Today’s State of the Nation Broadcast is aimed at unveiling the true enemies of Nigeria. Please lend me your ears as we separate chaff from grains, tares from wheat, villains from heroes, and perverts from patriots. #SOTNB2020
Let us read Isaiah 5:20-24, a text of Scripture that, in my opinion, captures today’s topic in its entirety. #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, I welcome you to a new decade in the 21st century. About a hundred years ago, our founding fathers began the quest to build a great nation. #SOTNB2020
The 1920s ushered in the decade of Nigerian nationalism when, for the first time, Nigerians began to embrace the possibilities of nationhood. #SOTNB2020
However, six years post-amalgamation, our forebears still regarded themselves not as Nigerians but as Edos, Ijaws, Igbos, Kanuris, Hausas, Yorubas, and so on. They still viewed themselves as diverse local tribes under the rule of colonial masters. #SOTNB2020
However, a shift began in the 1920s as the policies of the colonial masters brought economic and social hardships upon the people. Under the leadership of patriotic founding fathers, the Nigerian people began to craft a sense of national identity. #SOTNB2020
In 1923, one hundred years apart from 2023, our next election year, the first Nigerian political party, Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), was established by an illustrious son of a priest, Olayinka Herbert Macaulay. #SOTNB2020
Herbert Macaulay took the first steps towards forging a nation in which Nigerians, no matter the part of the country they hailed from, and no matter their tribe or religion, would identify themselves first as Nigerians. #SOTNB2020
Spurred by the movement pioneered by this man, a coalition of Nigerians from across the nation came together within one decade to begin the cause of wresting the soul of Nigeria from the stranglehold of colonialism on the path to forging a new nation. #SOTNB2020
In the course of traversing the nation and mobilising Nigerians under the aegis of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), Herbert Macaulay fell ill in Kano and later died in Lagos but not without passing the torch to coming generations of patriots. #SOTNB2020
Notably, the creation of the NCNC in 1944 was a joint effort between the then eighty-year-old Macaulay and the forty-year-old Nnamdi Azikiwe who would go on to become Nigeria’s first president in an independent Nigeria Macaulay did not live to see. #SOTNB2020
Where Herbert Macaulay stopped, the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, H.O. Davies, Ernest Okoli, Margaret Ekpo, Eyo Ita, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti picked up the mantle. #SOTNB2020
But our founding leaders were subject to like passions just as we are, and they had their moments of doubt. #SOTNB2020
However, at some point in their respective trajectories, our founders encountered the possibilities of Nigerian nationhood. In those defining moments, they embraced the promptings of destiny and it came into their hearts to build a nation. #SOTNB2020
It was why Chief Obafemi Awolowo, years after his much-referenced scepticism, became convinced that Nigeria was more than a mere geographical expression. #SOTNB2020
Unfortunately, the generation of our founding fathers, after laying constitutional foundations, was forced to hand the nation unceremoniously and without proper succession to the next generation following the January 15, 1966 coup. #SOTNB2020
History gave us one administration after another: some military, some civilian, and some recycled, but history also gave us one inescapable fact of life – chances, choices, and consequences. #SOTNB2020
There were those to whom history bequeathed the responsibility to preserve the union and to keep the nation together through the test of a civil war. #SOTNB2020
There were those who had the opportunity to map out national development plans and kick-start a transnational infrastructure agenda. #SOTNB2020
Then there were those who were propelled in messianic militancy against the cankerworm of corruption that had begun to consume the fabric of nationhood, and they handed over to those who had, 1/2 #SOTNB2020
and still have, the opportunity to repair the breaches and rebuild stable democratic foundations. 2/2 #SOTNB2020
Each generation of leaders inherited a unique set of chances, and, through their policy, governance and value choices, they each crafted their respective legacies. #SOTNB2020
In some instances, they made wise and patriotic decisions; in others, they made mistakes and misjudgments, some so severe that our nation is yet to recover decades later. #SOTNB2020
Consequently, one hundred years after the first promptings of nationhood, even as we attain another milestone on this journey, our nation is still in the grip of antagonistic forces. #SOTNB2020
Therefore, we must learn from our forebears and once again come together as one people to salvage our common patrimony from the grip of the enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
At this point, you may be asking: “Who or what are the enemies of Nigeria?” Very shortly, I will respond to that cogent question; but first, I would like to make unquestionably clear who the enemies of our nation are not. #SOTNB2020
A hundred years ago, when the coalition for nationhood brought together a diverse pool of Nigerians, the common foe at that time was the oppressive rule of colonial masters. #SOTNB2020
However, nearly sixty years after our independence, we can no longer blame the colonial masters for the state of our nation. As a matter of fact, in relation to Nigeria, Britain has long transitioned from being a master to a partner. #SOTNB2020
