Most of us who are familiar with Nigeria and the war in Biafraland back in the day will recall “On Aburi we stand”. Although a nice place in Ghana, beautiful enough to host presidents and world leaders, Aburi represents truce in Nigerian history. When things go wrong, be it in a country or any relationship for that matter, it is always a good idea for a retreat, as was the case at the behest of Gen. Ankrah at Aburi, in Ghana.
If you have not read the Aburi Accord, maybe you can google it and get a better understanding of the issues raised in bullet points. The military is precise and concise so it will not take five minutes of your time to capture several days of deliberation by leaders of the then nation states. On that document, you will notice the underlying emphasis on equitable distribution and on regional governance, two issues that still plague us till this day.
Recently we read that the senate has requested the executive to decentralize the police force. If and when that is done, it will be a step in the right direction. Security has become a very crucial issue in Nigeria today especially in the South East where persons, whose identities are not fully elucidated, are being brought in truckloads under the cover of darkness every night. While the rest of us are in quarantine and observing curfew, people that look like boko haram are being smuggled into our space, and they occupy the bushes of Biafraland. The events that led to Aburi are repeating again now, but there seems to be no General Ankrah to summon a meeting and broker truce. Nigeria seems to be at war with herself, and that does not smell good.
Different regions of the country need to be equipped to lead security operations in their region, so that miscreants and undercover boko haram operatives can be fished out and handled accordingly. The federal government cannot afford to pretend like we are on lockdown for coronavirus while foreigners that disguise as Fulani herdsmen are roaming about freely. I didn’t know that cattle rearers have a different set of laws that they abide by, different from the rest of us. And if truly the cattle rearers are above the law, then I want to buy a couple cows and become a rearer too.
What is good for the goose…..if we say we are on lockdown, let everybody be on lockdown including cattle. We don’t worship cattle in Nigeria. When people are at home, herds of cattle are in the farms destroying peoples crops and nobody says or does anything about it. Is that the new Nigeria or an old Nigeria resurfacing as in the late 1960s which ultimately led to Aburi, the accord that was later ignored by the federal government leading to the war that claimed over 3 million people. Let us remove the hand of the monkey from the soup before it becomes the hand of a human being….Nigeria seems to be sitting on a keg of gun powder as we speak. Our leaders must do everything to avert an impending doom. The time to act is now.
Mezie Okolo is your leadership analyst and can be reached at www.mezieokolo.com