“I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay.”
This is the warning by former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He gave the warning against the backdrop of the state of insecurity in the country which he said required very urgent attention not only by the federal government, but the entire people of the country.
In the letter made available to the press on Monday by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo said with the menace of the terrorists group, Boko Haram, still going on and the increase in the spate of kidnapping, robbery, banditry among other crimes, there were clear says of danger.
He said the menace by criminals said to be of Fulani extraction, whether rightly or wrongly, was also a threat which could ignite ethnic war in the country.
Stating that the war against the imminent danger could not be fought by the federal government alone, Obasanjo stressed the need for a national dialogue in order to address the issues concerning the different people of the different sections of the country.
He suggested those to be involved in the project of resolving the crisis.
Said he: “Some of the groups that I will suggest to be contacted are: traditional rulers, past heads of service (no matter how competent or incompetent they have been and how much they have contributed to the mess we are in), past heads of para-military organisations, private sector, civil society, community leaders particularly in the most affected areas, present and past governors, present and past local government leaders, religious leaders, past Heads of State, past intelligence chiefs, past Heads of Civil Service and relevant current and retired diplomats, members of opposition and any groups that may be deemed relevant.”
Obasanjo emphasised that without urgent actions taken, calamities of monumental proportion awaited the country.
His words: “To be explicit and without equivocation, Mr. President and General, I am deeply worried about four avoidable calamities:
“1. abandoning Nigeria into the hands of criminals who are all being suspected, rightly or wrongly, as Fulanis and terrorists of Boko Haram type;
“2. spontaneous or planned reprisal attacks against Fulanis which may inadvertently or advertently mushroom into pogrom or Rwanda-type genocide that we did not believe could happen and yet it happened.
“3. similar attacks against any other tribe or ethnic group anywhere in the country initiated by rumours, fears, intimidation and revenge capable of leading to pogrom;
“4. violent uprising beginning from one section of the country and spreading quickly to other areas and leading to dismemberment of the country.”
He prayed God to grant Buhari the wisdom to tackle the issues at hand.
He prayed: “For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, I pray that God may grant you, as our President, the wisdom, the understanding, the political will and the courage to do what is right when it is right and without fear or favour. May God save, secure, protect and bless Nigeria. May He open to us a window of opportunity that we can still use to prevent the worst happening. As we say in my village, ‘May God forbid bad thing.’”
