NEGOTIATIONS, NOT WAR

The uniform may change from crisp, starched khakis, and heavy black boots,
To rumpled, flowing, and long civilian robes, and fancy loafers,
But the military mentality is unchanged.
When would Nigerians stop electing military dictators,
In civilian garb into political offices,
And expect democracy to flourish?

First, it was ex-military dictator, General Olusegun Obasanjo,
He destroyed Odi and decimated Zaki-Biam,
With forces reminiscent of the Blitzkrieg.
Crimes against the military by civilians,
Deserve police investigation and not military action.
Tell that to a military dictator in civilian camouflage, draw opprobrium!

Now comes General Muhammadu Buhari,
Whose answer to any problem is discipline,
Except that he is not disciplined.
Acting arbitrarily in his dictatorial fashion,
Discarding all accepted protocols,
He keeps raping Nigerians and the Nigerian constitution.

Unity is organic and cannot be enforced by fiat,
Or by country logo, anthem, or decree.
Forced unity is akin to forced marriages,
Where a long simmering resentment and occasional fisticuffs,
Despite serial counseling and family interventions,
Ends in divorce or death of one or both partners.

Buhari, back from London with an undisclosed sickness,
Probably life threatening or incapacitating,
Declares war on Nigerians sick of his oppressive, regressive, nepotistic, and inflationary rule.
Quenching civil agitation with Kalashnikovs and Howitzers,
Exacerbates resentment, eliminates nascent unity,
And turns pacifists into militants, and the military into irritants.

General Buhari, try negotiation and consultation.
Nigeria’s problems are not IPOB, AREWA, MEND, OODUA OR SKO.
They are the cabals surrounding you, Boko Haram and hired Fulani murderers masquerading as herdsmen.
Your misgovernance coupled with unitary rule in a disparate nation,
Constitute existentialist threats to Nigeria’s existence.
Negotiations, not war or confrontation is the answer.

Deploying Northern soldiers to kill Southerners,
And Southern soldiers to Northerners,
May forestall the inevitable conflagration.
For how long?
Nigerian problems are beyond your leadership ability.
Resign, abdicate, or truncate, your leadership.

Glad that ICC Convention is ratified.
Obeying commands did not spare Nazis at Nuremberg,
Nor will it save service chiefs,
Who massacre unarmed civilians,
Protesting maltreatment, marginalization, and murder.
Negotiate, not pontificate, war is not the solution.