Bola A. Akinterinwa
Political governance in Nigeria does not appear to have been rooted in historical lessons. Whenever a government comes to power, by election or by unconstitutional means, there is hardly any linkage of continuity between the immediate past government and the succeeding government. What is more interesting to note is when a military junta ousts an elected government on the basis of allegations of corruption, nepotism and poor governance, one would have expected that the military would truly come to serve as a corrective regime. Most unfortunately, they continue with the same poor governance in a new form. Consequently, Nigeria’s problems have always been faced with change and continuity, that is, change of government but continuity of bad governance. As a result, political governance has always been fraught with threats of insecurity and actual insecurity at the domestic level, and attempts to deepen the domestic situation at the international level.
Put differently, Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have no problems aiding and abetting corruption and societal indiscipline if the situation will enhance business profit. If Government that is required to protect societal discipline is condoning indiscipline, why should foreigners be expected to respect same? The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) appears to be gradually addressing corruption and societal indiscipline in a quiet and different manner. Most recently, for instance, PBAT reportedly ordered the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues to the Federation Account, an order which Keem Abdul described as a ‘seismic shift’ (The Punch, February 27, 2026, p.13). Can the direct remittance of oil and gas revenues into the Federation Account prevent the revenues from being ‘swallowed by snake’? We ask this question because in Nigeria, whenever there are cases of inferno in government buildings, it is always the accounts departments that are first gutted or only burnt? Destroying financial documents in order to cover up shady deals is an expression of societal indiscipline that has become recidivist in Nigeria. The recidivist character largely explains why insecurity is also recidivist without any good future of coming to an end.
Manifestations of Nigeria’s Societal Indiscipline
Three points are noteworthy about societal indiscipline in Nigeria. First, there is no manifestation of indiscipline that is not well known and to which attention has not been publicly drawn. Yet, it is treated with kid gloves. Secondly, societal indiscipline is consciously and freely engaged in by leading political elite. Those who are precisely required to ensure societal discipline are the first law breakers, and yet they are celebrated and given undeserved national honours. Thirdly, societal indiscipline has become the norm. People do not see it any longer as a big deal. This is why the polity is now fraught with insecurity in various ramifications.
Before the outbreak of Nigeria’s civil war, soldiers were not generally known, they were hardly seen on the roads. They were well respected. With the advent of the war, corruption was given birth to. Professor J.S. Cookey told all Nigerians two things: that the bane of the Nigerian society was corruption and indiscipline and that this bane began in 1967. This observation is contained in his 1987 Political Bureau Report submitted to the Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
In this regard, if Nigerians and their government did not know that there was a bane or corruption before 1987 when the truth was revealed, how do we explain the fact that, since 1987, Nigeria has become ‘fantastically corrupt’? Perhaps more concernedly, when General Muhammadu Buhari came to power, his regime came up with the policy of War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Nigerians stopped urinating anyhow on the roads. They began queuing up decently in public spaces, etc. As at today, what has happened to the societal discipline that was introduced under General Buhari? Why was the culture of discipline not sustained? Was the issue of societal indiscipline not in the presidential handover notes to successors?
In the National Assembly, theatrical drama is the style often adopted by public officials accused of fraudulent practices. By the time people were questioned on allegations of theft, embezzlement, etc., it is then they would slump, or suffer from cerebral thrombosis, or have uncontrollable high blood pressure. They suddenly became living deadand would not only prompt the interruption of interrogations, but also the temporary suspension, if not ad infinitum of the matter. We talk about ad infinitum because we always know the time of the rushing of people to hospital for emergency treatment but not about the continuity of the interrogation. Billions of Naira would be purportedly stolen and the accused would have the effrontery to say the money had been swallowed by a snake. This is nothing more than a mockery of the whole nation. Can a snake swallow hundreds of the Nigerian naira? Acquiescing to this is evil.
While the embezzlement by citizens is not pardonable, what do we then say about governmental aiding and abetting of embezzlement? What do we say about the Government being the real thief, the embezzler and being the pillar of societal indiscipline? Several times I have drawn attention to how the Federal Government collected financial deposits for buildings that would not be built. Recall that, in early 1994, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, who was Minister of Works and Housing under General Sani Abacha from November 1998 through March 1995, placed an advertorial in several newspapers. The adverts asked interested Nigerians to make deposits for small, medium, and higher grades of detached or semi-detached houses. The prices vary according to type of house and location. The houses were to be built in various parts of the country and allocated not later than December 1994.
Applicants were to make a deposit of 20%. A medium bungalow for which I applied was to cost N200,000 only in the FESTAC area. The deposit required was therefore N40,000. I paid this deposit believing that the Government meant well. And true enough, Alhaji Jakande meant well as he adopted the direct labour method to save costs. When he was replaced by Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa in March 1995, there was a change in situation. His successor said it was not possible to build any medium, semi-detached bungalow with only N200,000. Major-General Adisa therefore jacked the building cost up to N800,000. The cash deposit required was still 20%. I, and several others, still paid. My place of choice was FESTAC. Then came December 1994. No news. No allocation, No refund. The direct labour approach was rejected. The military non-direct labour approach had neither head nor tail. As of today. March 1, 2026, no allocation, no refund, no information. The question is what to do to a government that collects monies from the public but is not held accountable.When a government steals people’s monies, who will arrest the government? How can the Government be preaching the sermon of patriotism when the government itself is not leading by patriotic example?
