Apprehension confusion in the land

Apprehension, confusion in the land

If a soothsayer, given to the art of predictions, closes his eyes and contemplates the state of the nation, he would quickly declare that there are danger signals in the air; that the road is indeed rough for Nigeria. And, far from the routine, the soothsayer may not knock so hard or search very frantically for the answers that he seeks. The reason is simple: all around the country, there is palpable tension.

From the east to the north, the country is gripped by an air of apprehension. Barely two weeks into the new year, drums of war are reverberating in the land. From the Anambra saga, the renewed armed banditry in parts of the country and the threat of nationwide strike by organised labour , to the Islamic fundamentalist uprising in some parts of the north, the country seems to be under intense heat.

The tension heightened Wednesday night when gunmen numbering about five forced their way into the residence of Timothy Shelpidi, a retired Major-General and a former commander of ECOMOG in Sierra Leone and shot him several times, wounding him seriously. The gunmen who had posed as visitors a gained entry into his residence after overpowering the security guard who had put up some resistance. While inside, they opened fire on Shelpidi, a former General Officer Commanding (GOC), the 82 Armoured Division in Enugu.

The attack on Shelpidi is the third such attempt on a key public figure in the last two weeks. And it is a showcase of the renewed armed banditry in the country today. Only recently, Mrs. Dora Akunyili, Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) escaped death when she was attacked by gunmen on her way to her village in Anambra State to spend the christmas holiday. Following the attempt on Akunyili was another on Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana, the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) who was attacked by armed men in his highbrow Maitama residence, some 500 metres away from the official residence of the Inspector General of Police.

Added to the violent shootings is the drama at Awka, the capital of Anambra State, where a second attempt has been made to forcefully remove Governor Chris Ngige in six months. Even though the mood on the streets of Igbo towns was hardly upbeat following the Owerri peace accord on December 22, between forces on the troubled Anambra State political field, few perhaps expected the apple cart to be upset so quickly. Not least because of the loud optimism expressed by Senate President, Adolphus Wabara that the ice had finally melted between the budding rivals in the Igbo political heartland. But everything took a dive for the worse after the police made haste to effect a January 2 order by Justice Stanley Nnaji of the Enugu High Court directing the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, to enforce the controversial resignation of Ngige on July 10 last year. Since then, the political players in Anambra have been locked in a macabre drama that is as captivating as it is nauseating.

In addition, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has been threatening fire over the fuel tax, and has slated January 20 for a major showdown with the Federal Government. If the government does not rescind its decision to implement the N1.50 fuel tax and revert to N34 per litre as agreed with organised labour last October, the nation might be thrown into another strike on that day. Already, the NLC has started mobilising the organised labour towards the strike. Yet, the fuel tax, contained in the 2004 budget proposal is already being implemented even before the Appropriation Bill is passed into law. Although people like Alhaji Aminu Masari, the Speaker of the House of Representatives has opposed the tax, warning that its introduction could overheat the polity, the Federal Government is yet to change its mind. The argument by NLC is that if the tax was implemented, it would put consumers at the mercy of petroleum marketers. Before the present threat, oil workers had suspended a national strike earlier slated for January 1. Today, there is what looks like a stalemate.

But, as the nation groans under these crises, a strange religious uprising is threatening social peace in some parts of the north. A radical Islamic fundamentalist group, the Muhajirun which openly claims inspiration from Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban movement, has been on the prowl in Yobe State and other parts of the north. The group has launched a series of attacks in the last three weeks on police stations in Yobe State and along the Nigerian border with Niger Republic, killing at lease three officers and burning down police stations. The Muhajirun moved into Yobe from neighbouring Borno State last year and attempted to set up a community run on strict Islamic lines in the remote border area around Kanama just South of Niger’s Mandaram. The Police was called in after disagreements between the radicals and local villagers resulted in open conflicts. Though the leader nick-named, "Mullah Omar" after the Afghan Taliban’s fugitive figure head-has been arrested, many of his followers have melted into the population, from where they are threatening the peace of the state.

And last Friday, they moved into Damaturu where it took the intervention of military personnel before they could be routed. These incidents have created an atmosphere of apprehension and turbulence. There is aggression, and the entire situation is a source of serious worry. Many have scowled at the turn of events in Anambra State, with fingers of accusation being pointed at the Federal Government for allegedly maintaining a cautious support for opponents of the Anambra State governor, thereby creating tension in the polity. The palpable fear in the hearts of many is that the country may well be on the verge of anarchy. "What is happening in Anambra State today can be equated with the Western regional crisis of the 1960s which snowballed into an ugly network of events that ended in a civil war," says Dr. Lateef Adegbite, Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Adegbite believes that at the moment, there is hardly any government in the state. He feels, "it is time for the National Assembly to seriously look into this crisis to determine whether there is a total breakdown of law and order, and probably consider the desirability of a state of emergency."

The cleric says he is afraid of the adverse effects of the Anambra crisis on the country’s political system. "My concern is the destructive influence of the events in Anambra on the political system, and on the integrity of our political institutions." Obasanjo seems to have a basketful of crises to manage in his second term. Many consider some of the problems on his hands to be self-induced. But the poser for the administration remains how the storm of crises is going to be managed while still maintaining the integrity of the political system given the array of accusing fingers pointing at it.

Jan 2004