Forget “Otherness,” Embrace Togetherness & An Eid-Mubarak 2019 Sallah Message To Fellow Nigerians By Sylvester Udemezue – TheNigerialawyer

Happy Sallah celebrations to all our Muslim brethren.

It is well with you all. May you all, individually and
collectively, live long on earth to witness many more happy
Eid-el-Adha Sallah celebrations. Amen.

I respectfully advise that our leaders and indeed all
Nigerians should use the opportunity offered by the 2019 Sallah
season to engage in some disinterested introspection and deep
reflection on the present sorry condition of our country, the
causes, implications and possible solutions.

To this end, I invite leaders and followers in Nigeria
to consider whether it is likely or practicable for Nigeria and
Nigerians to witness genuine progress and development, genuine
unity or peace if our leaders and followers still persist (as they
currently do) in their deliberate neglect and abuse of the
provisions of Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, in all government businesses,
policies, programs, plans and activities.

??Section 13(1) of the Constitution provides that ”it shall be
the duty and responsibility of … government, and of all authorities
and persons, exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers,
to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of Chapter Two of
this Constitution.”

??Section 14(1) provides that *“the Federal Republic of Nigeria
shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social
justice” while section 14(3) states that “the composition of the
Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct
of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect
the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national
unity, and also to command national loyalty, “thereby ensuring that
there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from
a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any
of its agencies.”

??According to section 15(2): ”National integration shall be
actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place
of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association
or ties shall be prohibited.”

??And finally, by the provisions of section 15(4), ”the State
shall foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the
various people of the Federation, to the end that loyalty to the
nation shall override sectional loyalties.”

??The questions arising from the aforementioned include: Are our
leaders honestly observing these provisions? Or are the provisions
merely to decorate the ground norm? Are we ready to tell ourselves
the truth and to repent and be prepared to embrace Government of
National Unity and Governance For National Unity, or are we content
with just continuing in the present shenanigans, hypocrisy and
grandstanding all in the name of leadership?*

??Do we want a country that truly works or are we okay with a
country that sucks while the rest of the world rocks? What really
do we want?

??By way of a humble suggestion, I respectfully state that we,
individually and collectively need to start paying attention to,
honestly recognizing and sincerely embracing and implementing the
provisions of Chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution.

??These provisions are not inserted into our constitution for
mere decoration or embellishment.

??Their implementation is at the root of our survival and
genuine advancement as a nation.

??Honest compliance with those and similar provisions is
required in order to enthrone and sustain equity and fairness and
to afford every section of the country a sense of belonging.

??Feeling of a sense of belonging is the most important
requirement for achieving genuine peace, realizing strong unity and
having in place an endurable progress in Nigeria ??

??As things stand now, it is either we wisely/wholeheartedly
embrace chapter 2 of the Constitution and begin to make the
progress we need, or we unwisely continue to evade its sincere,
un-clannish implementation and thereby remain the way we are —
stagnant, suffocating, directionless, and stagnating.

??Our hope and progress as a nation would begin to materialize
when we learn to carry every section of our country along, to treat
everyone and every segment as a part of us and to act as one big
family, not as separate ones, and to eschew segregation, exclusion,
clannishness, selfishness and nepotism in governance.

??In summary, we must change our way of thinking and behavior
towards one another— towards fellow citizens.

??As William Jefferson Clinton (Bill Clinton) puts it, we must,
in our hearts and in our laws, treat all our people with fairness
and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual
orientation.”

??Again, I call on Nigerians to consider whether our
approach/attitude to religioun is not a major impediment to our
progress as a nation and as a people. I wrote elsewhere: “Nigerians
have turned religion into a tool for propagation and promotion of
discord, disunity, rancor, hate, and backwardness. While the Holy
Books of the major religious groups in the country, … each preach
love, unity, oneness and care, most religious leaders and their
adherents in Nigeria practice an entirely different thing. Even
within and among people of the same faith, religion, the matter is
no better.