The situation in Lagos is not fraudulent as it is with the Federal Government of General Sani Abacha. There was the Isheri North land and housing project started under Brigadier Buba Marwa. General Marwa had a policy of soliciting the support of media houses in identifying the location of societal problems, especially streets with serious potholes. ThisDay newspaper was then operating off Toyin Street, in Ikeja. The street on which the office of ThisDay newspaper was located was not at all roadworthy. When General Marwa came on a visit to ThisDay, he was told about the bad road. He responded very amicably: ‘consider it done.’
I also raised the issue of possible accommodation for ThisDay journalists. General Marwa advised them to apply for land allocation under the Isheri North land project. And true to his words, not less than 10 members of staff of ThisDay applied. Not only was the street on which ThisDay was located tarred, land was also duly allocated. A man of his words, Buba Marwa was and still is.
When Senator Bola Tinubu succeeded Marwa, the size of plot initially approved for allocation to people was reduced from 800m2to 700m2. Even though Governor Tinubu might have the power to do and undo, we strongly believe that his action was unfair and a breach of the covenant done by the Marwa government with the depositors. Letters were already given to allocatees to the effect of eight hundred meters square per plot of land. Land was truly allocated and letters given to the effect.However, effective acquisition and occupation of the allocated land could not take place because of flooding of the area. Government may not be faulted in this case but administrative due diligence was lacking. No information is given to allocatees on possible replacement. No refund.
The virus of ‘don’t care attitude’ is also a major dynamic of insecurity in Nigeria. If you apply for anything from Government, you need to go and lobby and bribe before you are given. You can imagine President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Monetisation Policy under which government houses were sold to occupants who had been living there for at least six months. I paid fully for my own accommodation in 2004. In 2026, the Certificate of Occupancy has not been given. Various excuses are given: it has not been signed, misplacement as a result of change of office, etc. Yet the FCT Minister is threatening confiscation, using force to cover up remissness of government. This is the Nigeria we all live in. One is threatened for being honest, punished for dint of hard patriotism. Why should anyone want me to believe in the indissolubility and indivisibility of Nigeria?
Today, there is an attempt to rebuild Nigeria under PBAT. People openly known as people of integrity, and therefore put in public position of trust are currently facing the music.Will there removal solve the problem of societal indiscipline?
Unending Corruption and Insecurity
Apparently, and probably, in an attempt to partly nip corruption in the bud, promote fiscal discipline and transparency in the management of Nigeria’s oil wealth, as well as contain wasteful spending, PBAT has ordered all operators and contractors of oil and gas assets to pay their royalty oil, tax oil, profit oil, profit gas and any other interest directly to the Federation Account. It is a truism to say that Nigeria’s oil sector operations have generally been shrouded in unnecessary secrecy. They are not devoid of corruption. Can PBAT’s order curb the corrupt attitudinal disposition of public officials? Can it curb insecurity which is more critical?
The more problematic issue is knowing that a problem exists but refusing to attend to it meaningfully. For instance, Dr Goodluck Jonathan made it clear and loud to all Nigerians that there were boko haramists in his government. If he knew this and he told Nigerians when he was in power, what is it that has been done to contain the Boko Haram terrorists in government? Who are the financiers of terror? Many countries have similarly forwarded the names of known funders. Why are they untouchable or inviolable in the mania of diplomatic agents? The essence of these questions is to show that boko haramism is well known. When the Nigerian military sets out to go and fight, their agents in government promptly inform the terrorists and they easily ambush the Nigerian military. If the enemy is not only without, but also particularly within, when will there be peace in Nigeria?
The terrorists have made it crystal clear that their objective is to neutralise Nigeria as it is. They do not want Western education even though they use Western-education-produced weapons to terrorise the world. They want to introduce Sharia law by manu militari and Nigerians are vehemently opposed to it. The killed Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has told the Government and people of Nigeria that Nigeria would never have peace until Nigeria is divided into Muslim North and Christian South. What does this mean?
It is on record that the Government of Nigeria invited the Libyan Ambassador to Nigeria for clarification. The clarification did not serve any good purpose beyond the fact that Nigeria has been fighting tooth and nail terrorism but to no avail. Nigeria is yet to have peace.Can peace ever exist in Nigeria, bearing in mind, on the one hand, that Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as amended provides for indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria, and, on the other hand, with the terrorists insisting on Sharia for Nigeria? The future of Nigeria cannot be bright with the likelihood of the Boko Haram striving harder and with the deepening of terror still taking place.
