Why your curse may not work on Buhari! -By Abdullahi O. Haruna

In today’s northern Nigeria, curses are heaped on president Muhammadu Buhari by those who see things from the peripheral, to them, the misfortune particularly on the recent insecurity scare in the region happened because Buhari allowed it to happen. To them, he sits in Aso Rock while his people are slaughtered and abducted by criminal elements. Truly, you won’t blame these people, for, in times of terror, citizens naturally look up to their leaders for succour, this is what is missing in this whole quagmire.

What has the government of Muhammadu Buhari done to address these choking security concerns? Is the security formation under him failed and the state helpless in the face of this constricted reality where citizens are abducted by criminal elements and nothing done to rescue them? Has the administration starved the security industry of the needed support, funds and logistics required to secure the nation? These questions when properly answered can give us a critical understanding of what we are faced with, away from the curses of ‘Allah ya Isa’ that fly around.

Available records show that no government has spent more on security architecture than Buhari’s government and no government has motivated security personnel than Buhari, the only thing he hasn’t done perhaps is to carry guns and lead the onslaught against criminal elements. Tragically, he may be the first casualty, especially with the reality that some security personnel are deadly engrossed in abetting and aiding crimes in Nigeria.

Few days ago, some bandits were nabbed in Zamfara by the locals, while the people gloried in this burst, some security guys came in rescue of the bad guys. Guess what? The people resisted the overture and instead melted the punishment the bandits deserves. If the security guys had whisked them away, chances are that, they will be released after passing through judicial pampering because our laws are so weak to punish perpetrators of violent crimes. So, the people choose the Kogi option, an instant verdict!

In the same Zamfara, two emirs have been deposed for providing tacit legitimacy for bandits. How can Buhari succeeds when emirs sustained by government monies are neck-deep in aiding crime and sabotaging efforts to rid the land of infested maladies?

A few is making the round of an army lance corporal caught giving tactical drills to boko haram, story has it that he is one of the best in military drills, instead of using his expertise for the state, he is empowering the terrorist groups. Tragically, he is not alone in this act, a lot others are enmeshed in these treacheries. And these are people trained and sustained by the state.

Yet, some people are cursing Buhari that he has failed. How can you succeed when the people tasked to do the work are the ones sabotaging the efforts? Until we really look at ourselves as a people and choose to do what is right, we shall continue to curse our leaders while things continue to go worse and the leaders we curse keep progressing because our curses on them are misplaced.

In Kogi state, the government and the people are intricately united in the business of flushing our criminal elements. They have no dialogue table for criminals, unlike other states where criminals are arrested and given television audience- certainly not in Kogi. There, those who assume the belligerence actorship are treated with the gloves of coercive forces. No wonder crime in that state is minimal, they hardly play politics with security issues. Except in few realities, you rarely hear of kidnappers keeping their abductees more than a day, the people, motivated by the government are battle ready to flush criminal elements out. This isn’t happening in other states.

Crimes persist largely because of insider collaborations, until conscience defines our stakes we shall continue to curse our leaders while the bad guys continue to have field days. Let our anger be directed at those ugly officials who divert resources meant to fight crimes into personal use, let our fatwa be directed at the criminal elements who pick up people and hoard them in captivity. Let those who collaborate with criminal elements to make life unbearable for Nigerians be burnt in the furnace of azaba.

The end to the reign of the criminal elements is here and the land shall be free.
Frankly musing