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A member of the Lincolns’ Inn, London, Daniel Bwala, has stated that the biggest determinant of President Muhammadu Buhari’s success or otherwise in the 2019 election, will be how he is able to handle the crisis in Benue state. Bwala explained that the president’s ability to resolve the issues which according to him are gradually becoming acts of terrorism, will determine whether or not he will win; as the same was the fate of former President Good luck Jonathan in the 2015 election. He said this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday. Speaking further, he criticised the fact that the president merely invited leaders of affected community rather than visiting the communities for a first-hand assessment. “It is important for a leader to rise to occasion, make a bold statement, visit the place. He cannot be everywhere but the President ought to have gone to Benue and made a statement. It is not just enough to invite people from those communities without making a statement.”
Also reacting to the 14-day ultimatum given by the Senate on Tuesday to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, to investigate and arrest the perpetrators of the Benue attacks, the lawyer explained that while the Senate acted within the purview of the law, they however, did not act in the way they ought to have acted especially in comparison to past Senates. According to him in the past, the Senate would have rather created a fact finding mission that will be dispatched immediately to the communities affected so that they can get the first hand information that will allow them make more informed decisions. “Nigeria should brace up. There is a deeper problem that we expect. This herdsmen and farmers crisis is not to be taken lightly. “Anybody who takes the life of an individual is a terrorist within the Terrorism Prevention Act. That says a group of people or a person that terrorizes a community, that forces that hand of the government to act in an order that is not consistent with government operations, it is a terrorist activity. “But before we determine who is right and who is wrong, the government does not have an excuse in protecting the life of citizens,” he added. Also addressing the issue, Political Analyst Kayode Ogundamisi said: “This president was elected first, based on his promise to fight corruption but also because of his antecedents of being able to deal with insurgence.” On the issue of the herdsmen and farmers clashes, he accused President Buhari of being reluctant to tell Nigerians what he is doing to save them from the “murderous lot”.
Also for the Senate, he said: “It’s easy for the Senate to just issue an ultimatum but they should ask themselves why can’t the senate just donate a part of their allowances to some of those in crisis. Ogundamisi, however, stressed the need for the government to take a more holistic approach to the issues. On the issue of restructuring, Bwala, in response to comments by a former Governor of Osun state, Chief Bisi Akande that Nigeria should adopt a multi-party/ parliamentary system of government, said that would not resolve the nation’s problems. “Chief Bisi Akande is wrong because of the following reasons. (1) There are countries in this world that operate a system of government that is very similar to ours and they do not have the kind of problems that we do have. “Secondly, the reason that we have this kind of problem in the dimension we are seeing in the country is accountable to two things. Number 1 is corruption, which has pervaded our national life and the second is weak institutions. “Even those who argue for restructuring and devolution of power, have failed to also look critically into some of the problems that we will still have as a nation when we restructure if the institutions are not strengthened to fight corruption in the way we are expected to fight,” he stated.
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