When crude oil was the mainstay of the economy, much respect was given to the Niger Delta. Today, with the discovery of oil and more strategic mineral resourcesin the North, there has been decline in the importance attached to the oil producing areas of the South. Global powers have an aerial picture of the exact location of Nigeria’s mineral resources. Consequently, they are doing whatever is possible to protect the north by fomenting trouble in order to create opportunities for relevance and intervention or by enabling an outright division of the country. This is to create a special opportunity to negotiate with the North separately in the event it is created. This may look funny at first sight.
If we recall the U.S. policy towards Angola, during the struggle for power, it will not look funny at all. The U.S. gave political support to Dr Jonas Savimbi of National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and economic support to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) of Dr Agostinho Neto. When consciously or otherwise Jonas Savimbi dropped bombs closer to the Cabinda enclave where the U.S. oil giant, Gulf, was prospecting, the Washingtonian authorities gave a very stern order to Jonas Savimbi, that under no circumstance should any bomb be dropped within 150 miles of the immediate environment of Cabinda. In this case, the U.S. was simultaneously aiding the leading two warring parties. Whoever wins could not but be a friend of the U.S. Can the idea of Professor Alaba Ogunsanwo apply in this case? He has argued that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’
True enough, the U.S. is fighting terrorists. If the terrorists fighting Nigeria opt to offeraccess to the strategic minerals in the north to the U.S. and other European powers, will they prefer to relate with the terrorists or Nigeria? International politics can be quite interesting. The Nuclear Weapons States want to remain an exclusive club and do not want new members. If one is their ally, they may not be opposed to the development of nuclear capability for peaceful uses. When one is not an ally, the argument cannot but be that of non-trust worthiness. Where is or where will Nigeria be in this type of scenario? Sooner or later, Northern Nigeria has the potential to become a battle ground for great power rivalry for mineral resources in an unprecedented manner.
Before then, it is kidnapping unrest in Ondo State of Nigeria. Government and kidnapping in Ondo state is an unfinished business. Is the Federal or Ondo state Government an agent of terror in the State? This question is raised against the background that, for reasons not well known to the public, the soldiers on the expressways have been removed and kidnappers have been having free operations at will. The soldiers that are still visible on roads are said to be there on private arrangements and contractual payments. Kidnapping is becoming a weekly occurrence in Ondo State.In fact, Owo-Akure and Akure-Ondo roads have become notorious. The question is why have the military checkpoints been removed? Who authorised the removal? Was the removal of the military check points to enable better security or to secure the arrival of the terrorists in their hiding places in the bushes? If there are legitimate reasons for their removal, what are they? Why is there a sharp increase in the number of terror kidnappings? Is it in preparation for the 2027 elections?
Last month, around Ogbese, the kidnapping and killing of people prompted the surrounding communities to block the expressway, preventing vehicular movements to and from Akure, and insisting that the expressway would not be cleared until they were spoken to by the State Governor. The Commissioner of Police reportedly went there to appeal to the communities for understanding. After that, the traditional ruler of Agamo Community, Oba Kehinde Jacob Faledon in Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State was shot deadin his palace. On March 25, 2026, it was the turn of the Celestial Church of Christ in Uso, in Owo Local Government Area to be attacked.Six people were kidnapped. One informant was arrested. As reported by ThisDayLive.com, 286 people have been arrested in connection with the Uso church abduction. Additionally, the Police has advised that religious leaders should suspend vigil in Ondo.
In all these cases, where is Amotekun? Is Amotekun no longer relevant? What is the official security vote used for? Why secrecy about security vote? Government security vote that is made secret is nothing more than aiding and abetting theft and corruption. Nothing should be kept secret about how much money is allocated and spent on maintaining peace and order. The pattern of expenditure can be made secret but the secrecy must not obstruct accountability. Imagine the case of the son of the immediate past Inspector General Police. The money of a state government was diverted into the account of the son of the IGP. Reportedly, efforts were made to sanction and suppress the informant. At the end of the day, the oppressed police officer ended up being appointed the IGP under the administration of PBAT.
It is against this background that the future of societal indiscipline should be addressed under PBAT. Fighting societal indiscipline must begin with the respect for rule of law by the elite and senior citizens to show leadership by example. Encouraging election rigging and asking complainants to go to court must stop. All election disputes taken to courts must first be resolved before inauguration of presumed winners. PBAT must address political chicanery, corruption, and indiscipline. Return to respect for the elderly in the society has become a desideratum. Government’s disregard for court orders is an act of indiscipline and should be stopped forthwith. PBAT should promote his foreign policy of strategic autonomy more seriously because the current world is increasingly becoming that of unfairness and injustice. It is a world of deepening nuclearisation by the Nuclear Weapons States and their allies, while using force to prevent other aspiring states from acquiring nuclear capability. Nigeria must, therefore, be strategically autonomous. No country in the world, including the P-5 of the UNSC, should be allowed the monopoly of self-protection or self-defence and have a peculiar aggressive mania of self-defence. Right of self-defence must remain a universal right. PBAT can make the civil and public service more efficient and effective by instructing that they must respond to public enquiries and complaints within 14 working days. By so doing, restoration of trust in and support for, Government can be taken for granted.
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