Nothing short of immediate action by President Bola Tinubu to halt the parlous security situation in the country and the bad behaviour of anti-democratic forces will steady the current tempest threatening to sink the ship on which the Nigerian nation is sailing.

This was the conclusion of Chekwas Okorie, founder and first National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in an open letter he fired to the President on Thursday, specifying the dangers ahead of the nation.

Warning of a brewing anarchy in the country, Okorie, himself a once presidential candidate, cited the serious security breaches by criminals wasting the lives of innocent Nigerians alongside the tensions created by political actors who had severally unleashed mayhem to stifle the voices of opposition in the country.

Writing under the banner of Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD), the septuagenarian, bemoaned what he described as the deplorable and unprecedented security situation in Nigeria which had led to unenviable international attention.

Advertisement

Okorie, who specifically acknowledged  the sacrifices being made by Nigeria’s security agencies to contain the situation, also praised Tinubu’s “bold effort” to push the inevitable state police initiative as worthy of commendation and support by the public.

Regardless, he said the President must do more and urgently too as the Chief Security Officer of the country, especially with Nigeria going into the 2027 election year in a matter of months particularly with the noticeable flashpoints already being witnessed in parts of the country.

Hear him: “The desperate actions and inflammatory rhetoric of political actors in the build-up to the forthcoming general elections have the dangerous tendency to trigger widespread anarchy that may overwhelm the fragile capacity of Nigeria’s security agencies that have been stretched to its limits already.

“The recent attack on Mr. Peter Obi and his associates in Edo State and the subsequent attack on Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi in Rivers State are a few of the provocative and unprovoked attacks that could snowball to spiral reprisal actions.

“Discerning Nigerians are waiting to hear quality proposals by politicians and their political parties especially the ruling party about what they intend to do differently to alleviate the plight of the citizens if given the opportunity to serve in the offices of their aspiration after 2027 elections. Unfortunately what we hear are threats, acerbic tantrum and arrogant claims about how the forthcoming elections have been won and lost.

Advertisement

“Your Excellency, you have a responsibility to assure Nigerians that the 2027 elections will be fair, credible and transparent. You have a responsibility to rein in some of your overzealous aides and appointees to moderate their rhetoric and provocations.

“The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, enjoys obvious incumbency advantages from the Party’s control of the National Assembly to the overwhelming majority of the state and local government structures in the country.

“The ruling party ought to concentrate its efforts on the strategy and issue-based campaigns to translate the advantages it currently enjoys into electoral victory in a free and fair election. The antics of some prominent leaders of the ruling party smacks of panic and lack of confidence.

“Your Excellency, I venture to make a few recommendations that you may consider to ensure that Nigeria will go through the processes of the 2027 general election and come out of it in one piece.

1. You have the power under the Nigerian Constitution to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his fellow prisoners of conscience without further delay. This will calm frayed nerves and reduce tension not only in the Southeast geopolitical zone but among Igbo people who are widely spread in Nigeria and abroad. Exercise this special presidential prerogative. It is auspicious and expedient at this time.
2. Direct the APC, the Presidency and its numerous state and local governments to set the tone for issue-based campaigns.
3. Incessant arrest and detention of high-profile political leaders especially leaders of the opposition political parties which may suggest deliberate clampdown to put them out of circulation at this time should be avoided.
4. The federal government and the relevant agencies in collaboration with civil society and prodemocracy organisations must make deliberate efforts to ensure large citizen participation in the 2027 elections.

“The appalling twenty percent turnout in our general elections speaks to the illegitimacy of the outcomes. Nobody who is a product of such outcome should beat his chest and say that the people have spoken through the ballot box.”

Advertisement

Succour has come to students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), following the decision of the management to shelve implementation of the newly introduced ₦580,000 tuition fee for nursing students – a move that followed immediate protests from the students.

Joseph Ugboaja, Chief Medical Director of the hospital, a guest on The Morning Brief a breakfast programme on Channels Television, told his audience on Thursday, that the plan had been shelved.

