As I made out time to listen with rapt attention to President Muhamamdu Buhari’s address at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, I loved how Buhari spoke with gusto firmness, and was passionate about the myriads of problems confronting the global community.
Buhari’s speech touched on one of the world’s most pressing human rights issues: the brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
“The international community cannot remain silent and not condemn the horrendous suffering” of Rohingya Muslims, Buhari said of the desperate human rights situation.
While his comments will appeal to the Rohingyas, I wondered why my beloved President, Muhamamdu Buhari, does not practice similar sentiments with similar events back home.
How I wish Buhari was practicing what he preached at the altar of the United Nations, Nigeria could not have been a living hell, as it is right now.
However, something struck me, because of what Buhari was afraid to say in the presence of Donald Trump, and other revered World Leaders.
In my mind, Buhari was afraid to tell the international community that back in December 2015, some months after he took office, a skirmish between the Nigerian Military and the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a Shiite Muslim group in Nigeria’s North, saw “more than 350 people”, including women and children, unlawfully killed according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty had said that the Military tried to “destroy and conceal evidence” of the killings.
Nearly two years after the alleged massacre of the Shiite Muslims, and despite a court order for his release, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the Leader of the Shiite group, is still being detained by the Nigerian government.
More recently, Buhari faced major criticism for his handling of secessionist agitations from the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a group in Nigeria’s South-East.
Last week, Soldiers were deployed to the region to maintain peace, but many have viewed it as a needless and brute show of force, which worsened an already bad situation.
Four people reportedly died in clashes between the Soldiers and IPOB,
In his speech, Buhari also called on the UN to be mindful of “widening inequalities within societies”, which may cause “frustration and anger, leading to spiraling instability.”
Do you know that over two million displaced persons in Nigeria’s North-East will likely be puzzled by the President’s sentiments, given that inequality, frustration, and anger, are their daily realities?
Since being devastated by the long-running Boko Haram insurgency, displaced persons in the North-East have been forced to live in congested camps, where hunger and disease are rife.
Most of the internally displaced people’s camps are underfunded by the government, and officials have been accused of diverting and selling donated relief materials at local markets, for personal gain.
I still maintain that Nigeria will be a better nation, if our leaders practice what they preach outside.
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