Rather than safeguard Nigerians as constitutionally required and expected, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has become a serious threat to the country’s security, a leading rights and pro-democracy group said on Tuesday.

According to the Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (Intersociety), “The threat to national security and unity particularly territorial and public security posed by the present Federal Government of Nigeria under Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari and Prof Yemi Osinbajo and its security forces is no longer that of governance or regime misconduct and failure, but it has risen to genocidal scale capable of plunging the entire country into complex humanitarian emergencies – a situation that will see Rwandan Genocide as a child’s play.

“It has also gotten so bad and more dangerous to the extent that the Administration is now conducting itself and its activities like a chronic mad man running amok and riotous with a sharp knife in a crowded market-with the crowded market being Nigeria, a country of approximately 200m People. What is now known as ‘Buharist Virus’ has become so devastating and menacing that even those who ‘intellectually packaged and founded the Administration’ in 2015 are longer safe and have become part of the ‘crowded market being run amok by a chronic mad man armed with a sharp knife’.

“It is also a truism that the Buhari and Osinbajo Government, through its divisive and violent governance approaches, has violently rattled the ethnic-religious foundations in the country to the extent that they have been violently and psychologically uprooted, provoked, threatened, pushed to the wall, spat at, challenged and degraded-and sometimes massacred, annexed and colonized. The damage and destruction done to Nigerian ethnic nationalities under the present Administration will almost be an act of impossibility to heal and bind; except through a conference of all ethnic nationalities to decide whether to exist by autonomy or as separate statehoods’; only if escaped from being consumed by looming “war of anybody against anybody” (widespread civil conflict).”

Intersociety raised the alarm in a statement issued from its headquarters in Onitsha, Anambra State, signed by lawyers Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair; Ndidiamaka C. Bernard, Head of Int’l Justice & Human Rights Programme; Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme; Chinwe Umeche, Head of Democracy & Good Governance Programme; and Evangaline Chidinma Udegbunam, Head of Campaign & Publicity Department.

Below is the rest of the statement:

“More Reasons Why We Are Concerned & Worried: We are deeply worried and concerned because from the way things are unfolding under the Buhari and Osinbajo Administration in the country, Nigeria is speedily approaching the nadir of complex humanitarian emergencies-with their humanitarian catastrophic outcomes capable of swallowing the entire African, European, South and North American and Asian Regions particularly the Southeast Asian countries and the Gulf States part of the latter. It is no longer a hidden fact that Nigeria is presently under the siege of foreign violent organization, dangerously simplified by the Government of Nigeria as “Fulani Herdsmen”.

“Apart from the Government’s tacitly approved illegal migration of members of the violent population into Nigeria with their violent instruments including assault rifles, members of this violent population are further being moved South ward or to Southern part of Nigeria and Middle Belt ward or to the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, with most of such movement usually taking place during dark hours. The Nigerian security forces also hide under obedience to ‘orders from above’ and look the other side, in addition to being accused or seen as providing them with cover or protection.

“Reports are in torrents showing the siege of many, if not most of the forests and bushes and farmlands particularly in the Southeast, to the extent that women and their children are now afraid of going to farms or accessing bushes and forests for fear of being raped or abducted or killed. In cities and towns in the Southeast, there have also been reports of flooding of same by ‘foreign faces’ working as ‘barrow pushers’, ‘shoe shiners’, ‘nail cutters’, ‘barbers’, ‘beggars’, ‘hawkers’, etc; with most of them publicly interacted with in Onitsha, Ekwulobia, Nnewi, Ihiala and Aguleri neither speaking Hausa nor Pidgin English, except ‘Fula’ or ‘Arabic’ or mentioning of a particular naira note.

“Buhari & Osinbajo Government As National Security Threat: Security generally means freedom from unlawful death or threat of same, or from danger, fears or worries. Security includes security of: a citizen, people, property, area, cyberspace or facility, atmosphere or environment and a written law (i.e. constitution or Act of parliament). It therefore follows that anything or anybody that threatens the life and well-being of an individual is a threat to his or her security. Also anything including Government or anybody that threatens the peace, law, order and decency of a country is a public security threat; likewise threatening the environment, cyberspace or facility and a written law. By offering the total opposite of the above, the Buhari and Osinbajo Government has become a serious threat to national security and unity of Nigeria.