Therefore, we must not be ambushed by the neo-colonial posturing that former colonialists acting in their national interest are the enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
Furthermore, through the decades of our national existence, we have had agitations for self-determination from different tribes @SOTNB2020
As nationalists and patriots, the tendency is to describe sectional agitations as counterproductive to the nation-building imperative. #SOTNB2020
In some cases, we have even gone ahead to proscribe some of these groups because of their methods, but sectional agitators, so long as their activities are for the public good and within the ambit of the law, are not enemies of our nation. #SOTNB2020
They become threats to national stability only when they take to subversive tactics. Otherwise, those sectional groups calling for better representation in the context of true federalism, 1/2 #SOTNB2020
and for self-determination within the provisions of international law, are not the enemies of Nigeria. 2/2 #SOTNB2020
In addition, throughout history, we have seen governments deploy their monopoly on the use of force to silence dissent. #SOTNB2020
Here in Nigeria, we were witnesses to the atrocities of General Sani Abacha’s co-butchers. History records how Abacha’s junta assassinated some heroes and heroines of the June 12 struggle #SOTNB2020
We witnessed how that oppressive regime terrorised the champions of democracy like Pa Abraham Adesanya, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti and Chief Anthony Enahoro, all of blessed memory #SOTNB2020
The rationale behind such violent suppression of opposition and dissent is the notion that those who challenge the government are the enemies of the state. However, let me establish unequivocally that the champions of our democracy are not the enemies of the state. #SOTNB2020
Those who fight for our freedoms are not the enemies of our nation; they are our heroes as even President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged when he conferred two of the highest honours in the land: GCFR on Chief M.K.O. Abiola and GCON on Chief Gani Fawehinmi. #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, it is in this regard that I sounded a note of warning to the law enforcement agencies over the repression and harassment of journalists and advocates of governance reforms, including the case of Omoyele Sowore. #SOTNB2020
If these are not the enemies of the state, who, then are? I will let the cat out of the bag shortly as there are still others who must be vindicated. #SOTNB2020
In keeping with the opportunities in an interconnected globalised world, millions of Nigerians, old and young inclusive, but predominantly the teeming young population of Nigerians, are connected through mobile telephony and the internet. #SOTNB2020
In the process, they form strong bonds – social bonds of friendship and fun on platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat, collegial and professional bonds on networks such as LinkedIn, 1/2 #SOTNB2020
conversational bonds on platforms such as WhatsApp, pictorial bonds on platforms such as Instagram, and advocacy and knowledge bonds on platforms such as Twitter. 2/2 #SOTNB2020
At any point Nigerians can afford access to data, social media offers them a direct channel through which they can unleash their creativity, express their expectations, and release their frustrations. #SOTNB2020
This is what living in the 21st century globalised economy entails. With the possibilities inherent in telecommunication, the mobile phone has become a mobile city and we cannot afford to lag behind. #SOTNB2020
These developments have also provided platforms for unprecedented citizenship engagement. Lest we forget, in 2012, before Save Nigeria Group (SNG) mobilised Nigerians in their multitudes to Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, young Nigerians under the aegis of Occupy Nigeria #SOTNB2020
Lest we forget, in 2013, using #ChildNotBride, young Nigerians, as well as influential Nigerians in the entertainment industry, the likes of Stella Damasus, passionately called attention to the plight of our daughters, particularly in the northern part of Nigeria #SOTNB2020
Lest we forget, in 2014, using #BringBackOurGirls, young Nigerians, under the inspirational leadership of patriotic citizens like Dr Oby Ezekwesili, deployed social media in getting the world 1/2 #SOTNB2020
to mount pressure on the Nigerian government to see to the release of our Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped from their dormitories by Boko Haram terrorists. 2/2 #SOTNB2020
Lest we forget, young Nigerians, the likes of Japhet Omojuwa, Yemi Adamolekun, Chude Jideonwo, Cheta Nwanze, Oluseun Onigbinde, Oluwaseun Osowobi, Nedu Ekeke, Gbenga Sesan, Hamzat Lawal, 1/2 #SOTNB2020
Bukky Shonibare, Samson Itodo, and a host of others, have aggressively deployed social media to start or support causes that have tilted the balance of power in the direction of the so-called ordinary Nigerian. 2/2 #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, the fact that some persons have deployed this tool in ways that have been less than honourable does not justify the attempted clampdown on freedom of speech by some legislators who major in minors. #SOTNB2020
I, too, have been a target of social media vitriol. I have been misrepresented, maligned and falsely characterised by mischief-makers on social media #SOTNB2020
