This archive report was first published on 16 July 2019.
Published on July 16, 2019, Nigeria's situation is dire. The country is under siege from a combination of Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, and inter-ethnic feuds, making mass murders a daily occurrence.
President Muhammadu Buhari's pre-election pledge to make the nation safer has been rendered meaningless by the escalating violence. In a recent letter to the President, former leader Olusegun Obasanjo warned that Nigeria is tottering towards a cliff and only the President can prevent the inevitable fall.
The clashes between herders and farmers pose the greatest challenge to national survival. In the past two years, hundreds of Nigerians have died in the conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and farming communities in central Nigeria.
There is a real danger that a cycle of revenge attacks could trigger something more disastrous, akin to the 1994 Rwanda genocide. President Buhari, a northerner of the Hausa-Fulani stock, must be mindful of the ethnic implications of his actions.
Nigeria, often described as Africa's sleeping giant, has the potential to rise up again and become great. Great nations are built by bold and honest people committed to the good of the majority, not a select power elite.
As President Buhari serves out his second and final term, his focus must be on his legacy, particularly a more cohesive and peaceful Nigeria. No partisan interest should come between him and the greater good. A peaceful and successful Nigeria is good for the entire continent.