“Promotion Of Cross-Regional Terrorism & Territorial Invasion Of Nigeria: We make bold to say that there is no difference between the present roles of the Government of Nigeria in Fulani terrorism and the State actor conspiracy in Janjaweed terrorism and threats to the national security and unity of Sudan by the atrocious regime of Gen Omar Hassan el-Bashir, leading to his indictment and int’l fugitive declaration by the ICC in 2009 and 2010 following the UN Security Council Referral/Resolution 1593. The Government of Buhari and Osinbajo is vicariously, if not directly promoting cross-regional terrorism and territorial invasion of Nigeria at genocidal scale by members of the world’s fourth deadliest terror group; as well as internal colonization of the country by same.

“The Government of Nigeria is so complicit that it not only red-carpets and celebrates the terror group, but also continues to recognize it as a legal body; allowing it to talk openly in the media taking responsibilities for its atrocities and threatening to kill more Nigerians. This is in addition to their settlements across the country particularly in the South and the Middle Belt being tightly guarded or policed by security forces through regular patrols or nearness of police and military formations around such settlements or encampments. In the history of Nigeria since independence in 1960, no central Administration in the country had threatened the national security and unity as the present Buhari and Osinbajo Administration has done and is still doing.

“Nigerian Security Forces As Cork & Shoot: The science evolution or modern military and policing sciences has gravely eluded the country’s security forces particularly the army, police and intelligence agencies. Their operational commanders are also bereft of fresh and creative ideas. Other than ‘cork and shoot’ and rapacious graft activities particularly at roadblocks and other duty posts, the present Nigerian security forces are mere ‘gun-wielders’ and ‘legends’ only when it comes to mass killing, torturing and maiming of civilians as well as indulging in rapacious ‘in-service graft activities’ (i.e. roadblock extortions).

“Present members of the security forces are only in uniform but not in securitization services. They are so daft that their only security response to the gruesome killing of Mrs. Funke Olakurin along Benin-Ore Federal Road, is offer to ‘deploy military or soldiers on Nigerian Highways’. Already, Nigerians are passing through the agonies of ‘official armed robbery and other forms of insecurity being perpetrated with reckless abandon by tens of thousands of untrained and corrupt armed police personnel and soldiers stationed at roadblocks and other locations across the country. Forms of ‘official insecurity’ in Nigeria range from official armed robbery (extortion), torture, maiming to extra judicial and unlawful killings.

“Soldiers are presently deployed in 30 states, if not the entire 36 States and the FCT of the Federation, yet not only that there is no security or feeling of same, but also insecurity has further degenerated or duplicated into ‘state actor’ and ‘non state actor insecurity’. As a matter of fact, soldiers have no professional business flooding Nigerian roads and engaging in street crimes’ control or management.

“The heads of the Nigerian security forces or agencies are also guilty of ‘loyalty of the graveyard’ to their appointing authorities, whereby they robotically take orders and execute same without putting into apt consideration their far reaching consequences on the generality of Nigerians particularly their lives, liberties, safety and welfare as well as the territorial security and public interest. They are also perpetually nepotistic and puppets in their approaches and duty posts.

“Defense and security policy makers including top executive public office holders and parliamentarians are also as daft as their appointed security providers. It follows that the same IGP that could not clear the Benin-Ore forests, bushes and farmlands of Fulani terrorists and other violent criminals leading to killing of Mrs. Funke Olakurin and scores of less privileged citizens killed at various times, has suddenly become ‘a working IGP’ by announcing the ‘arrest of some suspects’. Only God knows the true identities of the arrestees. Prof Yemi Osinbajo and leadership of the new Senate are also part of the securitization management quackery by dangerously giving approval for deployment of (more) soldiers on Nigerian Highways; thereby compounding the general and citizens’ insecurity in part or whole of Nigeria.

“Buhari & Osinbajo Administration Deeply Ignorant of the Essence of Govt.: The present Government of Nigeria under Buhari and Osinbajo is deeply ignorant of the essence of Government by offering Nigeria and Nigerians the direct opposite of why Government was founded. It is on record that Government in the world over including the present ‘Government of Nigeria’ was never founded to promote at state actor level national disunity and security threats including fanning the embers of hatred, disaffection and violence. Instead, it is in a bid to ensure effective control of social deviances, crimes and conflicts and general state of tranquility and happiness that Government as we have it today was founded.