but I will not support the suppression of the most potent tool for citizen engagement in the 21st century through a misguided Social Media Bill #SOTNB2020
Rather than clamp down on expressiveness, which is the lifeblood of innovation, what we ought to do is pass laws that will further empower our teeming young population to not just be constructive users of social media platforms #SOTNB2020
But to be creators of homegrown solutions able to compete globally in a technology-driven world. #SOTNB2020
I assure you that if social media had been invented in the days of our founding fathers, they would have deployed the tool in resisting colonial rule and fighting for our independence,... 1/2 #SOTNB2020
2/2 ...just as they effectively deployed conventional media such as newspapers to achieve these objectives. #SOTNB2020
Against this backdrop, let me now unveil to you the true enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
A few days from now, on January 15, we will observe Armed Forces Day; a day earmarked to honour Nigeria’s fallen heroes in commemoration of the end of the Nigerian Civil War. #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, the true enemies of our nation are found at every level of government, from the local to the state to the federal levels, and in every arm of government. They can also be found on the streets, in households and in the marketplace. #SOTNB2020
As it is with the leadership, so it is with the citizenry. Leaders and citizens have their citizenship in common; they are drawn from among us and are a reflection of our basest instincts or our highest ideals at every level of government. #SOTNB2020
In Nigeria, the vast majority of our people regularly take turns perpetuating the cycle of corruption either as beneficiaries or benefactors. #SOTNB2020
These enemies in citizens’ clothing are those who choose to be spectators while the nation goes down the drain on their watch; those perverts on the pulpit who hide under togas of godliness to manipulate the vulnerable; #SOTNB2020
those economic behemoths who window dress their underhandedness with filthlanthropy; those who are perpetually “not on seat” because they can’t “come and go and die; #SOTNB2020
those who partake of loot and celebrate looters from the same ethnic group or religious organisation; those who say of the looters, “We know say na thief, but this thief na our thief.” These are the true enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
At the local level of government, the true enemies of our nation are those agents of oppression who place excruciating multiple tax burdens on often defenceless Nigerians. #SOTNB2020
At the state level, the true enemies of Nigeria are those state governments that feed fat on unaccounted-for security votes; those who deploy the paraphernalia of office in their selfish interests rather than in the service of the people; #SOTNB2020
...those who connive with zonal political oligarchs to personalise and privatise the state; those who deploy the force of state to quell dissent #SOTNB2020
those who give critics an excuse to postulate that if state governments are already abusing the little power they currently wield, what will they do if we devolve yet more powers to them? These power-drunk state officials are the true enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
At the zonal level, the enemies of Nigeria are those who have perverted their influence and turned the states within their zones of influence into personal estates. #SOTNB2020
They are the political puppeteers who rig the system to enthrone their stooges and use them to corner resources and opportunities. #SOTNB2020
They are the political bandits and pseudo-democrats who are maniacal in merchandising the will of the people, from masterminding vote-buying to engineering seemingly spontaneous outbreaks of political violence. These are the true enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
At the federal level, the true enemies of Nigeria are in every arm of government. In the judiciary, they are judges who pervert justice and auction judgements to the highest bidder. #SOTNB2020
In the legislature, they are those legislators who rob the nation “under the guise of constituency projects” and are quick to pass laws that undermine our national freedoms, thereby threatening our national stability. #SOTNB2020
In the executive arm of government, the enemies of our nation are those who deploy the machinery of state against hapless citizens; those who serve self rather than the people #SOTNB2020
These are the true enemies that we must stand up against, not the angry young fellow who throws salvos at Mr President hoping to get a few retweets #SOTNB2020
...not the journalist who stares the government squarely in the face,and certainly not the dissenting voice in the midst of sycophants. #SOTNB2020
The thrust of the new decade that commences this year 2020 must be to, once again, come together as one people, to wrest the soul of Nigeria from the jaws of the bear and the mouth of the lion, and to begin to build a great nation. #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, this is the decade of the New Nigeria. In this decade, we have an opportunity to turn the tide of our nation and actualise the dreams of our founding fathers if we make the right choices. #SOTNB2020
I believe it is no coincidence that President Muhammadu Buhari has the privilege of presiding over the nation at the turn of the decade, one hundred years from the rise of Nigerian nationalism. #SOTNB2020
