* He has failed to protect Nigerians, Pastor Ighodalo counters
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said insurgency declined in the country since the advent of the administration of President Muhammad Buhari in 2015.
The former Minister of Minerals and Steel noted that Nigerians are yet to applaud the All Progressives Congress (APC) efforts at achieving its promises made in 2015.
Fayemi stated this in Lagos on Saturday at the 2021 edition of the annual conference – The Platform – organised by the Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos, Poju Oyemade.
“Many may disagree, but I will argue that at least on insurgency – it may be a distinction without a difference – we have witnessed a decline.
“In 2015, we promised many things but with the greatest respect, I think the most attractive promise that people bought into that we made was integrity.
“You could argue that we have put in a lot of efforts in those areas, but have they earned the kudos of the citizens as they should? No, they haven’t because we still have insecurity in the land.
“In relation to the problem of insurgency, which was the most prominent in 2015 when we were coming in, remember UN House bombing, the churches that were burnt, Abuja was a no-go area and the North-East. But that problem witnessed a decline in the first four years of the Buhari administration.”
Fayemi stated civil servants, not politicians, debar Nigeria’s progress.
Also speaking at the event, an international legal scholar and consultant, Charles Omole, said the biggest challenge stalling the country’s progress is not the politicians but the civil servants.
Omole, who spoke on the theme of the programme ‘Is Devolution of Powers the Solution to Nigeria’s Problem?’, noted that civil servants play a huge role in bringing about change in the country and wield power even more than a federal minister.
“Many people in Nigeria feel the biggest problem we have is the politicians. What if I tell you that is not true? Do you know what the biggest problem we in Nigeria? The biggest challenge we have to change this country is in our civil service.
“Those who know how civil service works know that they can grind any system to a halt,” Omole said.
He lamented that many civil servants are against innovation and modernisation.
“Many of them oppose modernisation. They oppose innovation. They like things being done manually. I wonder why. How many of you know that constitutionally, no federal minister in this country can sign a contract to give you a job? How many of you understand that? It is the Permanent Secretary that does that.
“So how can a minister steal without the civil servant? In fact, many times, it is the civil servants that teach the novice minster how to do it,” he said.
However, the Pastor-in-Charge of Trinity House Church, Ituah Ighodalo, believes otherwise.
He expressed anger over Buhari’s inability and lack of concern over the escalating spate of insecurity in the country, even as a retired general of the Nigerian Army.
Ighodalo, who spoke at a Press Conference on the ‘State of the Nation’ organised by the Africa Leadership Group in Lagos on Saturday, said the alarming rate of of violence, rampant killings by herdsmen and kidnappings call for concern and the buck stops at the table of the President.
“Let me say it boldly, loud and clear: the problem of insecurity in Nigeria lies on the table of Muhammadu Buhari. If Buhari is ready today to stop this insecurity, he has the power and ability, and he knows what to do,” Pastor Ighodalo said.
He continued: “The reason he is not doing it, I really don’t understand. The reason he is not showing enough energy, effort, direction, interest, and concern in this, I really don’t understand.
“For a person who was a general in the Nigerian Army, he looks a little bit too complacent and lackadaisical concerning this issue of insecurity.
“It is worrisome that despite the human and technological resources available at present, the abduction of school children was possible without punishment for the perpetrators.
“How can you capture 257 girls and we don’t know where they are? It is not possible in this day and age with technology and everything we have today.
“Do you know the amount of effort it takes to move 250 people across a certain place and nobody saw them? And you can’t find them? And they disappeared?
“For the last four years, you had a bunch of security leaders who were disunited, quarrelling among themselves. They couldn’t agree on anything.
“They couldn’t fight behind one common purpose and a lot of them were just doing whatever they wanted, and the gentleman, Buhari, was looking at them.
“Now, we have a new set of security leaders. Let us hope that these ones can come together and face this problem.
“They say this girl, Leah Sharibu, is captured, she’s having babies every year and you can’t find her? What does that mean? What nonsense is that? And you’re telling us that she had babies? Who made that announcement? Where is the person?
Ituah Ighodalo
“Why don’t we bring him and say, ‘where is the baby that you saw and where is the girl?
“We can’t find her, yet we cross our arms and we are looking, because we are not really serious about these things.
“People go into a village and rape 20 of them, carry the women and children, and we cannot find them. Who does that in this day and age?
“They pick up a man, take him into a forest and cut his head off. Eight of them are filming it. We are seeing them and not one person says, ‘Where are we going to look for these people?’
“There was no call for these people. They filmed it, they sent it to us, we saw it, and nobody did anything. How can that happen?”
“The bandits and herdsmen kidnapping and killing people in the forests, who are they?
“The police know them and know where to find them, but nobody is engaging or crying out. It’s a business; people are making money from this thing. People are selling arms to these people.
“People are making money from security votes. People are making money from the pain and the death of these innocent people. That is why this problem is not being solved and, somehow, we are looking away.
“Nobody who has authority is really concerned. We can solve this problem if, together, we say we want to solve this problem. It shouldn’t have descended to this level.
“Nigerians must stop grumbling. If they did not change the leadership, the leadership would not change. They should talk to one another to ensure the country becomes better,” he said.