“Control of Social Deviances & Crimes as the Forefather of Govt.: It must be stated that it is the Society’s constructive and transformative response to social deviances, crimes and conflicts that led to the formation of Government and its organs and branches as it is today in the world including Nigeria. In other words, today’s Government and its organs and branches including its policing, defense, security and justice departments is an offshoot of social deviances, crimes and conflicts.

“Social deviances and crimes, when constructively and transformatively managed are also a major creator of employment in every society. Further recognized is the inevitability of conflict in human relationships or relationship between human and environment and offering of a therapy of constructive management of conflicts when occurred or in a verge of being occurred as well as using peacemaking processes to ensure harmonious relationship, progress, growth and development of members of human family and their environment particularly in Nigeria.

“Logic & Critical Thinking Has Eluded Nigeria: it is totally worrisome that intellectualism particularly logic and critical thinking is speedily departing Nigeria’s intellectual space, to the extent that the prisms from which issues of critical importance are seen and analyzed are seriously incapable of taking Nigeria out of its present socio-political doldrums. Intellectual viewpoints in the country have become parochial and narrower day in day out. Apart from deepened ethnic and religious divisions as a core factor, the Nigerian intellectual class has been made lazy owing to negative response to the evolution of ICT media, to the extent that research, investigation, reading, logic and critical thinking have become a past tense. Public opinions, articles, publications, columns and statements are no longer deep, well thought out and issue based; in their stead laid synchronous and asynchronous media or web chats, promoting and heightening half-baked or shallow intellectualism. The reading culture in the country is also at its lowest ebb.

“Stark instances of the above are exemplified by intellectually poor reactions by Nigerians particularly members of the intellectual class to issues of the so called “RUGA” and killing of a daughter of Afenifere leader, Chief Fasoranti, Funke Olakunrin. Application of logic and critical thinking and extensive reading would have brought very apt responses to the two key issues of national importance and concerns and expose and rubbish defenses put up by the Government of Nigeria. On “RUGA”, logic and critical thinking, if applied, would have raised the issue of land allocation and ownership in Nigeria as well as why ‘RUGA’, if not Jihadism and why retention of archaic grazing route methods of animal husbandry, instead of use technologically advanced sedentary ranching methods.

“On killing of Mrs. Funke Olakurin, logic and critical thinking, if applied, would have spotted and exposed the Government’s admission of responsibility by attributing her death to ‘banditry’ and ‘armed robbery attacks’. In other words, by Government of Nigeria admitting she was ‘killed by bandits or armed robbers’ along Benin-Ore Federal Road, the case is closed because it is an express admission of not only responsibility, but also failure and incompetence. This is more so when atrocious criminal antecedents of the Fulani Herdsmen in Nigeria or any part thereof also include armed robbery and banditry.

“As a matter of fact, the violent group or jihadist Fulani herdsmen’s warehouse of atrocities include international crimes such as Jihadism, transnational terrorism, breach of territorial integrity and sovereignty, land seizure and confiscation, sea piracy, ethnic cleansing, forced movement of populations, depopulation, agrocide, infanticide, feminocide, genocide, trafficking in persons and arms, pogrom and carnage; and domestic or street crimes such as banditry, abduction, rape, trafficking in persons, armed robbery, illegal possession of prohibited firearms or assault rifles and homicide including assassination.

“The World Must Not Repeat Role of ‘Western Musketeers’ In Nigeria: The situation in Nigeria has gone beyond ‘the US Congressional hearings’ or its Foreign Policy body reports on Nigeria or ‘the British House of Lords debates on Nigeria’ or ‘the EU’s expressions of deep concerns on situations in Nigeria’. The world must no longer sit by and watch things deteriorate further in Nigeria. This is because preventive security and preventive diplomacy are far better than their damage control and conflict management responses. The dastardly role of the musketeers (silence and partisanship of Belgium, France, Germany, UK, etc) during the Rwandan Genocide must not repeat itself in Nigeria.

“The current situation also goes beyond ‘fulanization of the seat of Deputy UN Sec Gen and Presidency of the UN Gen Assembly’ or ‘igbo-fulanization of the Presidency of the ICC’. Under the present troubling circumstances in Nigeria, the UN Security Council is vested with enough and enormous powers under Chapters V and V11 of the Charter of the United Nations; particularly in matters of serious threats to international peace and security as well as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity or threats of same as clearly defined by the Statute of the ICC of 1998 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949; all acceded to by Nigeria.”

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