complacency on the part of the leaders. The iniquitous prejudice of ethnicity has become the bane of mutual patriotism. Federal character is slaughtered on the altar of sadistic fidelity to tribal cleavages.
Although, loyalty to the dictates of federal character in representation diminishes and sacrifices excellence but the beauty of excellence doesn’t reside in a particular region or location.
Unfortunately, in a government peopled by the mediocre, excellence is abhorred and dreaded, while mediocrity is often fetched in the recycling bin: after all, rust is ripeness.
Interesting, the National Assembly wants to make law on equitable distribution of service chiefs in compliance with federal character representation. But how far has the character representation been complied with in other areas? Iniquity has been naturalised in Nigeria.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State was recently attacked by hoodlums, who are believed to be herders acting on malice over the anti-open grazing laws. The herders have owned up to having attacked the governor and vowed to eliminate him.
Ortom, the Governor of Benue State is in charge of affairs not herders. Also, the truculent herders traversing the whole nation with malice do not come from Benue state. Many herders wreaking havoc in the country today are suspected to have come from neighboring countries like Niger and Chad.
However, FG’s reluctance to decisively deal with both the herders and Boko Haram insurgency is suspected to be mired in ethnic and religious biases.
The attack on Governor Ortom is the climax of nationwide insecurity. It is a clarion call to the federal government that the herders cannot be treated with kid gloves anymore.
If the Governor of Benue State can be attacked by herders, no one is safe anymore.
This attack must be seen as a lesson to modernize the country’s security apparati. Small arms and ammunition are getting into the wrong hands except for the security agencies and the military, others that carry arms mostly do so illegally and the society has acquiesced the unwholesome illegality. Government inaction has conferred a level of legality on the hitherto unlawful acts.
Indeed, communities have learnt how to solve their own problems heuristically in spite of government’s negligence. Federal Government’s inability to establish community police has led to all manner of self-help. The abandonment of the rule of law and resort to self-help has reached its apogee in the present administration.
The states are craving for state police to shore up law enforcement while communities demand community police more than ever. The hand writing on the wall is legible and pointedly reminds us of the state of our nation; a decrepit one indeed.
While regions and ethnic nations are singing discordant tunes, apologists and beneficiaries of the skewed Nigerian federation are at peace with the system. They law lay emphasis on section 2(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which states thus;
“Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Everybody is coerced to accept the indissolubility of the Nigerian state but no effort is made to engender unity and patriotism.
The right to life protected by section 3 of the aforesaid constitution has become rather bogus in the façade of wanton carnage in the both rural and urban centres.
Kidnapping of school children in the north east has become fashionable in the face of government’s willingness to pay ransom to criminals. That is exactly where we are. The bludgeoning corruption is fostered by weak institutions and strong individuals who are laws unto themselves, while the youths whose future is plundered applaud their neocolonialist. The captivity of the psyche has worsened the plunder.
Sagacity is murdered and foolishness is enthroned. It is because the good people have refused to call a spade a spade that corruption sits on high places.
Insecurity is heighted by the exploitation of the poor by few affluent ones in the midst of pervading poverty.
The recycling of politicians with jaded sensibilities has been the bane of Nigerian democracy. Those who ruled some decades ago are still on the saddle today even when they are benefit of the knowledge to lead a large and multi-ethnic nation like ours in the 21st century.
The widening inequality between the haves and the have-nots is evidenced in the tragic violence that has become the country’s lot.
The embers of insecurity are fanned by those who desire to maintain ethnic chauvinism of a select few who are born to rule forever.
With the blatant failure to reprimand a reprehensive act exhibited the herders as well as bring the culprits to book, our country finds itself on the throes of a revolution as ethnic nations are victimized by ubiquitous marauders.
Before the attempt to kill the governor of Benue state, farmers, families and tribes had been victims of genocide yet still after inconsolable rhetoric’s, the government continued in business as usual. The idiotic ineptitude of the Federal Government is playing out despite the ranting of leaders on their ability to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.
By: Chidi Enyie
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has said that the other party to the Supreme Court judgment; Rivers State House of Assembly, needed to know that they are also to comply with the ruling, and do so with commitment that prioritises the interest of the State.
The Governor maintained that such resolve must engender collective action towards achieving peace in the State because it serves as the potent medium through which all the arms of Government can function properly while creating public goods that benefit everyone.
Governor Fubara, who spoke at the inauguaration of the 85-year-old Okrika Grammar School in Okrika Local Government Area on Thursday, emphasised that without an enduring peace, sustainable development will be hampered practically, while the sense of security, respect, tolerance, stability, and well-being to pursue goals will suffer.
The Governor said: “Let me thank everyone, and also say this, it is important at this stage that we all embrace peace. The Supreme Court has made its judgment, we don’t have any option than to abide by it.
“And, by the special grace of God, we have started the process. We are appealing to other parties, consider the interest of Rivers State, it is important. The only thing that we owe this State is peace and development. I am open any day, any time for total peace in our State, because if I have to govern well, there is need for peace to prevail.”
