DIALOGUE NOT PROTEST: A PASSIONATE APPEAL FOR MORE RESTRAINT  AND CAUTION TO ALL NIGERIANS

Arising from the recent calls and counter-calls for protest in Nigeria, occasioned by food insecurity, inflation, abject poverty and escalating national security challenges, it becomes very worrying and requires immediate attention.

 Therefore, JNI under the leadership of His

Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, with all sense of responsibility appeals to the protest conveners, their covert and overt benefactors, as well as other critical

stakeholders and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to urgently engage in critical and realistic dialogue before the situation degenerate or snowballs into an uncontrollable scenario.

Nigerians no doubt are passing through difficult challenges, but protest might not be the panacea.

The global landscape is replete with sordid tales of repercussion of protests in Libya, Syria, Iraq, US (Capitol Hill), Ukraine, Tunisia, Sudan, Russia, among others did not yield desired results, rather they rendered most of these countries either ungovernable or partly destroyed.

A glance through the events in Kenya give some glimpses of what might envelop our dear nation Nigeria, which is struggling to survive the multiple challenges that dot the landscape of the country! Undoubtedly, protest in Nigeria could mar our efforts at addressing these challenges.

 Be that as it may, we should learn from the bad experiences of protests in other climes and we should avoid the bobby traps they had fallen into, in their bids to achieve good governance against the notion that protest is the only way out, because that is the language government is said to understand.

Thus, the Sultan of Sokoto, implores all Nigerians to be introspective and be honest on the matter.

The discontentment and disillusionment being expressed are real and needs to be tackled head-on by the government. Therefore, the JNI is compelled to make this clarion call and passionate plea to all concerned parties.

We have stated times without number in our previous press releases, that food security is synonymous with home security, as enunciated in the Glorious Qur’an 106:4.

The FGN should make more frantic efforts to secure the country, such that the citizens would have access to their lands and cultivate them; provide subsidized farming materials, promote industrialization, create self-sustaining agro-business in the six-geopolitical zones.

 The government should also enhance quality education, especially primary, technical and vocational education.

The Qur’anic guidance in trying moments remains thus “when the suffering reached them from us, why then did they not learn humility?” Qur’an 6:43. Hence, sober reflection, sincere humility and continued prayer to Allah, the ever merciful is the antidote to the quagmire. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said “supplication is a weapon of the believer and the light of the heavens and the earth”. Let’s therefore be in continued prayers for Allah’s apt intervention.

In this time of challenge, we pray for guidance, protection, good health, and peace for all leaders, and for tranquility to prevail in Nigeria. May Allah, the Most High, also provide the quickest relief to all problems bedeviling the Nigerian state. Amin.

Prof. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu

Secretary-General, JNI