The APC government runs a government of exclusion that has created tension, friction and resentment in the land. And indeed, Nigeria has never been as divided as it is under the current. There is mutual suspicion and high level of recrimination among the different ethnic groups that make up the country as the government is accused of mediocrity, nepotism and ethnic cleansing among others.
Nigeria as country is in a very bad shape. And as one of my friends would put it, the country is in a state of topsy-turvy. Nothing is working in Nigeria except corruption. Every organ of the government reeks of corruption. The institutions and state agencies are inefficient and filthily corrupt. The government at the center is accused of ineptitude, sectional and authoritarian. There is no rule of neither is there check and balances. The Legislative arm functions as an adjunct to the executives while the judiciary is compromised.
The Nigerian economy is in a comatose state with huge external debt burden, high and galloping inflation rate, deteriorating external balances and exchange rate, declining GDP and investment and worsening unemployment that has aggravated the standard of living and increased crime rate in the country. The state of business infrastructure is poor and deplorable and the ease of doing business suffocating due to official corruption. Worse still, there is no visible economic policy or plan to reviving the failing economy as investors are leaving the country in droves.
Majority of the citizens, over 70%, live in misery and squalor buffeted by poverty, insecurity, disease and ignorance; the factors the government seems to have weaponized as a means to control the citizenry divided along ethnic and religious lines. Although, the country have had about 25 years of unbroken civil rule yet democracy has not taken root in the country. Citizen education and awareness are abysmally poor due to ignorance. There is near-absence of civil advocacy and citizen participation. Leaders are not held accountable for their actions. There is lethargy in the citizens’ participation because many people did not trust the electoral umpire the INEC that has been accused of subverting the will of the electorates and using many subtle means disenfranchise the people by deny them access to their voters’ card.
There is mounting insecurity and the state security agencies are quite helpless about. Insurgents and terrorists are controlling a huge of swathe of Nigeria territory especially in the Northeast and Northwest regions of the country. The most thriving business in the country now is kidnapping and banditry. Traveling on the nation’s highways is a high risk venture because of the dare-devil bandits that waylay road users, abduct, torture them and demand huge ransom. Also, farmers cannot go to their farms because of the fear of terrorists that use the bush as their operational bases.
The APC government runs a government of exclusion that has created tension, friction and resentment in the land. And indeed, Nigeria has never been as divided as it is under the current. There is mutual suspicion and high level of recrimination among the different ethnic groups that make up the country as the government is accused of mediocrity, nepotism and ethnic cleansing among others.
A peep into the past indicates that the there was positive trajectory in the economy and governance and other aspects of our national life. But the coming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) regime upturned the gains made in the previous regime and threw the nation into disarray. The situation is quite hopeless and the government has shown any commitment towards attending to the motley of problems facing the nation but rather the interest of those in government is squarely centered on the next election. And one of the strategies of the current regime is to destroy the opposition using political renegades and moles like Wike to destroy the opposition and make Nigeria a one-party state. And this is dangerous to the survival of our nascent democracy.
I wish therefore wish to use this medium to commend the move by the former vice president and the Peoples Democratic Party National Leader, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State and former Presidential flag bearer of the labor Party in 2023 election, Alhaji Sule Lamido and other political stalwarts to form a mega alliance to battle the behemoth APC regime that has bastardized governance in Nigeria. It is a welcome development that should be supported by every concerned citizen of this country that wants its survival.
The citizens harrowing experience in the APC government of religious bigots and ethnic irredentists should be a wakeup call for all. Voting along ethnic or religious line is not a guarantee that your interest will be protected. The APC regime has not protected the interest of the citizens in any way. In fact, the government is insensitive to the needs of the people except the corrupt needs of the few at the corridors of power. So, it is imperative that Nigerians support every legal means to rescue the country from the brinks. This can only be done by supporting the initiative that will remove the moribund APC regime from power. Nigeria will either do this or perpetually remain in misery for the APC regime has shown that it incapable providing the right leadership for the country.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
[email protected]
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK