There is a growing power vacuum in Nigeria

agbalumo
agbalumo
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

At the moment, there is a growing power vacuum in Nigeria. The civil war is how Nigeria transitioned into the modern world. The inheritors of the power vacuum left by the old guard at the time were army generals and civilians who helped win the war, today, those army generals are either dead, dying or in semi-retirement, namely; Segun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Theo Danjuma, Muha Buhari, Abdul Abubakr, to name a few, the direction the nation took after the civil war can either be directly or indirectly linked to decisions made by these men, as they approach the latter years of their lives, they interfere less in the daily running of the country’s affairs, this is where the power vacuum comes in; someone or another batch of politicians, technocrats (we pray and hope), army generals must take their place to determine the nation’s destiny. This is the root cause of the various agitations that have come to plague the country in recent years and the main reason why the 2015 election was a do or die affair for certain sections of the country; we are about to witness another shift in political power, one that will be filled with all kinds of actions and intrigues.

Some of the Nigerian Power Elite L-R Alhaji Shehu Shagari (behind the man standing), Ib Babangida, Earnest Shonekan & Segun Obasanjo

Will the Union be preserved? Will the Northern oligarchy remain dominant? Will the polity be fiscally restructured? Are we looking at another civil war? Will the role of our traditional institutions accept reforms and evolve from the age old practice of human right abuses and centralization of political power? The answer to these questions rests with us, we must begin as a nation to take our politics more seriously and deal “godfatherism” a final blow, demand accountability on all levels of government, shun corrupt practices and for once look beyond ethnic divisions and celebrate the diversity of our nation by embracing the Nigerian identity. We must as a nation treat one another with respect and dignity, we must embrace meritocracy, reign in on religious dogmatism and reform the parts of our traditional institutions that clash with democracy.

Time has presented us with a golden opportunity and we must take it or face another generation of poverty, corruption and maladministration.

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agbalumo

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