Nigeria: Growing Calls For President To Step Down – OpEd

By Lisa Vives

New troubles are facing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, already struggling to rein in the kidnappings of Nigerian schoolchildren in the country’s Northwest. Now, a federal High Court has ordered the Government to pay $951 million to the Bayelsa State government, while another court has ordered the Federal Government to pay over $3.3 billion to Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, as a share of the revenue from crude oil sales.

The court rejected the Federal Government’s argument that it could not pay the money it received from crude oil sales, adding that the defendant ought to have filed a bona fide defense to explain its position on the $62 billion oil earnings as required by law.

In a separate case, long held grievances by insurgents in the Niger Delta region have reignited a campaign to crash the country’s economy and send it into a permanent recession, according to an open letter by the Niger Delta Avengers that was published widely.

The campaign, called “Operation Humble” will humble the Nigerian Government “which continues to pay deaf ears to our demands,” the group said.

The warning comes as Nigeria’s legislature debates the share of oil wealth that will go to communities that host oil and gas installations as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of its petroleum laws. The communities want a 10% share, rather than the 2.5% currently in the bill.”

Foreign Policy, in a piece published May, wrote: “Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure. But now, unable to keep its citizens safe and secure, Nigeria has become a fully failed state of critical geopolitical concern. Its failure matters because the peace and prosperity of Africa and preventing the spread of disorder and militancy around the globe depend on a stronger Nigeria.”

After the thinktank called Nigeria a “failed state,” the umbrella body of pro-democracy groups in Nigeria, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), formally wrote a ‘Save our Souls’ letter to the United Nations, asking the international body to prevent the collapse of the country. This came as Christian clerics and members of the Centre for Justice, Religion and Ethnicity (CJRE) called on the National Assembly to commence an impeachment process against the President to save Nigeria from the crisis.

Addressing journalists in Kaduna on June 20, the Director-General of CJRE, Rev. Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa warned: “If the National Assembly refuses to impeach President Buhari, he will lead Nigeria to another war.

“For the lawmakers to save the nation, they should commence impeachment process against him and save the country now.”