For Nigeria to work, Buhari leadership has to be replaced —Prof Nwabueze

A constitutional lawyer and elder statesman, Professor Ben Nwabueze, has rejected a situation in which President Muhammadu Buhari will emerge as the country’s president for a second term, saying that such will mean the country ceasing to exist.

He stated this in a paper entitled “Nigeria under president Buhari is categorised as a failed state by an internationally-recognised agency”.

According to the elder statesman, Nigeria may still have a chance of working, but only if the leadership of Buhari is replaced.

He stated, that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government have failed in performing major roles expected of it in the area of ensuring the security and welfare of the citizenry.

He said, “By all internationally relevant and accepted indices and indicators, and judged by the reality on the ground, Nigeria is justifiably categorised as a failed state, now ranked 15th among the ‘worst failed’ states in the world.

“If president Buhari is given a second term in office, God forbid that he should ever get a second term, Nigeria will cease to exist, except in the sense in which Zaire, under (late) Mobutu (Sese Seko) existed. That is as an idea without an existential content, a state existing only in name or the map as a mere geographical expression.”

He said there was the possibility that Nigeria will still work if Buhari leadership is replaced.

“I believe, however, that the country can be made to work again, as it was doing before, and to become a great nation it is destined to be, and a leading star in the affairs of the African continent and, indeed, the world. But, for that to happen, there has to be a change of leadership.

“It is gratifying that the Boko Haram insurgents have been dislodged from the areas over which they took control, but, it is equally sad that they still continue to kill, maim and brutalise large numbers of people and to destroy properties, resulting in the displacement of thousands from their homes.

“Following on the heels of the Boko Haram atrocities is the Fulani herdsmen menace. It started in the form of farmers’ herdsmen clashes but has now developed into a scary dimension,” known to be as bloody and murderous and atrocious as Boko Haram insurgency.

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“In Benue State, in particular, it has been a long chain of killings, dating back to 2013. In that year alone, Benue recorded eight attacks in villages resulting in deaths. There were 16 attacks in 2014, eight in 2015, the same number in 2016, and five in 2017.

“The number of deaths is put at about 3,000 across the country. The method of attack, which is not any different from the one applied by Boko Haram insurgents, includes cutting open the stomach, beheading, slitting the throat, suicide bombing, surrounding villages and opening fire on them while asleep, etc.

“The method of attack is so barbaric, so much so as to be unimaginable in 21st century Nigeria. What is shocking is the lethargic posture of the Federal Government, especially as the perpetrators of the dastardly acts are identifiable,” he said.

 

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