Commenting on the project, Governor Fubara recalled how the planning committee of the 20th Anniversary of the Diocese of Okrika Anglican Communion visited, and appealed to him to give the school, dilapidated for a long time, a facelift.
Governor Fubara said he considered their request on the premise of the place the school filled in history and the importance of quality education in addressing some social vices among idle and uneducated youths.
The Governor stated: “I felt the least, as a government, we can do is to uplift the standard of this school. And, it is not out of place, because it is part of our agenda. The key things in this administration’s agenda are healthcare, education and food sufficiency (agriculture).
“So, we immediately keyed into it, and to the glory of God, we are here today to unveil one of the things that we have done, even in the face of these situations confronting our administration, which we didn’t bring upon ourselves. But we give God all the glory.”
Governor Fubara assured the Anglican Church that whatever that is remaining, within the scope of what has been approved in the institution, will be completed, stressing that education has remained the bedrock of development in any society.
He added that if the key ingredients (facilities) to boost education are properly managed, crime will be reduced drastically, saying: “So, I believe that when all the facilities put in place in this school are put into full use, the level of crime, the level of criminality would definitely reduce, not just in Okrika but other neighbouring communities that will benefit from this school.
“I want to assure you that we will continue to do our best because the interest of our State is the most important thing to us. This school is being managed by the church. I believe the church would protect every facility that we have put in this place. The church should see the facility as its own. As a matter of fact, the school belongs to the church, it is not government anymore. What government is doing today is to compliment their effort.”
The Rivers State Governor assured the leadership of the Anglican Church in the area that he will send experts to assess the shore protection concerns expressed by the Bishop, and see what can be done to safeguard the surrounding land of the school from being washed away.
Governor Fubara also challenged the Old Boys of the school to be bold and courageous to take up some strategic projects, especially those they had listed in their address, including establishing a centre for computer-based examinations for external examinations.
Providing the project description, Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Dr Ovy Orluideye Chukwuma, pointed to the massive remodelling and reconstruction work achieved, which has restored the cherished glory of Okrika Grammar School to confirm the commitment of Governor Fubara to quality education of children.
He said, “The construction and equipping of Okrika Grammar School, Okrika in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State was awarded in April, 2024 to various contractors, and was duly funded to completion by the Rivers State Government under the administration of Sir Siminalayi Fubara.
“The project consists of an Administrative Block, 24 Classroom Blocks, Laboratory, ICT Library Block, Assembly Hall, 100-bed Male Hostel, 100-bed Female Hostel, Kitchen and Dinning Hall, Matron’s Quarters and Sickbay, Principal’s Quarters, Senior Staff Quarters, Junior Staff Quarters, perimeter fencing, gate, generator house and power supply with extension of electricity, including solar-powered streetlights.
“There are also Vice Principal’s Quarters, sports facilities such as lawn tennis, basketball and school field. Revamping for facelift some of the old buildings such as the old dinning hall, repainting of various old structures and buildings within the premises.”
Dr Chukwuma also said: “There is road network and landscaping of about 1.8kilometers with 1.5kilometer drainage, interlocking connecting buildings, completed road pavements and parking lots, water supply to all the buildings within the compound.
“There is also furnishing and equipping of the entire 14 structures with standard students’ desks, hostel beds, quality and standard furniture, electronics such as 86 air conditioning, both inverter and 1.5 horsepower and 75 smart television sets, 60 computer sets and standard science laboratory.”
In her welcome address, Head of Local Government Administration, Okrika Local Government Area, Mrs Obianime Appollos, said the Okrika Grammar School in Okrika, established in 1940, had remained an iconic institution known for academic excellence, and thanked Governor Fubara for remodelling structures and restoring the status of the institution after years of neglect of all facilities, which demonstrates his commitment to providing quality education, investment in the future of Rivers children and improving the well-being of the people.
Speaking for the Old Boys Association, Mr Golden Iruayenama, said the years of neglect and dilapidation of structures at Okrika Grammar School were worrisome with promises to fix them never materialized until Governor Fubara changed the narrative.
Also speaking, Bishop of Diocese of Okrika Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Enoch Atuboyedia, said it will be remembered that it was when the school attained 85 years of existence that Governor Fubara, magnanimously remodelled and resuscitated Okrika Grammar School to help the shaping of the future of Rivers children, educationally.
Gunmen, who recently abducted the winner of the National Qur’anic Recitation Competition, Abdulsalam Rabi’u are demanding the sum of N30million ransom as condition for his release.
The Tide’s source recalled that the criminal elements had on Tuesday kidnapped Rabi’u along with his father and brothers near Labin Bangori in Katsina State.
Rabi’u, an indigene of Katsina State and a medical student at Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria emerged winner of the competition, Hizb 60 with Tajweed, earlier held in Kebbi State.
He was kidnapped after Governor Dikko Umar Radda invited him and his father to the Government House for a special recognition ceremony.
The gunmen reportedly picked Rabi’u alongside his father and other members of his family while returning home after the ceremony.