*Says Nigeria Has Democratized Nihilism And Death
*Says There Are Multiple IPOBs in Nigeria
*Says Buhari Has Chosen Some Separatisms As Tolerable And Others Beyond The Pale
*Says AGF Malami Acts As Senior Advocate of Bandits Rather Than Senior Advocate of Nigeria
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TheNigerialawyer-WhatsApp-Channel1.jpg")
The former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has expressed concern that Nigeria is retrogressing economy-wise.
Odinkalu, during an interview with Arise TV monitored by TheNigeriaLawyer, said Nigeria ranks 44 Out of 55 countries in Africa and 13 out of 15 in West Africa in terms of economic growth contrary to the former position of top two in Africa seven years ago
“I like to think that if you give Nigerian citizens choice, nobody would want to be where we are now, which is basically democratization of nihilism and democratization of death.
“No Nigerian would want to be here north to South, East, West, South, South, north-central. Nobody wants to be here. And it seems to be the bigger choice is where do our leaders or rulers, however, you want to describe them, want to take the country? Do they want to take us down the path of division, or do they want to take us up the path of the prosperity of a different kind of country? I don’t know if you look at the ranking of African countries by economic growth, Nigeria is number 44.
“44 out of 54. And basically the last time Ethiopia is no longer ranked because the war has tanked the economy. If you added Ethiopia, that’s 44 out of 55. That is a terrible place to be in. When you understand that seven, eight years ago, Nigeria was actually in the top two of economic growth in West Africa. We are about 13 out of 15 countries on the continent, but it’s actually not the economic numbers. It’s the intangibles that hold people together where we are bleeding everything.
“The economy of the Northwest is destroyed, the economy of the Southeast is destroyed, the economy of the Middle Belt is destroyed and the economy of the north does not exist. So where do you have the outputs of productivity that can fire up an economy? And that really is what the challenge is here. You look at the Southeast. Everybody is supposed to be in sit-at-home mode. Last week you had Tuesday. Tuesday was the Eid public holiday. Wednesday was 1000 2000 and anniversary sit at home.
“Thursday was Nnamdi Kanu’s trial. You sit at home and then Friday is there. You’re in weekend mode. Where is the productivity? Where are people going to find food to eat?” Odinkalu said.
The former NHRC boss further opined that there are more than one separatism in the South East. According to him, there are many variants of IPOB, and IPOB has been commercialized.
He however expressed concern that President Buhari has chosen some separatisms as tolerable while others as beyond the pale. He also accused the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, of acting as Senior Advocate of Bandits rather than Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
He said, “My sense is, first of all, the IPOB command and control structure, if it existed, is broken down. So there isn’t one IPOB. There are multiple IPOBs.
“And you’ve got political IPOBs in Anambra state, for instance. I think one of the challenges with the election is knowing which IPOB you’re talking about. There are political IPOBs owned by partisan political actors in the elections in the Anambra state, you’ve got the cults of Anambra Central who are also a fraction of IPOB. You have got cults that are from outside the state. And so you’ve got a set of cults that are from somewhere in Ebonyi state and parts of Abia state as part of the political IPOB in Anambra state, for instance.
“And then you’ve got the Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB and all of them are competing for space. And there is a bit of commercial dimension to this because people are making money off of this stuff and there are other benefits that could accrue, including who gets to be declared in the Anambra state election. So it’s totally messed up. That’s the truth. But the reality is also that there is incapacity of leadership both from the federal level and from the political elites of the South East. And I think we’ve got to admit that part of the challenge is the complete dissoluteness of the political elites of the Southeast.
“There isn’t one separatism in the South East. In Nigeria, there are separatisms. I think the challenge a fundamental part of the challenge, in my view, I’m always entitled to be wrong is that President Buhari, sadly aided and abetted by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has chosen some separatisms as tolerable and other separatisms as beyond the pale. If you remember, Boko Haram declared a caliphate that separatism. The bandits are not exactly seeking to assert the unity of Nigeria or the supremacy of Nigerian sovereignty.
“That’s in the Southwest in the Northwest. Now the people called Killer Herdsmen who have been active in parts of the Northwest and the Middle Belt, occasioning a lot of destruction and killings are not exactly models of argumentation for unity either. And they, by the way, a elites of parts of Northern Nigeria have argued that there are actually a bunch of outlaws and antidiluvians who are beyond sovereignty and should be accommodated as not part of our civilization. That’s separatism. You’ve got the Yoruba Separatist Movement, that’s separatism, and you’ve got, by the way, the Pirates in the Nigerian littoral in the South South have been arguing a case for separatism since at least a dakaburo.
“And now add to that IPOB. Now, what is the challenge here? How do you deal with all these separatisms? You either deal with them as separatisms, or you negotiate with all of them. What happened today? You hear Sheikh Gumi saying that if the bandits are proscribed as terrorist groups, Nigeria will not know sleep. That is the problem. You’ve got the Attorney-General of the Federation acting as a ‘Senior Advocate of Bandits’ rather than Senior Advocate of Nigeria. That is the problem.”
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