Nigeria's characteristics of Banana Republic
July 13 2015 By Abi Giwa
The news from Nigeria that President Muhammed Buhari has sacked his service chiefs is a reminder of the military government's attitude of sacking everyone sackable to show serious business. It is also part of the characteristics of Banana Republics, where leaders demonstrate monopoly of wisdom and where inconsistency in policy is also a policy.
One immediate question the news from Nigeria arouses is whether these sacked service chiefs were the ones who recommended the scrapping of checkpoints announced by President Buhari after a meeting with them in late June that consequently led to the butchering of hundreds of Nigerians by Boko Haram between the time of the scrapping of the checkpoints and the first week of July?
The answer my be in the negative, because the news had said President Buhari ordered the scrapping of the checkpoints. He did not say at the time he ordered scrapping of the checkpoints that the service chiefs had ordered him to do so. The sins of the service chiefs is that they had served the new president's predecessor.
The man who is supposed to be sacked for causing death of Nigerians, wittingly or unwittingly, is the one sacking others for having served a predecessor.
And in Banana Republics, it is an act by military leaders to sack whom they can sack to gain popularity and demonstrate strength of character. Remember, President Buhari was formerly a military leader. In his heydays, the musical strength was bringing about a change and that also characterized his campaign to effect change. But since he was sworn into office, he had been doomed by crisis within his party.
Despite that the country has been stagnated since assumption of office, our macho man president has to show he still has strength of character like he was 32 years ago. But in truth, those sacked service chiefs may not have committed more serious crime than the president did, when he ordered the removal of military checkpoints all over the country.
Those service chiefs served Buhari's predecessor and that was their crime. It is not known they have taken a decision resulting in the death of innocent Nigerian. But the president ordered the removal of checkpoints all over the country, despite he a aware of the country's war with Boko Haram. And because there were no checkpoints, the Boko Haram insurgents had free movement and they struck in Kaduna, Jos and Maiduguri, killing hundreds.
The situation compelled the Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong, who in a plea to President Buhari, begged him to allow them have checkpoints. A reminder of the people's plea in Oedipus the King for the King to save them from an unusual situation. And the news from the country shows that just last week, checkpoints had been restored again. But the president has not though it fit to apologize to affected families who may have lost lived ones. The one statement he made was that his predecessor did not do certain things to combat Boko Haram.
Is removing checkpoints and allow mindless insurgent kill Nigerians anyway they want what should be done to combat Boko Haram? This type of inconsistency is a trade of of Banana Republics. Of course, in these Republics, there is no security of employment and anyone can lose his or her job in a whim.
One immediate question the news from Nigeria arouses is whether these sacked service chiefs were the ones who recommended the scrapping of checkpoints announced by President Buhari after a meeting with them in late June that consequently led to the butchering of hundreds of Nigerians by Boko Haram between the time of the scrapping of the checkpoints and the first week of July?
The answer my be in the negative, because the news had said President Buhari ordered the scrapping of the checkpoints. He did not say at the time he ordered scrapping of the checkpoints that the service chiefs had ordered him to do so. The sins of the service chiefs is that they had served the new president's predecessor.
The man who is supposed to be sacked for causing death of Nigerians, wittingly or unwittingly, is the one sacking others for having served a predecessor.
And in Banana Republics, it is an act by military leaders to sack whom they can sack to gain popularity and demonstrate strength of character. Remember, President Buhari was formerly a military leader. In his heydays, the musical strength was bringing about a change and that also characterized his campaign to effect change. But since he was sworn into office, he had been doomed by crisis within his party.
Despite that the country has been stagnated since assumption of office, our macho man president has to show he still has strength of character like he was 32 years ago. But in truth, those sacked service chiefs may not have committed more serious crime than the president did, when he ordered the removal of military checkpoints all over the country.
Those service chiefs served Buhari's predecessor and that was their crime. It is not known they have taken a decision resulting in the death of innocent Nigerian. But the president ordered the removal of checkpoints all over the country, despite he a aware of the country's war with Boko Haram. And because there were no checkpoints, the Boko Haram insurgents had free movement and they struck in Kaduna, Jos and Maiduguri, killing hundreds.
The situation compelled the Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong, who in a plea to President Buhari, begged him to allow them have checkpoints. A reminder of the people's plea in Oedipus the King for the King to save them from an unusual situation. And the news from the country shows that just last week, checkpoints had been restored again. But the president has not though it fit to apologize to affected families who may have lost lived ones. The one statement he made was that his predecessor did not do certain things to combat Boko Haram.
Is removing checkpoints and allow mindless insurgent kill Nigerians anyway they want what should be done to combat Boko Haram? This type of inconsistency is a trade of of Banana Republics. Of course, in these Republics, there is no security of employment and anyone can lose his or her job in a whim.