Insecurity: It is time to open the calabash

“Conventionally, a king could declare war and make peace, conclude alliances, send and receive ambassadors, levy taxes, administer justice and appoint subordinate officials”. Adebayo Emmanuel Afe and Ibitayo Oluwasola Adubuola, two socio-historical scholars, made the quoted assertion while presenting the constitutional and traditional powers of an African king. In a December 2009 paper titled  ‘The Travails of Kingship, Institution in Yorubaland: A Case Study of Isinkan in Akureland”, the duo give an insight into the African traditional theory of checks and balances.

They posit that kings generally hold offices that “were to be accorded utmost reverence by the people whose perception was that doing otherwise was acting contrary to demands of traditions, which could incur punishment from the gods”. The king, on his own, is expected to reciprocate in equal measures “by ensuring the prosperity of his kingdom. Likewise, misfortunes like scarcity of food, epidemics were usually blamed on the ill-luck of the king, since he was expected to establish a direct communication link with the gods, either by magical means or by rites or both.

The usual remedial measure was to propitiate the gods to avert negative tendencies usually through an ordained priest’. Afe and Adubuola then point out that when a king fails to act accordingly, “the king was removed through popular insurrections. In the old Oyo Empire, a calabash bearing the head of a parrot was presented to the king, which signified suicide or total banishment from the kingdom”. The scholars conclude that in the African kingship setting, “Practically, there were efficient checks and balances on a king’s functions and power”. This position questions the theories we were taught in Government classes that the idea of the political theory of “Checks and Balances” was first propounded by the French scholar, Montesquieu, in his 1747 book, ‘Espirit des Louis’ (The spirit of the laws).

The two scholars above have shown that from time immemorial, African kingship setting made provisions for checks and balances, with the king as the supreme head of the domain or kingdom, and his chiefs as agents of control over him. In Yorubaland where the study draws its strength, the most powerful of the chiefs are the Iwarefa — the six king makers. They have a way of curtailing and containing the excesses of any tyrannical or invalid king, through the calabash that is kept handy for any king that becomes too tyrannical or incapacitated to the extent that he can no longer function.

When such an occasion presents itself, the Iwarefas will call on the custodian of the calabash, the  Alamoeku — Chief Diviner  —  to present it to the king. Once presented, the king is made to open it. No king opens it and remains a king again. As espoused by Afe and Adubuola, it is safe to say that the efficacy of the calabash is what the white people studied and redefined as either separation of power, and more relevantly, as checks and balances. The idea of a legislative arm in modern day democracy finds its equivalence in the Iwarefa council of our forefathers.

If we follow the theory, and apply it to our democracy of today, the present-day Senate President is the Alamoeku, who keeps the calabash, (impeachment clause), the instrument of checks and balances, in trust for the people; waiting for such time, when the king becomes too tyrannical or incapacitated to function in that office. The Nigeria, of today, is exactly in that situation our forbears envisaged when they devised the calabash called  ‘Igba Aye’ (calabash of the esoteric). If we take President Muhammadu Buhari to be the sovereign king, and the Senate President to be the Alamoeku, you will agree with me that the time is ripe enough for the calabash to be presented to the president to open. Any further delay may spell doom for the entire country. The hopelessness of our situation is too deafening. General Buhari himself gave life to it  last week.

On May 5 and May 7, General Muhammadu Buhari made two terrible statements, which if well analysed, indicated that the Commander-in-Chief has lost faith in our ability as a nation to come out of the present precarious security situation. The statements show that Buhari is at the end of his tethers. He practically has no more solution to our problems. On Friday, May 7, Buhari lamented to the whole world that his “Shoot-At-Sight Order” was brazenly disobeyed. “Insecurity: My Shoot-At-Sight Order Not Obeyed —Buhari”,  that was how Saturday Tribune and many other news media reported it. Femi Adesina, Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement issued after the meeting of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), led by Professor Doyin Salami, with General Buhari, quoted the president as saying: “Some people are mercilessly against this country.”

“We closed the borders to control the smuggling of petroleum products, and check the influx of smuggled goods, arms and ammunition. That was when the Comptroller General of Customs called me, saying 40 tankers laden with petrol had been impounded…. They still brought arms and ammunition into the country… I said shoot anyone found illegally with AK-47, yet they haven’t stopped. People must show consideration for their own country”. When a president talks this way, the message should be clear to the deaf that there is no hope anywhere, anymore. In the African culture, this type of king is the one who has no control over his domain. Africans don’t tolerate such a pusillanimous king. It is better for a man not to ascend the throne than to say he cannot control his domain.

