"Nigeria On Fire" - By Former Defence Minister, TY Danjuma

Former minister of defense, General T.Y Danjuma yesterday at the birthday celebration of the editor-in-chief of Leadership newspaper , Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, made the following statement about the state of security in Nigeria. Peep the exerpt:

I am an optimist as far as Nigeria is concerned…but in the last two months, I began to wonder, our house is on fire. Nigeria is becoming Somalia. The Somalisation of our country is going on now. Let’s look at ourselves in the face and tell ourselves the truth and find solution to the problem. We have to sit down and tell ourselves the truth. The responsibility is on us the northerners: our house is on fire, let us not deceive ourselves. The security situation is tolling on us. Borno State is today a failed state, Jigawa state is almost a failed state and Kano is moving towards becoming a failed state.” COntinue after the jump

Former minister of De-fence in the Obasanjo regime, Gen. Theo-philous Danjuma yesterday declared that Nigeria was presently on fire, warning that except political leaders in the country take immedi-ate action, the country may become another Somalia. Danjuma also lampooned northern governors, ac-cusing them of paying lip service to the se...curity prob-lems in their domain. The former defence min-ister said he expected an ac-tive rather than passive ap-proach from the governors to the insecurity problems threatening to consume the north in particular and the entire nation in general. He spoke on a day for-mer Minister of Educa-tion, Prof Ango Abdullahi blamed successive leaders for the ills including the insecurity problem con-fronting the nation. The duo spoke at the 50th birthday anniversary celebration of the publish-er and editor in chief of the Leadership Newspa-pers group, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah which held at the International Conference Centre.Other speakers at the occasion were Yusuf Maitama Sule, Ango Ab-dulahi, Ahmed Tinubu, Ahmed Joda, Ken Nna-mani, Femi Fani Kayode and Aminu Tambuwal
 
The former defence minister who expressed worry over the chances of the country pulling through the present inse-curity crisis, declared that decisive steps must be tak-en to arrest the drift.
He said: “Each time we appear to be stum-bling as a nation, I tell myself, I keep telling myself that we shall muddle through.
 
But be-lieve me in the last few months, I have begun to wonder. Our house is on fire, Nigeria Is becoming a Somalia. “Somaliazation of our country is taking place right now. We have to sit down and get to the root of this problem. Our house is on fire.
 
Let us not deceive ourselves. Let us look at ourselves in the face and tell our-selves the truth and find solution to the problem.”Gen Danjuma also be-rated the northern gov-ernors saying that the governors have not been doing enough to resolve the problems affecting their states. According to him, most of the northern states are failing in their responsibilities to pro-tect lives of their citi-zens.
He said: “The chief security officer of each state is the governor. Where are the northern governors? Right now, Borno is a failing State, Jigawa is threatening to be a failed state, Kano too. Where are we going to? “We hear talks of multi-million naira fences around govern-ment offices. What about the citizens.
 
We have to search our minds and find solution to this problem.” Guest lecturer at the occasion and former Minister of Education, Prof Ango Abdullahi in his lecture blamed the leadership of the coun-try for the ills confront-ing the nation.He noted that most of the leaders who ruled the country since inde-pendence were either not elected or their elec-tions were questionable.
 
The former special adviser also condemned the lack of continuity in governance, a situation where every new leader wants to undo what his predecessor put in place in order to start all over again.
This, he said, has pre-vented the country from making progress.Also speaking, Mai-tama Sule, expressed the confidence that the coun-try would soon overcome the current challenges, even as he explained that the revival and restora-tion of the past glory of the African continent would start in Nigeria. “In spite of the ugly picture of happenings in the country, I still remain optimistic.
 
Everything that has a beginning has an end. By the grace of God, the ugly things that are happening around us today will one day come to an end. “The revival of the past glory of Africa will start from Nigeria and therefore we have to keep our house in or-der, we have to prepare ourselves for the task. Whatever anybody may say, Nigeria is destined to lead Africa and to also lead the black in the world. We must there-fore prepare Nigeria,” he said.
 
He, however advocated for a cultural revolution in the country, recalling that both Danjuma and General Murtala Mo-hammed set the country on the right path during its early years and gave it a sense of direction within six months.In his contribution, the former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said Nige-rians should understand the basis for the cry for devolution of power and restructuring as differ-ent from a call for seces-sion.
 
He said though he was of the opinion that Nige-ria should stay together as one entity, there is a need to discuss the terms of that unity.He also used the occa-sion to express his sup-port for the statement credited to the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, that the Boko Haram menace was the resultant effect of the dirty politics being played by the leadership of the Peoples Democrat-ic Party, PDP.

 Fani-Kayode said: “Azazi’s statement is the most explosive comment that has been made in a couple of years in this country. They are not only serious comments but, I believe, they are more than true. He said it and it is the truth. During the PDP pri-maries, a lot of party members from the North were treated in a most disrespectful manner by the party