On Democracy Day, 28 May,
Osinbajo spoke out against those
stoking ethnic divisionsSUNDAY AGHAEZE/PGDBA & HND MASS COMMUNICATIONsouth-east Nigeria to leave that region
withinthesametimeframe.Hesuggest-
ed that he was responding to the protest
campaign by the Indigenous People of
Biafra, which organised ‘stay at home’
protests in the south-east to mark the
anniversary of Biafra’s declaration of
independence.
Suleimanhasratchetedupthetension
dangerously, just as his counterpart
in the south-east, Nnamdi Kanu, has
done. On 10 June, Kanu’s
Biafracampaignersadvised
all southerners to leave
northern Nigeria, and
some have been heeding
the call. Some Niger Delta
militants opted for direct retaliation
withanextrafinancialtwist,demanding
that all northerners should leave the
oil-producing region and should give
up all the oil blocks that they own.
These calls for ethnic cleansing are a
clear attack on the constitution, threat-
ening to unpick the federation. But the
government’s failure to arrest any of
the purveyors of hate speech – either
in the north or the south – raises more
questions about the coherence of the
national security services.
InformationministerLaiMohammed
quickly condemned the expulsion calls,
asdidtheemirofKatsina,Abdulmumini
Kabir Usman. Kaduna State governor
Nasir el-Rufai and inspector general
of police Ibrahim Idris ordered the
police commissioner in Kaduna to
arrest the Arewa youths, but there was
no immediate response.It took the department of state
security almost two weeks to state
publicly that the ethnic cleansing plan
was criminal and a threat to national
security. Such laggardly reactions have
fuelled suspicions that some pow-
erful interests are behind the wave
of inflammatory statements, trying
to undermine the government while
Osinbajo is in charge. If that is correct,
it is still unclear what those powerfulinterests want: to keep the seat warm
for President Buhari’s return or to
promote the interests of a different
candidate in the 2019 elections.
Whichever is the case, Jibrin Ibrahim,
aveteran politicalanalystand chairman
of thePremium Timeseditorial board,
argues the present national problems
arelesslife-threateningthanthoseinthe
1960s. But political reform with vision is
required urgently, writes Ibrahim: “The
central problem that has been generat-
ing the rise of ethno-regional tensions
and conflicts has been the supplanting
of Nigeria’s federal tradition by a virtual
Jacobinunitarystatethatemergedunder
a long period of military rule.”
Already, there are plenty of political
contenders eyeing the 2019 elections
and making promises about restruc-
turing the federation (see box). But
credible plans about how to reform the
system and satisfy competing regional
demands are in much shorter supply.
Patrick SmithSlow reactions fuel suspicions
of powerful interests behind
the wave of hate speechPOLITICS 41