For instance, among Christians, there is a persistent cold war,
sharp division among the various, ever-multiplying, denominations.
Ditto for Moslems! It is therefore either that we do not study
these holy books with a proper understanding of what they contain
or we have chosen of our own volition to deploy religion as a
weapon of segregation and division, to destroy this beautiful
country. If we must call a spade a spade, we would admit, for once,
that religion has almost destroyed Nigeria.

Most Nigerians raise so much uproar in Churches, Mosques and
other places of worship, but there is hardly anything to show for
it in our daily lives, conduct and behavior, especially towards
fellow citizens.

We Nigerians need to urgently retrace our steps about the way we
approach religion. We must …understand that, … spirituality doesn’t
mean making walls in the names of religions and prophets but to
make more roads and bridges to reconnect with humanity. I would,
therefore, like to think that God created this planet with peace in
mind, not violence…no region should divide a people of one destiny,
… if we are to become true global citizens, we must abandon all
notions of ‘otherness’ and instead embrace
‘togetherness.”(http://www.barristerng.com/stop-christian-moslem-prayers-public-events-nigeria-support-bishop-matthew-hassan-kukah-sylvester-udemezue/).

??Finally, it is my view that if we continue on the current ugly
path, we would remain where we are while the rest of the world
moves on ahead, leaving us to continue to wallow in abject lack,
acute underdevelopment, steady regression and ultimately
self-destruction/annihilation.

??As for me, for as long as I remain alive and breathing, I
shall continue to write and speak out until we (leaders and
followers, including me) are wise enough, mature enough and sober
enough to see and follow the light of truth which is the only tool
for our eventual emancipation from the shackles of ignorance and
unending indulgence in sins in the false hope that grace may
abound.

??Although, some people have repeatedly argued/said that our
leaders do not care about our opinions and do not listen to what
people say, and that our writings and disinterested counsel are
therefore never taken (the handwriting on the wall seems to testify
to these arguments), yet I am encouraged by the piece of advice
given by Alice Walker: *”the most common way people give up their
power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

??A major duty (legal) researchers and rule of law campaigners
(such as I think I am) owe society in the practice of
constitutional democracy for promotion and sustenance of
responsible and responsive governance is to constantly offer legal
opinions on issues of law to guide our leaders and institutions in
the discharge of leadership responsibilities.

??So, we continue to advise

??Let all who have ears, let them hear.

??I’ve observed that our problem in not hearing is not that we
do not have ears; it is just that most of us do not use them!

May God help Nigeria!

Respectfully,

Sylvester Udemezue
(UDEMS).
(13 August 2019).

The Army-Police War: Where Is the NSA?
By Yushau A. Shuaib

“Our country is bedevilled… (by) multifarious security
challenges by which each agency must bring its wealth of experience
and comparative advantage to compliment the effort of another”- DG
DSS

The current Director-General of the Department of State Services
(DSS), Yusuf Bichi Magaji made the above remarks in his keynote
address, while hosting the meeting of the Forum of Spokespersons of
Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) on April 24.

The Forum was established in 2013 by the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA) to enhance synergy and collaboration
amongst critical institutions that deal with issues of security and
its challenges in Nigeria.

As a sensitive security organ, the ONSA is statutorily empowered
to coordinate the activities of military, security, intelligence
and response agencies in combating terrorism, cybercrime and major
issues affecting the wellbeing of the state in Nigeria. It is a
known fact that during the previous administration, the ONSA hosted
regular meetings of security and service chiefs in addressing
issues that could create conflict in society.

While the meeting of the security chiefs was held almost every
other week in ONSA, the meeting of FOSSRA was held rotationally
among member-agencies every month until June 2015.

It is of utmost importance to highlight some instances when
FOSSRA’s interventions doused tension and stabilised the polity
within a climate of heightened agitations and security concerns in
the country.

