Re - " Critics are not enemies of state – misjudge the critics at nation’s peril” by Anthony Akinola
Cornelius Hamelberg
I have yet to read beyond the title and the first two sentences of Chief Anthony Akinola’s latest discernment , all of which I took in at a ( one) glance and before I read the rest that’s subordinated to the opening shots and become swayed or irredeemably persuaded by him, I should just like to unload some of what the title “Critics are not enemies of state – misjudge the critics at nation’s peril” suggests to me, with regard to Nigeria’s ’s current situation as I see it .
Re – the first two sentences: “Of late, two things explain why President Muhammadu Buhari’s government no longer seems to be the apple of the people’s eyes. One is that insecurity spreads exponentially across the country without any sign of abating”
There’s the insecurity situation in the Middle East, and in countries still literally at war, Libya, Yemen, Syria, there’s all the turmoil in Iraq and in all these instances the solution is supposed to be victory by military means. Is that supposed to be the solution for Nigeria?
2020 Nigeria: The security situation
In Nigeria, all kinds of dissatisfaction and poverty must be at the bottom of it all. Beyond the genocidal solution by exterminating the bandits, the critics must suggest remedies on the ground for the misperception, if it is a misperception, must get to the bottom of the question, are Brother Muhammadu Buhari & Crew responsible for the insecurity that’s being ostensibly fomented by those hell-bent unpatriotic Nigerians who have vowed to make the country “ ungovernable” ?
Some of the dissenters, want to export themselves, their identifies, dissatisfactions problems by escaping to find temporary relief away from it all, want to emigrate, hoping to find the holy grail in the United States? Short of cooperation about US minimal requirements for security information, there’s not much that Brother Buhari can do about Trump’s temporary visa restrictions on some Nigerians; His hands are tied and he can’t protest too loudly not least of all, he needs all of Trump’s generous offers of military hardware…
True: On a personal and on a national level, constructive criticism leads to growth.
In a democracy that’s well-oiled and functioning (in contrast with one that’s dysfunctional) constructive criticism results in necessary reform/s, progress, the much-needed development.
The more totalitarian a system is, the more sensitive and repressive the authorities tend to be in relating to even constructive criticism.
One of Nigeria’s current strengths is the freedom of the press and a very strong/ active social media which is allowed free rein to all sorts of criticism, misinformation, vile vituperations, Islamophobic propaganda, “tribalism”, ethnic chauvinism, unfair, uncalled for excessive bashing of Mr. President, in short, the sort of free reign that would not be tolerated by a totalitarian type of regime.
In this age of propaganda falsehoods and fake news, the following is also absolutely true:
The critics of President Buhari, his administration and his government, are not necessarily the enemies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But does such a judgment or perception also cover the tendency of “cutting off the nose to spite the face”, that wanton tendency of the selfish and self-seeking ones who would like to dismember the whole by aiming at separation, self-government for their own ethnic enclaves, “ Biafra”, “Oduduwa” “ The Boko Haram Caliphate” , “ The Islamic Republic of Northern Nigeria” , those feeble parts that want to overthrow the aforementioned government and its awesome military, not by a peaceful peoples revolution delivered through the ballot box but by force and by violent upheaval?
Anthony Akinola
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