Second
Republic senator and former Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Professor
Iyorwuese Hagher, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of promoting
genocide
on account of his administration's treatment of the murderous Fulani herdsmen
with kid gloves.
He also
advised the President against seeking a second term.
According to SR. Professor
Hagher's position was made known in a
open letter to the President. Dated 5 January, the letter opened with a blunt
refusal to wish President Buhari a happy new year, with the former envoy saying
doing otherwise will mark him out as a
hypocrite.
Professor
Hagher, an indigene of Benue State, where the latest episode of herdsmen's
brutality resulted in numerous deaths, said nobody in the state is happy in the
new year.
"Our
citizens did not have a happy new 2018. Genocide on citizens of Nigeria has
escalated in earnest in Benue State. This genocide has turned their happiness
to nightmare and death," wrote Professor Hagher.
While
apologising for making the Let me also apologize for making letter public, the
former envoy said he had to do so because the country, Benue State especially,
is in an emergency situation. The former envoy noted that President Buhari had
previously ignored his advice in a
private memorandum dated 30 July 2016.
"I had
warned you of the possibility of a horrendous genocide in Benue, Plateau, Taraba,
Southern Kaduna, and Southern Adamawa States. I asked you to be proactive and
stop the genocide that has been ongoing, but which would burst out in the open
and shock the world within 18 months. Your office replied my letter on
September, 28th 2016, and the reply was couriered to me in the United States,
thanking me 'immensely' and giving me the assurances that the advice would be
heeded," recalled the Second Republic senator.
He lamented
that the current situation is an evidence that President Buhari's government
took no step to avert what he predicted 17 months ago. "The nomadic
terrorists have finally accelerated the ethnic cleansing in Benue State. They
have strategically moved against the Tiv, the largest minority ethnicity in
northern Nigeria. These perpetrators believe that if they can ethnic- cleanse
the Tiv, then nobody can stand in their way to possess the land and carve a new
geo-polity and demography for the middle-belt," claimed Professor Hagher.
That this has
happened unimpeded, he added, is a proof that President Buhari has betrayed his
your campaign promise to "always
act in time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester’’.
"In
allowing the Benue genocide to take place, your government has acted
irresponsibly and has allowed problems to fester and failed to act on time. You
have also failed to lead from the front, giving the impression that centrifugal
forces around you are dictating vicious anti-people agenda," he told the
President.
Professor
Hagher contended that the security of lives and property is more important than the vaunted war
against corruption.
"The
protection of lives of citizens is the most sacred responsibility of the state
and your presidency. Your government has failed woefully in this regard. Mr
President, there is no greater corruption than the government looking the other
way while the strong bullies and kills the weak with impunity and
pleasure," stated the Second Republic senator.
He further
stated that the President's desire to rid the country of corruption has made
him ignore nation building, thereby leaving the country divided. Professor
Hagher said the President has failed his immediate Northern constituency by his
inability, failure or lack of political will to end the region's poverty through measures that enhance school
enrolment, promote girl-child education, and revive dead industries. "You became Nigeria’s
president on the altar of northern unity when the northern minorities abandoned
former President Goodluck Jonathan to vote for you. You have now desecrated
that altar. By refusing to arrest those that brutally butchered defenceless
innocent Benue women and children, you have imperiled northern unity and taken
sides with evil," Professor Hagher raged.
He equally
raged that President Buhari's lack of
vision and capacity to provide development and a political culture of integrity
entitles him to pity and prayers, but not support for a second term.
While
admitting that the President still has many admirers, Professor Hagher said
what happened in Benue State has put a huge question mark on his capacity to lead a plural modern state. "Is there rule of law in this country? Why does the
Miyetti Allah act with so much impunity? Is this because this terrorist group
claims you as their life patron? Do not accept the clamour of those, who for
their personal political reasons, urge you to contest in the 2019 election to
be a second term president. Mr. President, please rise above the impression
being given that you are just another power-obsessed and hungry politician.
Step aside and open the political space for another person to continue your war
against corruption with a more comprehensive development programme that Nigeria needs and deserves," said
Professor Hagher.
He called on
the President to spend the remaining part of his tenure to modernize
infrastructure, and attempt to banish poverty, adding that while the All
Progressives Congress campaigns for the 2019 general elections, President
Buhari should take a sabbatical from partisanship to build national unity, good governance, concentrate on getting rid of Boko Haram and
the herdsmen. "After all,
great people are not great for winning elections. Rather, they are known to be
great by the legacy they leave behind. With what legacy do you wish the country
to remember you for? It is unfortunate that family members of those that were
hacked to death will remember you as the genocide president," the Second
Republic senator declared.
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