Therefore, in the first three years of this decade, which coincide with the last three years of his administration, the president must take the lead in building a legacy that will facilitate the emergence of the Nigeria of our dreams. #SOTNB2020
In this regard, three focal objectives must drive governance in the appropriate balance. First, this government must be driven by strong leadership. A strongman is different from a strong leader. #SOTNB2020
The likes of Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir [al-bah-sheer], Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Uganda’s Idi Amin Dada, Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko – these were strongmen. #SOTNB2020
While some of them played notable roles in freeing their countries from colonial rule, their records of governance leave little to be desired. #SOTNB2020
However, Africa does need strong leaders; men and women who will build strong institutions. Therefore, providing strong leadership must be the first pivotal agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in the next three years. #SOTNB2020
Providing strong leadership means determining the most pertinent objectives of nation-building and, like a laser beam, converging all the energies of state onto those critical areas. #SOTNB2020
It means results-oriented governance in which people, policies, programmes, and processes are retained in government only to the extent that they contribute to productivity. #SOTNB2020
Strong leadership also means accepting dissent and listening to contrarian views while making decisions in the best interest of the Nigerian people. #SOTNB2020
To cultivate strong leadership, the leader must surround himself or herself with the best, brightest and most competent, particularly those who are more intelligent than oneself. #SOTNB2020
Very importantly, providing strong leadership means that the Nigerian government must be ready to confront the true enemies of our nation headlong and to free the Nigerian people from the grip of her oppressors. #SOTNB2020
We must stop calling treasury looters generous and noble. They are not. They are economic terrorists and the true enemies of Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
Indeed, the need for strong institutions cannot be overemphasised. Therefore, upon the foundation of strong leadership, the second focal objective in these last three years of the Buhari administration should be to strengthen institutions. #SOTNB2020
We must strengthen institutions of justice by adherence to the rule of law and respect for court judgements. Those who desecrate the courts must be brought to book to restore the sanctity and independence of the judiciary. #SOTNB2020
We must also strengthen institutions of accountability by enforcing transparency in government revenue and expenditure. Furthermore, we must strengthen institutions of human development by laying the groundwork for effective education and healthcare policies. #SOTNB2020
Finally, we must strengthen institutions of economic growth through geo-economic re-organisation as well as pragmatic fiscal and monetary policies. To strengthen these institutions, we must codify best practices while embracing innovation. #SOTNB2020
We must also run inclusive structures that bridge transgenerational and gender gaps to ensure that the baton of success is passed on from one generation to another. #SOTNB2020
Finally, as the government of President Muhammadu Buhari ushers us into the second decade of the 21st century, the third pivotal objective of governance should be to build a strong post-Buhari legacy facilitated by accurate succession. #SOTNB2020
Therefore, even as we build institutions of democratic governance, a key responsibility that history has bestowed on President Muhammadu Buhari at this turning point in our journey to nationhood is to institutionalise systems... 1/2 #SOTNB2020
2/2 ...of accurate succession that will build and sustain the Nigeria we desire. THIS IS A TASK THAT MUST BE DONE. #SOTNB2020
Fellow Nigerians, our founding fathers’ dreams must keep us awake to our responsibilities as co-builders. #SOTNB2020
As they rose to the occasion one hundred years ago, we must rise from our slumber at the turn of a new decade to become architects of a new coalition that will facilitate the emergence of a New Nigeria. #SOTNB2020
Now is the time to put aside religious, zonal, ethnic and other differences and to speak with one voice against the enemies of our common patrimony. #SOTNB2020
Now is the time to come together, from Lagos to Maiduguri, from Oyo to Bayelsa, from Aba to Abuja, from every nook and cranny of our nation, to build a New Nigeria, a New Nigeria that works for every Nigerian #SOTNB2020
A Nigeria where no child goes to bed hungry and no child is left out of school; where our homes, schools, streets, villages, highways and cities are safe and secure; where our hospitals are well-equipped life-saving institutions; 1/3 #SOTNB2020
2/3 ...where no youth is unemployed and our young men and women are job creators; where businesses thrive on innovation and ideas are facilitated by functional infrastructure and cutting-edge technology; #SOTNB2020
3/3 ....where no part of our nation – North, South, East or West – feels marginalised, and every Nigerian is proud to say “I am a Nigerian.” #SOTNB2020
I firmly believe we are at the cusp of winds of change that will usher in the New Nigeria; a New Nigeria that will lead Africa to greatness, until the once upon a time Dark Continent becomes the world’s leading light. #SOTNB2020
Thank you for joining us. God bless you, God bless our beloved nation, Nigeria, and God bless the continent of Africa. Happy New Year to you all. #SOTNB2020
