BY Benjamin Opene
A recent news report indicated that the President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari [rtd], had finally left the UK, after spending fifteen days [from March 30th to April 15th 2021], in London for what his media spokesman, Femi Adeshina, described as a “routine” medical checkup.
The news of his return will not provide much consolation to the thousands of Nigerians who lost loved ones due to the failures of his administration in delivering primary healthcare services across the country.
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Remarkably, he embarked on this private visit on the same day the Resident Doctors Association of Nigeria commenced their nationwide strike action due to the deplorable working conditions they endure as key public health workers.
It was even alleged that the President had refused to temporarily hand over powers to his Vice, Yemi Osibanjo, whom many consider more “approachable” and likely to avert any severe national crises that could arise from the strike action.
Like most concerned Nigerians in the diaspora, I quickly availed myself of the opportunity to register my displeasure at the insensitivity of this particular visit, as, indeed, it was his twelfth medical trip to the UK since coming into power in May of 2015.
Altogether, the President has now spent 186 days while medically vacationing in the United Kingdom. Many will agree that even by “African standards”, this was not an acceptable way to spend public funds or run a progressive government.
The President has unrestricted access to a dedicated clinic, the State House Clinic, located within the Aso Rock Presidential Complex in Abuja, Nigeria.
The facility enjoys generous budgetary allocations [about $37 million in the five years between 2015 to April 2020]. The medical facility caters exclusively to less than one thousand persons, including the President, his Vice, senior aides and families.
In contrast, the over 200 million Nigerians without such privileges of power must find ways to survive on a miserly budgetary allocation of less than $85 per capita! Yet, medical tourism continues to thrive, especially among the ruling elite to whom much was already “given”.
Irked by such glaring inequalities and the blatant abuse of power, some members of the Nigeria diaspora began to assemble in front of Abuja House in London, the official residence of the President in the UK.
The aim was to politely seek answers to the multiple issues breeding discontent and wreaking havoc across Nigeria. Such matters as the President’s tendency to use medical facilities abroad, even as the healthcare system in Nigeria continues to be neglected.
Secondly, the case of the massacre of peaceful #EndSARS Protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos in October 2020 remains a sore issue that we need the President to address.
Thirdly, the growing insecurity within Nigeria, especially the constant kidnapping of school children, the deliberate destruction of farms and several other forms of banditry that have now led to hunger and starvation across Nigeria. Also, an alarming increase in cases of ethnoreligious intolerance and violence. A situation made worse by the influx of armed terrorist groups, which has now brought anxiety and fear to Nigerians.
Finally, the escalation of large-scale corruption, especially among persons closely associated with Buhari. There is information now available to the public that a former governor of Lagos State who played a huge role in Buhari’s ascent to power in 2015, still enjoys a generous contract whereby he collects over 10 per cent [10%] of all the internally generated revenue from Lagos State and a few other states in southern Nigeria.
The consensus among the compatriots who regularly gathered at Abuja House was that Nigeria could not continue to function as “one united country” if we fail to restructure or redefine the rules of engagement with one another. Should we forget to negotiate new terms for our shared future, then this is the moment to consider how we must uncouple Nigeria in mutually beneficial ways by peacefully winding down the country and going our separate ways!
Sadly, Buhari regime refuses to engage constructively with Nigerians. Our presence at Abuja House was never acknowledged by the President or any other official from within the taxpayer-funded residence. This demonstrates the inability of the Buhari regime to properly engage with “fellow Nigerians”.
But that appears to be the new norm. It was this lack of interest in holding dialogue with various stake-holders in Nigeria that led to the senseless massacre of over 12 peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, by the Nigeria military.
Till date, nobody has been arrested or charged for their part in this heinous crime! Meanwhile, the same Government that refuses to entertain grievances from EndSARS Protesters, have repeatedly negotiated with and paid undisclosed ransome to child kidnappers and terrorists, to the point where some now engage in banditry as a thriving enterprise.
A serving Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami was recently placed on the USA Intelligence watch list for his alleged links to Boko Haram, Abu Quata – da Al Falasima and Al-Qaeda.
Some video footage of Pantami has surfaced online where he was heard expressing some support for these groups. Yet, he continues to serve in Buhari’s government, probably because the President chooses to treat his own with the levity not accorded to the rest.
There is no doubt that we have come to a very critical cross-road in the affairs and history of Nigeria. I will encourage every southern ethnic nationality to seriously consider a future separate from the ongoing chaos, catalogue of failures and the lack of equity that is Nigeria.
For several decades, most of us from the environmentally ravaged Niger Delta Region had cried foul at the pillaging of our natural resources and the callous destruction of our homeland without compensation. Very few sympathetic ears cared to listen. But now, that the entire country has been brought to her knees by the ineptitude of its leadership, I urge all pro-secessionist groups: The Niger DElta Republic, The Republic of Biafra, The Oduduwa [Oodua Republic] and my friends and comrades fighting for the South and Middle Belt Union [SAMB-Union], never to relent.
The first step towards achieving our aim is to push towards the revolution that is already gathering pace. With Buhari dislodged from power, the birth of our knew nation[s] will happen with any bloodshed.
Benjamin Opene Is a Nigerian based in the United Kingdom. He writes from London.
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