Street protests had broken out early in the week as the students, challenged the institution for shooting up the fees from the initial N90,000 to the new figure, representing more than 500 per cent increase.

Ugboaja, who said the decision to suspend the new fee followed meetings with student leaders, the school management and the governing board after the protest, adding that more consultations would now be undertaken to ensure that all parties were carried along.

Advertisement

His words: “What the students complained was that they were not carried along at the final decision making for the fees. They know that there was a review, their opinion was sought, but at the level of taking decision they said there were not carried along.

“So, I had a meeting with them, I had a session with the school management, I also had a session with the board and we have decided that the management will suspend the implementation of the new policy.

“So, we have stopped it and then the committee is now going back to them to have a session with the students and all of them will come together and agree on the way forward.

Stressing the need for consultations with the students, the varsity boss who defended the proposed fee, maintained that even at the new amount it remained the lowest in the South-East region, adding that the review became necessary following the transition from the basic nursing programme to a National Diploma and Higher National Diploma structure.

“What we were running before is the RN/RM programme, that is the basic nursing programme but recently we moved to the ND programme articulated by the Nigerian Nursing and Midwifery Council. So, we are now running the ND/HND programme.

Advertisement

“Now we have two sets of students, the basic nursing and basic midwifery students and then we have the ND and HND students. People that were paying the N90,000 are the basic nursing and midwifery students. But the ND and HND students, they have paid the fees, they don’t have issues, people that have issues are the people that have been paying the ₦90,000.

“The basic nursing and basic midwifery students have been paying the ₦90,000 since the school commenced, in fact we have not reviewed our fees since we started the school, that fee has been paid like that. Now what the board did was to adjust the fees to come up with current realities. Even with the ₦580,000, our fee remains the lowest in the region, you can find out, I can give you the comparative figures.”

The CMD also lamented that teaching hospitals do not benefit from intervention funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which he said contributed to the need for an upward review of the fees.

He added that the fee adjustment was also linked to the hospital’s vision of building a teaching hospital that will rank among the top three in the country by 2030.

Advertisement

“There’s no doubt about it. I am a die-hard democrat. I followed that belief wholeheartedly, committed to a united Nigeria, and that principle and the philosophy will live and die with me,” were the exact words of President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday night, with which he tried to showcase his democratic credentials to the world.

Coming against criticisms of his government taking Nigeria towards a one-party state owing to his emasculation of the opposition, Tinubu maintained that nothing could be further than that as he was only trying to follow the principle of democracy by respecting the decisions of the majority.

The President, who spoke at an inter-faith breaking of the fast with members of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, told his audience that he actually had the marks of lacerations from his struggle against the military to prove his status.

He said: “The Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, provoked some questions. I am glad we are all democrats. And we all subscribe to this democracy voluntarily, willingly, and we’ve been at it selflessly in the last 26 years.

Advertisement

“Some of us had been bruised struggling for it. We were detained, we protested, we had street demonstrations, we went into exile, and all of that. We formed NADECO. I followed the leadership destiny that God has chosen for me.”

Stressing that the unity and stability of the country rested on the pillars of good governance and assured that his administration would uphold these principles for posterity, Tinubu also told his audience that strengthening internal democracy within political parties remained fundamental to building credible electoral institutions, processes, and systems.

Regarding the contentious issue of direct primaries being the only way of producing candidates of political parties outside the consensus option, the President argued that it provided party members with better opportunities to participate and determine their representatives at various levels of governance.

He said: “The majority will have their way, and the minority will have their say and their way. I must not stand in their way. That is the sweetness, the essence of democracy. I am a registered voter. I am on the same platform as you. I’m going to stick to my platform.

“When it was against me years ago, I toed the line. I was in opposition without a threat to any human being except the military junta. I want democracy, and since democracy is back here, there’s a fundamental voluntariness that is enshrined, and I am extremely glad to listen to you.”

Advertisement