In June 2014, the then National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki
officially tendered an apology to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, who was allegedly
harassed by joint-security operatives at an international summit on
Farmer-Herder Crisis in Kaduna. Both the former NSA and Speaker are
from the same royal family within the Sokoto sultanate, even if of
different statuses. (Link: http://bit.ly/31HNERy^[1])

Similarly, in one of the Army-Shi’ite altercations in Zaria,
also in July 2014, during which some members and children of Sheikh
Ibrahim Zakzaky  were killed by Nigerian soldiers, the
Chairman of FOSSRA, who was then the Director of Defence
Information, General Chris Olukolade, promptly issued an empathic
statement, expressing regret over the incident and announcing that
a panel would be constituted to unravel the remote causes of the
fracas. The statement played a magical role in nipping the
controversy in the bud. (Link: http://bit.ly/2TycxMD^[2])

The following month, the Commandant General of the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and two operatives of the
Corps were allegedly disrespected and manhandled on different
occasions by the Police. As the media were feasting on the
controversy, the then spokesperson of the Nigerian Customs Service,
Wale Adeniyi hosted the monthly meeting of FOSSRA in September
2014, where the erstwhile Police spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu
walked to the NSCDC spokesperson, Emmanuel Okeh and issued a joint
statement which doused the tension. (Link: http://bit.ly/31G3eNg^[3])

Meanwhile, since the appointment of Major General Babagana
Monguno (Rtd) as the National Security Adviser (NSA) by President
Muhammad Buhari in 2015, he has neither shown keen commitment to
nor hosted the meeting of the FOSSRA to guard against inter-agency
rivalry. The meeting of the Forum, which has become occasional, is
now being hosted by the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) and
other security agencies that value synergy and collaboration in
information management.

If FOSSRA, which is domiciled under the ONSA, is very active,
the current acrimony between the Nigerian Army and the police over
the killing of the Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT)
operatives by soldiers in Taraba State could have been averted.
There would most likely have been an existing synergy and a more
cordial relationship between these two prominent actors within the
Nigerian security architecture and system.

It was alleged that soldiers of the 93 Battalion shot the IRT
operatives – including Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeant Usman
Danzumi, and Sergeant Dahiru Musa – dead after they had arrested a
notorious kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala Wadume, who is now on the
run. The Army claims that the police officers were shot after being
mistaken for “suspected kidnappers” and blames the attack on a
communication gap.

The initial statement from the Police spokesperson, DCP Frank
Mba and immediate response by the Army spokesperson, Colonel Sagir
Musa, would have been needless if an effective mechanism of
inter-agency collaboration, as exemplified by FOSSRA, had been
adhered to.

There are trending videos, audios and sponsored stories on the
fracas that need to be contained before they further exacerbate the
present situation and persist as drivers of tension. It is quite
unfortunate that many Nigerians on the social and mainstream media
have continued to react to the incident through inciting,
inflammatory and embarrassing innuendoes.

It may not be surprising if the two public relations officers of
the security organs involved were actually taking orders from their
principals, rather than abiding by the ethics of crisis
communication management, which guide professionals on their
temperament, conduct and how to shape their messages during periods
of high volatility.

As spokespersons of security agencies, they are expected to be
courteous, restrained and conscious of the need to show great human
understanding and empathy in their public communications, at this
sort of time when such really matters. It is also very important
that their messages, like press releases, should be clear, concise,
concrete, correct and complete, without allowing for any form of
ambiguity in communication.

In all these, the absence of strategic leadership in dousing the
tension, at critical levels of the individual service chiefs,
merely escalates the inter-agency antagonism and fuels the heated
debates and fury pervading the media from visible and anonymous
sources.

Is it not embarrassing that different panels were allegedly
constituted to investigate this incident? While one is said to be
chaired by a military officer in the rank of a major general, the
other is noted as being headed by a security officer in the rank of
an Assistant Inspector General of Police.

As the coordinating organ of government on security matters,
ONSA should step in and manage this crisis, more professionally and
with experience, especially in the absence of a federal cabinet, as
the Ministers of Defence or that of Interior are yet to be sworn
in. The NSA can advise the Army Chief Lt General Tukuru Buratai and
Police Boss IG Mohammed Adamu on the need to urge their officers to
exercise restraint. In the alternative, the Presidential Media
Adviser should intervene by calling on the spokespersons of the
agencies to sheath their swords in this attrition and highly
unfortunate media war.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author of An Encounter with the Spymaster
yashuaib@yahoo.com