A former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.-Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd), has told President Muhammadu Buhari, that the country might cease to exist soon if the president failed to restructure the country with the way things are going.
The retired Army chief advised the president to allow the restructuring of Nigeria now otherwise there may soon be no country.
Gen. Akinrinade reportedly the issued the warning, on Monday evening, at a dinner, in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State capital, in honour of the visiting Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
Gen. Akinrinade said he was disturbed at the pervasive image of the president as an ethnic bigot asked him to address the structural problems of the country because no nation could survive two civil wars.
He was quoted as saying, “Please, grant me the indulgence to mention to him (Buhari) one or two matters that throw me into distress because of my association with him.
“The first is this pervasive belief that he is an ethnic bigot, an irredeemable religious fundamentalist, that he firmly subscribes and promotes the possibility of his ethnic Fulani to take over the country, the reason he does not interfere in curbing the brigandage of the Fulani herdsmen, that he has performed woefully in the fight against the terrorist Boko Haram and that he cannot rise to the occasion when it comes to reflecting the heterogeneous composition of our country when it comes to appointments to sensitive positions in his government.
“These are difficult matters that cannot be addressed in the abstract. The whole buck stops on his table. I cannot claim to have adequate information outside what the media and the ubiquitous social media chew out every second.
“But I know, that you and your brother service chiefs are doing your best within the resources our country can make available to you.
“Let me suggest to him that he needs to shape up, read the Riot Act to our people, enlist them in unswerving cooperation to participate fully in the redemption of their country.
“Arms and brutal force is not sufficient to defeat an insurgency.
“I am sure he is aware of the hue and cry from all corners and crannies of our country for secession as if we have not been there before.
“He needs to stand on his table against the motley crowd of advisers surrounding him and take a firm stand on the reorganisation of our country, physically, politically, economically and socially.
“What we simply term as a reorganisation in the Armed Forces is what the bloody civilians call restructuring.
“It is long overdue and over-flogged, as if it is such an impossibility, an attempt at which, will balkanise the country.
“As a matter of fact, it is what is required to move our country out of the doldrums into modernity. He cannot afford to pass it on. We may end up without a country, as no country has been known to survive two civil wars.”
Gen. Akinrinade said that situation in the country was so dire now that in collaboration with unexpected bad weather this year, a famine is imminent.
The retired Army chief continued, “We hear we are already borrowing grains from the ECOWAS countries, the immediate result of farmers being forced to abandon their farms.
“I suggest to him to read the Riot Act to the Fulani herdsmen, that it is not acceptable for any foreigner by whatever name called to enter our country illegally and molest our people.
“They are not welcome. We should not, by mistake of omission or commission, allow our people to degenerate to self-help. It is a sure road to anarchy and perdition, which will not go away,” Gen. Akinriande said.
