Nigeria’s deepening insecurity crisis continues to shape public frustration, foreign appeals, and government missteps. In this opinion piece, the writer reflects on the nation’s worsening lawlessness, the political contradictions at the top, and the troubling focus to repatriate former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu despite his conviction abroad. It is an unfiltered exploration of the culture of impunity, weak governance, and moral decay shaping Nigeria’s present moment.
Nigeria is up to its eyeballs with issues of insecurity that it feels like the dark days of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, when terrorists were running amok in the country. Since the government has appeared ineffective in almost every aspect, we have turned to seeking help from abroad.
From churches to political gatherings, Nigerians are asking the US president to come and save them. Since the instruments of administering justice at home are no longer trustworthy, they take foreign intervention as providential.
On the one hand, international scrutiny is forcing our leaders to do some self-accounting. On the other hand, the interest is also raising the stakes for the bandits who—keenly aware of their notorious international reputation—seem to be taking advantage of the moment to ramp up their global profile.
Failure to Enforce Standards
Amid the mayhem in a country being consumed by angst, our government’s priority is to see convicted former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, repatriated to Nigeria from a prison in the UK where he is serving a sentence. So urgent is this desire that the Bola Tinubu government sent a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Minister of something called Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to meet UK Ministry of Justice officials.
It might look separate from the issue of insecurity, but what connects that mission to our present chaotic condition is this characteristically Nigerian attitude of never being able to punish because nobody is disciplined enough to confidently enforce standards.
Nigeria is being overtaken by bandits who put machine guns to the heads of poor villagers and force them to sign “peace deals”. We allegedly have a commander-in-chief, but in some rural communities right now, some bandit leaders are busy assuming sovereignty over territories and daring our leaders. Their impudence is a consequence of the years of tolerating lawlessness through negotiations and appeasements.
“The bandits and their fellow terrorists are the bastard children bred by the incestuous marriage of a weak state and its morally spineless leaders.”
Rather than stand up to them, politicians advocated “amnesty”, sponsored foreign education, and cash transfers to bandits who had long passed their stage of reformability.
All the years of wantonness by our negligent leaders have culminated in an untamable monstrosity that now insists on a power-sharing formula with them. The bandits and their fellow terrorists are the bastard children bred by the incestuous marriage of a weak state and its morally spineless leaders.
That same attitude of inability to punish manifests in even supposedly minor issues, where people who should be punished for offences are appointed as ambassadors for the very cause they violated. On the rare occasion that a politician is convicted of corruption, they are quick to issue a presidential pardon to free the person of any residual shame. We pretend it is rehabilitation, but it merely expresses our lack of confidence in enforcing standards.
A Weak Leadership Culture
It is near pointless to have to state that if that organ trafficking case had happened in Nigeria, Ekweremadu would never have been investigated, let alone incarcerated. In fact, it is the small fry who dared to tackle the powerful man who would be marinating in his own bodily juices in some cold and dirty cell somewhere after the police had beaten the life out of him. We are not a society that can be said to have a strong sense of what constitutes justice, and Tinubu—a characteristically weak-willed leader—is not helping.
He is slowed down by his heavy burden of illegitimacy, which contributes to his lack of leadership self-confidence. It is not merely that Tinubu feels some shame about how he is perceived as the very personification of corruption in contemporary Nigeria, but the perception also makes him indecisive on matters on which he should be standing on his two feet. He cannot speak boldly about lax standards and corrupted procedures without the irony blowing back in his face. It makes him weak, spineless, and elastically tolerant of the nonsense that should not be heard of among a leadership class that wants to be taken seriously.
“We are not a society that can be said to have a strong sense of what constitutes justice.”
The late Muhammadu Buhari, despite his campaign promise to be the strongman who would stage the necessary showdowns with the forces that hold down our national progress, turned out to be a monumental failure essentially because he was lazy and lethargic.
Tinubu, on the other hand, is bogged down by his many moral baggage. In a nation where virtually everyone takes their moral cues from the central leadership, he affects all of us. He is confused, and his confusion confounds us. One day, he wakes up and announces an import tariff, and by evening, he has reversed himself. The next day, he introduces the expatriate employment levy and the cybersecurity levy, only to reverse himself again after pushback.
The same lack of will to enforce anything is seen in educational policies, where you must be 18 to be admitted into the university, but no, you do not need to be; we will no longer create universities, but here is one more; mathematics is no longer a prerequisite, but now it is. One day, you wake up and pardon convicted criminals, only to face public outrage and reverse yourself. You even salute yourself for being flexible, whereas you are only weak, corrupt, and disordered.
These constant reversals have become a pattern that reveals the internal character of this government, and no, it has nothing to do with being a “listening” government but rather with insecurity in its leadership capabilities and an inability to truly map out a path for the country. They have no pride in either themselves or the country they lead, and that is why rescuing an organ trafficker from the throes of justice has become their priority.
Since there is an election in 2027 that Tinubu desperately needs to win in the south, especially the parts where he was disgraced in the 2023 elections, he is rallying those who can help him mobilise ground forces. Ekweremadu, now useful, needs to be brought closer to home.
We, of course, know that if Ekweremadu were to be transferred to Nigeria to serve his sentence, it would not be to the general population complex, where those who have committed lesser crimes are stripped of their humanity. He will live in a palace where he will be feted by the highest-ranking prison officials who would have lobbied to have such a big man in their custody. He will even be allowed to sneak home occasionally and breathe free air.
“Everything here is compromised. Our standards are shamefully lax, and we are shameless about it.”
No matter what they promise the UK Ministry of Justice officials regarding how they will treat Ekweremadu’s sentence in Nigeria, you can be sure none of it will hold once that man steps on our shores, where rules are selectively enforced. Everything here is compromised. Our standards are shamefully lax, and we are shameless about it. Shame is a virtue designed for those who have and are interested in maintaining standards.
There is nothing like that here. We lost it a long time ago, and we confirmed that by placing a man who represents our collective fallen nature in Aso Rock.
Funny thing is, the UK might release Ekweremadu to Nigeria. They have made their point about the kind of society they are, in contrast with us, merely by imprisoning him and his wife despite all the diplomatic efforts mounted by Nigeria during his arrest and trial. By throwing him back at us and watching him walk free through some government magic, they can affirm that we are precisely what they thought we were when they colonised us.
The opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily align with the views of JolibaLive News! or any of its staff members. The author is in no way associated with this online news blog.
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