Nigeria wobbly, fumbling under President Buhari – Ozekhome

Human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, says Nigeria has become a failed state due to the governance style of President Muhammadu Buhari since he was elected in 2015.

The senior lawyer who spoke at a lecture organized by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, with the theme: Nigerian School Children; Insecurity and Human Rights, held in Abuja, pointed out that many children can no longer go to school, adding that more than seventy percent school children in Nigeria are out of schools.

He went on to say that Nigeria is currently a failed state and cannot even be called a country anymore, explaining that non-state actors such as Boko Haram, bandits and other terrorists now possess enough powers to challenge the government.

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According to him, from Jangebe to Chibok; from Dapchi to Kaduna between December 2020 till date, over 700 hundred school children have been kidnapped with some of them being killed or forced into marriage.

“Policies that have impoverished Nigeria. Policies that have made Nigeria the poverty capital of the world, overtaking India. Policies that have made Nigeria that was until 2015 the biggest economy in Africa overtaking South Africa and one of the seven fastest growing economies in the world.

“Boko Haram has since graduated, strutting around like a proud peacock. Armed banditry has escalated, kidnapping is the order of the day. In security, he has failed.

“In economy, I have already told you, we’re now the poverty capital of the world. What of anti-corruption? Go and check, we’re 168 out of 180 covered by Transparency International.

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“In West Africa, we’re the 3rd most corrupt country. So where has the President and the government helped Nigeria? I had on television and in my write-up challenged Nigerians that anyone who can carry the Holy Quran or take up the Holy Bible or if you’re an atheist, pick up a piece of Sango Iron and say your life is better off today than you were in 2015.

“So it’s not a question of whether you are in APC, PDP, APGA, Labour, Zenith or PPA. Hunger knows no strike, religion or nationality. The fact is that things are bad for everyone whether Muslims or Christian, atheists, old men, women, youth and children.

“We don’t need any other evidence of a failed state. It’s not about liking or not liking a government, it’s about saying the reality on the ground. Please Nigerians, let’s go back to the drawing board. If you like, bring all the helicopters and fighter jets you can, the truth is that the problem is more endemic than you can see.

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