CHILDREN OF IMPUNITY: Why Nigeria is not on the Path to Greatness

CHILDREN OF IMPUNITY: Why Nigeria is not on the Path to Greatness

by Moses Oludele Idowu

Nigeria is not a great nation. As a matter of fact she is neither good nor great. We all know that by now except the deluded and the swelling army of “the deceived and the deceivers.” Even the lords of the manor, the occupants of Aso Rock in the last 26 years with the present “plantation supervisor” know this in their hearts.
So, why? Everything and all things that make for greatness and success are present in abundance in Nigeria: a large, hardworking labour force, a simple, trusting and malleable population, brilliant and educated citizenry, abundance and an over- abundance of resources – human, material, mineral, a favourable weather conditions, conducive environment , friendly neighbors who are not in a position to threaten Nigeria even if they wish… The list is endless. Yet Nigeria is not great and she is not on the path of greatness even.
Why?
This is what this essay is about. It is my purpose in this essay to show why Nigeria is not great and why no nation under the conditions that Nigeria has imposed upon herself knows greatness.

Columnist Bola Bolawole came closest to what I have in mind in his last article about “sacred cows” but the issue is beyond “sacred cows,” the real issue to examine is why a nation must have “sacred cows” and the conditions that can subsist in a nation to make rearing sacred cows possible, conducive and even justiceable. It is this condition that we need to address, it is this climate, this unfortunate situation that we need to combat. What makes one citizen commit a crime and go scot-free and another under similar circumstances face dire consequences?
Sheikh Gumi has said several things that border on treason publicly and he is a free man still. El- Rufai has done similar things and but for the fact that he directly attacked the ‘plantation supervisor’ and his foremen he would be working free. On the other hand, Obadiah Malaifia did not say half of these when both the medium was severely fined and Malafia became regular guest at DSS. That was the beginning of his trouble that would lead to health complications from which he never recovered.

About 40 years ago an incident happened in this nation that most young people do not know about and the elderly would have forgotten. The Ibrahim Babangida’s Armed Forces Ruling Council made a decree that no political comment or discussion should be made regarding the convoluted Transition Program or something like that, since the ban on politics hasn’t been lifted. Balarabe Musa, the impeached Second Republic governor of Kaduna State and a political animal tested the military’s resolve by flouting the order granting an interview to a newspaper and lampooning the Transition Program. At the same time Gani Fawehinmi, a radical lawyer and Human Rights activist, a perpetual enemy of military government railed against Babangida’s program and for other similar activism. Both were arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) for similar “offences” around the same time and by the same government and within the same nation.
And what follows? This is where the story becomes interesting.
For the benefits of the young who still do not know Nigeria and how it works I will say this.
That was where the similarities ended. Gani was thrown to Gashua prison in the smoking heat of Borno while Balarabe was kept in a homely and conducive environment possibly because he was a former governor or a Northerner.
That was not all.
Gani was deprived of all reading materials. In point of fact, they ensured that not even scraps of newspaper or any book, not even the Koran was allowed him. Knowing how much he loved reading and how much as a lawyer he read daily they ensured he had nothing to read, possibly, to damage or destroy his mind. But trust Gani, an original Ondo man he devised a method to circumvent his enemies. He now had to take the tin of bournvita that they mistakenly forgot in his room and every morning reading the label on it so he would not forget the alphabet and rudiments of reading. Think of that!
In the afternoon the heat would be so unbearable that he would have to remove all his clothes – for a man who had known some comfort that was a psychological violence on his mind and and body. It is not surprising that when he returned from Gashua his health wasn’t the same again.

How about the other fellow, Balarabe Musa?
Everything was provided him according to his own confession. In the morning he would be supplied with all the newspapers to read, which he said he could no longer afford even at home. They would supply him with peak milk which he said was a long time he tasted even in his home and a world of conveniences to make his stay memorable and comfortable. They made the detention another home for him and even better than a home.

The one who could afford to buy all newspapers and even foreign ones was denied any reading material; the one who couldn’t afford it was provided with them. One was fighting to retain his sanity, another was fighting to keep his weight and keep from indulgence and excess. The same offense, the same nation, the same government and law but different treatments and outcomes. Vanguard newspaper’s noted columnist, Bisi Lawrence writing as Bizlaw was so angry with the news that he penned an article – “Why the Wheel Won’t Roll” – in which he lampooned and ridiculed the military administration and tried to address what I am addressing this morning – why Nigeria is not a great nation and won’t be great. Unfortunately, those old columnists are bolder and clear – headed than the spaghetti-eating, mealy-mouthed easily- compromised, ones of today, lacking in focus and direction.
That was 40 years ago! The military is no more in power for almost 30 years now but the same trend continues. Because it is not about who is there, it is about ingrained culture and behaviour. And these do not die except by a revolution, blood, sweat and tears.

Nigeria is a land of impunity, criminal impunities. It is this culture that has produced the two Nigerias that we see today. There is the Nigeria of the poor, talakawas, working class who slaved day and night under a system that does not care for them or their welfare; and there is the other Nigeria, Occult Nigeria with her children of impunities who could do anything and get away with it.
That is why el- Rufai will threaten elected governments and nothing would happen to him. He knows about the other Nigeria and as a citizen of that other nation nothing can happen to him.
That is why Gumi will hobnob with terrorists and serve as accessory for even ransom payment and the Army does not know where they are and no one dares touch him. But the vigilantes trying to defend their own homestead are regularly assaulted by the Army – “the Army of anything goes”, that has the highest number of retired generals in the world.

