The signs emerging from Nigeria’s seat of power is not so sweet given the escalating incidents of corruption with the recent bugling of the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, located in Aso-rock, Abuja of all places.
Another worrisome development that shocked the nation was the disclosure that the alleged son-in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari,Gimba Kumo was wanted by the Independent Corruption Prosecution Commission (ICPC) as part of an investigation into an alleged $65 million property fraud by the anti-corruption agency.
According to reports Kumo in 2016 married Buhari’s daughter Fatima and was the managing director of a Nigerian mortgage bank.
Also, Nigerians were recently shocked by the suspension of Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, to allow for investigation into allegations of fraud against her.
Ms Bala-Usman, an ally of powerful Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, played a huge part in #BringBackOurGirls campaign used to oust former President Goodluck Jonathan from power. She was appointed as the NPA MD in 2016.Her tenure was renewed for another five years in January this year.
For some political analysts the above are clear signs that the Buhari administration has started imploding from the inside. Especially ,as the suspension of Ms Bala-Usman has led to a sort of social media war between her camp and the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amachi who suspended her.
Already, there are various unsubstantiated corruption allegations on social media against the Minister and his wife which are currently entertaining social media users.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg news agency, when Muhammadu Buhari came to power in Nigeria in 2015, he pledged to end the insecurity that plagued the country’s northeast as a result of a jihadist rebellion by Boko Haram. As well plug the corruption holes.
Six years later, corruption and insurgency is still going on and rampant criminality also made large parts of the northwest too dangerous to travel. In the southeast, where the Biafran civil war was fought from 1967 to 1970, new unrest may be brewing.
Even as the fight between Odua Peoples Congress(OPC) ,Sunday Ogbohu group and Fulani herdsmen are not abating in the Southwest parts of the country. And has led to campaigns for Odua Republic.
As the report Bloomberg report posited, Africa’s most populous nation is in turmoil and Buhari’s government is ill-equipped to deal with it. Years of economic malaise and security forces that do little to enforce the law have driven up crime rates, leaving many of Nigeria’s 200 million citizens vulnerable.
With unemployment at 33% and with high inflation, “there are very few legitimate economic opportunities, people are going to turn to crime,” said Adedayo Ademuwagun, a Lagos-based analyst at political risk firm Songhai Advisory. The role of security forces in Nigeria “is mainly to ensure that the political regime is protected,” he said.
Buhari doesn’t seem to have the answers.
Just this year, some 700 students have been kidnapped for ransom in the northwest. Jihadist attacks continue in the northeast, herders and pastoralists are clashing in the central belt and the waters of the Gulf of Guinea are among the world’s most dangerous because of piracy. Even parts of the oil-rich southwest are restless.
While the poor economic conditions and deteriorating insecurity are intertwined, the president may find that the financial well-being of his country is dependent on the safety of his citizens.
