Dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
His Excelency, Sir
Over 30 million Almajiri roam Northern Nigeria...boys and girls deliberately denied of education, protection, and opportunity. This is not just a religious or cultural crisis; it is the deep reservoir from which terrorism continues to draw strength.
Even if Sambisa Forest is levelled today, by tomorrow another battalion of indoctrinated youths will emerge, armed with dangerous ideology and convinced by extremist clerics that martyrdom is their pathway to honour.
Sir, remember one of your major opposition supported the killing of a lady named Deborah over unverified allegation of blasphemy. That is how cheap human life is with indoctrinated illiterates.
You cannot bomb poverty. You cannot shoot illiteracy. You cannot arrest decades of religious manipulation with rifles.
A culturally and religiously backed banditry machine cannot be defeated by guns alone. It is almost 2 decades since we've been fighting banditry and teorrism. Until the political actors who weaponised ignorance and poverty are held accountable, and until the youths are deradicalised, re-educated, and economically empowered, the cycle will continue...no matter the billions we spend.
Is State Police the Answer?
Not yet.
Creating state police in the current climate is like lighting a match in a room soaked with adulterated petrol. On one side are heavily armed bandits.
On the other are angry, unemployed youths who may be hastily recruited and given uniforms, power, and the freedom to settle old ethnic or political scores. (even this writer will fight anybody who calls Lagos a no man's land), so please, don't give me a gun!
A policeman posted from Maiduguri to Lagos cannot immediately understand the crime culture of Mushin, Ketu, Ikorodu, Surulere, Ajangbadi, Ọkọ̀ta or Agege.
This lack of local intelligence fuels the dangerous romance between police and criminals...a trend worst observed in Lagos and Ogun. Almost all the policemen in Lagos and Ogun State are cultists.
Nigeria’s over-centralised policing system no longer fits our complex, multi-ethnic reality, yet decentralisation without preparation will undoubtedly throw us into anarchy.
What Then Should We Do?
We must redesign Nigeria, not patch it.
The next two years MUST be devoted to a sober, inclusive national dialogue not the cosmetic conferences of the past orginzed by Obj and GEJ, to decide whether:
We return to a regional system,
or we design a uniquely Nigerian model of federalism that reflects our diversity, security challenges, and aspirations, instead of this copy and paste brand of democracy that is taking us to where we don't know.
The calls for restructuring are now deafening. The cracks in our union are widening. Internal sabotage has become normal...the kind that led to the tragic death of Brigadier Uba. The kind that inspires desperate pleas for foreign military intervention, even if Nigeria burns.
If an Arewa Region emerges tomorrow, the Northern elite and the talakawa alike would have no choice but to confront terrorism or be consumed by it.
If a Biafra Region is granted constitutional self-governance within a restructured Nigeria, the agitation that makes them see Nigeria as a “zoo” would evaporate; the Ibos would finally build the Eldorado they envision. They'll defend their territory against fulani invasion.
The Middle Belt and minority groups would, for once, choose their destiny...not be annexed by the political greed of others.
Aṣíwájú…Leadership Is Timing
Akanbi Ọmọ Olódó Idẹ, there is no shame in being the last president of the old Nigeria, if you will be the first architect of a new one.
You once said: “The quality of a leader is the ability to do what ought to be done, at the time it should be done.”
That time is now:
But the task before us is not to divide Nigeria, it is to restructure Nigeria before it collapses under the weight of its contradictions and internal sabotage.
Let the regions breathe.
Let justice be local.
Let security be community-rooted and intelligence-driven.
Let every nationality build according to its values, strengths, and vision.
If we must preserve this union, we must rebuild it. If we must prevent chaos, we must reform deliberately. If we must secure the future, we must let the people shape it.
Nigeria does not need to be broken...it needs to be REBORN.
Source: Olasunkanmi Shobowale
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