Stop blaming the military for our woes – Suleiman Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (rtd), former chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Russia This year is unique, because Nigeria will be 53 as an independent nation and in January 2014, it will 100 years of the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates, how do you see that? It’s a unique year because it’s a year of reflection. All of us should reflect this 100 years of Nigeria. We need to look at what has transpired. Is it the Nigeria of our dream? If not, why not? And when we know the why not, we need to look at the ways forward on how we can unravel the failings of Nigeria in order to bring a better Nigeria. Do you think the Nigeria we have now is the Nigeria of your dream? It’s probably not. If it was, I won’t be here in this conference (National Political Summit, Uyo). The Nigeria of my dream is a united Nigeria, free of injustice, free of corruption, free of all the evils bedeviling this country today -insecurity, armed-robbery, occultism, child molestation and all sorts of vices afflicting this country. And it is sad for those of us who mean well for this country.  What do you think is the cause of these problems? If you look at the Bible, it says, when we veer away from the ways of the Lord, things will go bad. In Nigeria, it seems everybody has veered away from the ways of the Lord. Go into the Bible, anytime the children of Israel veers away from the ways of the Lord, such bad things come upon them. When they cry to God and fully repent from their evil ways, God will heal their wounds. Nigeria needs that spirit of repentance, Firstly, we must acknowledge our failings. That’s the essence of repentance. We must acknowledge that we have done wrong, that we have not followed the path of God. When we acknowledge these failings and accept our individual faults in not contributing to Nigeria and what Nigeria ought to be, we can recover. In our younger days, we don’t know about these things- murders, killings, kidnappings, child molestations, they didn’t exist in our younger days, but now they exist. You are now afraid for your children, afraid for the future of your children. It’s a very sad situation which must be addressed.  (cuts-in) In what way. Through the first military coup? Air Commodore Dan Suleiman How do you mean? That the coup destroyed the foundation of Nigeria’s democracy Does it mean that democracy is the answer to our many problems? If so, why are we having these ills today? Are we having a military regime now? Are we having military governance? But yet, we are still having these ills. So, it will be wrong to put the blames only on the military. The people who are looking for scape goats are putting the blames only on the military. The military did their b est. Most of the infrastructures standing in this country today were put in place during the military days. What the government of today should do is to improve on them. The military has done its best in setting the landmark on a large scale. So, let the present leaders improve on them. It’s easier to blame your predecessors, but do your own let others see. Some have said that the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorate was a mistake. What’s your take on that? Why? People say it has brought no peace in the country… that they should have allowed the North, East and West to be independent countries; that there’s no bond and commonness among them (cuts-in) Yet we have been one Nigeria for 100 years. If we have not been in oneness, then, how have we survived this 100 years? The fact that we survived for 100 years as a nation called Nigeria means that there’s some common bond. All we have to do is to re-energize that bond that has kept us together for 100 years, to make it better, not to destroy the little that is working. In your view, what do you think we should do to cement Nigeria’s unity? To cement Nigeria’s unity, first, what we are doing today (National Political Summit, Uyo) is a step in the right direction. Negativity of issues This conference today will be able to bring out a programme that will help bring out a Sovereign National Conference for Nigeria, where Nigerians from all sectors of life can come out to work out how we should live together. If we are saying that the amalgamation was a mistake, then, only a conference can spot out these mistakes and correct it, so as to produce a Nigeria that will favour all of us. What is your message to Nigerians at 53? Nigerians should not only look at the negativities of issues. Let’s find common grounds for things that we can develop to make this country great. All the elements that can make Nigeria great are there in this country. Why are we not exploiting it? It’s because, we are not working as one people. So, I think Nigerians should work towards a nation where everyone will have a sense of belonging. If we work as a nation like America, which has so many nationalities than Nigeria, yet everybody is proud to be an American, we will make it. America is progressing because they have common bonds and it’s the number one nation in the world. So, our number should be our source of strength and not reason for our breaking-up.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 07:30:06 +0000
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