Once a king openly confesses his inadequacy to give an order that will be obeyed, the next option for him is the calabash. Pray, may we ask General Buhari, who are the people he gave the shoot-at-sight-order to? If the Daura General is not deriving joy from his security lieutenants, what has he done about that? When he told Benue people the other day that he asked the former IGP, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, to relocate to the state, but the latter stayed put in Abuja, what did Buhari do? Did he not retain Adamu and went ahead to extend his tenure by additional four months? Truth be told, the close aides and appointees of the president have come to realise that the retired General cannot bite. They know that the president does not follow up on his orders and directive. They know that Mr. President does not ask for feedbacks and he does not monitor events around him. Probably, too, they must have realised that once the order has nothing to do with the president’s Fulani stock, it can be ignored. So, they flout his orders with impunity. If the C-in-C closed the borders and goods still get smuggled in to the country, who takes the blame? Are there no personnel manning those borders? Who among them has he punished?

The second statement by the president came via his verified twitter account, precisely on May 5 at 10.01p.m. He tweeted about the kidnapped students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, and other Nigerians in the captivity of kidnappers, bandits and Boko Haram, saying: “I again appeal for the release of the students of Greenfield University & all other citizens held in captivity. We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that Nigerians live in a country where everyone can move where and when they want—without the fear of kidnapping and banditry.”

If General Buhari were to be a Yoruba king, his subjects, on reading this tweet, would have changed his name to “Obadipe” – The king makes an appeal. That is an abomination. Kings don’t make appeals. They make orders. They are “Obapase”- The king orders. Besides being a retired General and a war veteran, Buhari today occupies the office of the Executive President of Nigeria. The Executive President, interpreted in Yoruba is “Aare Apase wa” (The president who makes an instant order) and Kabiyesi-the unquestionable one! In elementary Government, we were taught the “Constitutional Powers of an Executive President”. He has control over the Armed Forces.

He receives daily intelligence reports from all the nation’s security architecture. All he needs to do is to command the security agencies and give them an ultimatum on when he wants to see the kidnapped students. General Ibrahim Babangida did not beg Lawrence Anini. He simply asked the IGP then, Etim Iyang, “where is Anini”?

“Weeks later, Anini and his gang were publicly executed. That is how to be a C-in-C. Buhari should be told that Nigerians did not elect him to come and beg felons. No! Nigerians need in him, a president who moves and crushes banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, killings and all sorts of crimes. That was what he promised them in 2015. Bola Tinubu told Nigerians in 2015 that when Britain was in turmoil, she called on General Churchill; when France was in crisis, she ran to General Charles de Gaulle. We were told Buhari numbers among the pantheon. He repeated the promise in 2019. Nobody appreciates a president who goes on his knees, begging kidnappers. Nigerians did not tolerate that from Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. They kicked him out and he was already in Otuoke before he knew that he had lost the presidency. Time is running out; the killings are becoming too many and the vultures are hovering over the nation. The time to appeal to criminals is long over. General Buhari should wake up and smell the coffee! Like the Bini would say: “this is not the time for lahor lahor”- I beg, I beg. The C-in-C cannot be saying “ina rokeka” to felons.

Enough of the usual lethargic attitude of this administration. History beckons on our president to halt this drift to Golgotha.  The blackmail of coup and cessation is not holding  water anymore, it is actually becoming repulsive.  And If the president will not rise to the occasion, let the National Assembly present him with the calabash by sanctioning him. A president who begs bandits, kidnappers and other felons for the release of citizens held in captivity has demonstrated enough incapacitation. No further  dereliction of duty and abdication of responsibility can be worse than our present situation.  Letting him go to save the country is not being “merciless against this country”. Generals are honourable and gentlemen. General Buhari should demonstrate those qualities by throwing in the towel if he knows he cannot handle the overwhelming situation anymore! Above all, the Daura born General should be conscious of how history records him after his presidency. All eyes are on Senator Ibrahim Ahmad Lawan as the Alamoeku (Senate President) to show General Buhari where the calabash of sanction is kept if nothing improves. We wait; history waits too!

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