Nigeria’s former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has called for a change in the way the country is governed.
Abubakar made the statement in a press release on Wednesday, emphasising that there is a need to tell the truth to power in order to help correctly identify and diagnose the causes of disaffection and anger in the country.
“There is palpable desperation everywhere in the land; we are in a situation in which everyone is dissatisfied with what is going on, but nobody is sure of what to do, or what is going to happen next,” Abubakar said.
He enumerated the challenges facing country to include intractable insurgency, danger from elite mistrust and danger from poverty and penury as a result of glaring economic hardship. These have led to a situation where the rich cannot sleep because the poor are hungry, angry, and awake.
He pointed out that the nation has suffered greatly and lost thousands of lives to the Boko Haram insurgency, with more than a million people displaced within the country, and tens of thousands have been forced across our borders into neighbouring countries.
He pointed to one of the most senseless attacks, saying more than 2,000 people were said to have been killed in a single attack in Baga town of Borno State last week.
“This is clearly unacceptable, and we feel the time has come to restore the people’s confidence in the ability of government to confront, repel and put a stop to the impunity of the insurgency,” he said.
The former head of state advised President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the military and security forces were sufficiently equipped to confront the insurgents.
He charged the president to consider the mobilisation and re-absorption of all retired able-bodied security personnel and undertaking fresh recruitment into the police force and other para-military agencies.
He said the nation must force its politicians to accept and learn to play by the rules; and in their politicking adopt the highest ethical conduct, especially during campaigns and the conduct of the elections themselves.
“The inordinate ambition of some of our politicians, especially their do-or-die attitude in their quest for power, their way of subverting the electoral process in order to get to power must be checked by this nation or else they will terminally checkmate it,” Abubakar said.
