VIEW FROM THE GALLERY BY MAHMUD JEGA
In the very weekend in which the insecurity situation in the country was further magnified by the death in bandits’ custody of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar, a top security official made a jarring attempt to pass the buck to God. Minister of State for Defence Mohammed Bello Mutawalle was quoted as having said in a BBC Hausa radio interview that “only God can ultimately bring an end to Nigeria’s insecurity challenges.” It is good that he added the word “ultimately.” Ultimately, the final solution to all matters rests with the Almighty, but before that, there are many things that people should do for themselves, beginning with those vested with the authority and the resources to take care of human problems.
This is not the first time that a Nigerian buck appeared to be passed to God. In 1980, when President Shehu Shagari nominated the eminent statesman Alhaji Isa Kaita to be chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, he appeared before a Senate committee for screening. A senator asked the elder statesman what was the solution to pervasive corruption in Nigeria, and he answered that “only God can solve the problem of corruption in Nigeria.” Although the newspapers grabbed that statement and made it look like that was the only thing he said, in truth, Alhaji Isa Kaita did not assign all responsibility to God. After all, he was a prominent member of the generation of political leaders that believed first and foremost in the force of personal example, in well-crafted systems, in meticulous selection of persons for appointment to all positions, in forceful enforcement of rules and regulations, in active supervision of subordinates’ work, and in meting out severe punishment for infractions.