Of all the billions of dollars missing, lost misappropriated and stolen in NNPC through Turn-Around Maintenance, under- reportage, under- invoicing, etc., has anyone ever been called to account? Didn’t the same el-Rufai tell us in his book _The Accidental Public Servant_ that NNPC is the cash cow of Presidents from where they get their slush funds and that is why all the Presidents are also the Minister of Petroleum from Obasanjo till the present? Even the hypocrite from Daura, the “man of integrity” who was comfortable living among thieves was also the Minister of Petroleum under which millions of dollars were used for Turn-Around Maintenance that largely ended in private pockets. That is why NNPC will never be probed; it is the symbol, the strong tower in the land of impunity. Just as in ancient times that men ran into the tower to shield them from attack and just as in modern times they run into nuclear shelters so the NNPC provide a shelter for the occult ruling elites. A governor has publicly declared that 500 billion naira was given to opposition governors to cross over to the ruling party and that was the reason why we are ending up an almost one – party state. He has not been refuted by the Federal Authority. Now where do you think that money came from? NNPC, of course.
Just name any rich man in Nigeria or richest woman in Nigeria who has not used or receive favours from the Tower of NNPC at one time or the other.

IMPUNITY is what is killing Nigeria. Lack of a level playing ground worsened by lack of necessary sanctions for misdemeanors. Treating people in different ways as if some are higher than others. Nigerians do not understand that actions have consequences. There are no innocent actions without consequences. Actions and inactions have consequences.

About 176 were kidnapped in Kaduna and for a period the Police officials were in denial before electronic evidences confronted their denial and put a lie to it. No consequences to the perpetrators.
Thus, few weeks after another 176 were killed in Kaiama Local Government in my home state of Kwara and no one has been apprehended till now. The same bandits have besieged and almost sacked my homeland of Igbomina with little or no resistance from the State. Even the vigilantes doing their best to defend their native land are regularly assaulted by agents of the state. No one has been apprehended or shot among the perpetrators. Instead they have written to another community in Kwara that they are coming to serve their menu.
All these in a nation where there is a Government, an Army and a police!
In a nation where citizens and even foreigners can kill citizens and go free without consequences do you think well to expect any greatness ahead of that nation?

Mercenaries brought from South Africa were already decimating Boko Haram insurgents without losing a soul using advanced technology. They would monitor their movements with their precision technology and simply go there to eliminate them. That is what our Army could not do and still cannot do. In a day of forensic technology and precision technology an Army is claiming it does not know where terrorists are within the same geographic space. How many of the perpetrators in Kwara have been apprehended or shot? They are free. Years ago they were been “de-radicalised” and rehabilitated by the same party and sadist who brought them to torment and fight us. They are still been treated with favour even now by symphatisers because they are fighting the cause of Allah.

Israel eliminated Abu Jihad in Tunisia, the notorious terrorist who masterminded the Munich Olympics massacre, hundreds of kilometers away from her shores with deadly accuracy. They have eliminated several terrorists ( or freedom fighters, if you like) in Lebanon without so much as stepping out of Israel to confront them, just by manipulating the many- sided dimensions of modern technology. How did Mossad eliminate Yahya Ayyash , the Hamas engineer and bomb maker, leader of the West Bank battalion? By merely getting his phone number. That was all. They blew up his head using his phone number inside his own home without any Israeli soldier or civilian getting involved or entering Arab land through the same technology against him that he had used to murder many Israelis. They merely placed a call to him and he answered and woke up on the other side. Advanced technology. Alas, it is terrorists who are bugging NSA phones, intercepting military signals and kidnapping and even killing Army general in Nigeria.
Omase o!

Which is why I often ask which schools did our own intelligence crew and generals attend? Which military schools trained them and what did they learn in school? Is it rocket science to take down all these terrorists inside the bush through precision bombing except there is a deliberate internal sabotage? Or is there a stealth jihad going on been waged against us that we do not know? For there is a clear pattern now unfolding of Migration Jihad in Nigeria. Terrorists are driving people from their homes and towns obviously to prepare the ground for foreign occupation as we now see in some parts of Plateau State and Benue where Fulani are occupying deserted villages. That is migration jihad, – to displace people from their towns and areas to make occupation possible – one of the necessary steps and stages before the full declaration of Jihad. Let the Muslim- Muslim Government be aware that not all of us are asleep. Enough of telling me someone’s wife is a pastor; I am sick of that insinuation. That is a red herring and the facts on ground point to a different direction.

I listened to the traditional ruler of Woro community in Kwara, he said the soldiers guarding their communities were withdrawn shortly before the attack. This has always been the same story everywhere from Benue through Plateau to Southern Kaduna – to make room for the children of impunity.

This is why progress eludes us. This is why Nigeria’s name is never mentioned in the circle of greatness and in the register of great nations inspite of abundance resources. Impunity destroys, it inhibits greatness. It is one of the greatest problems facing Nigerian Army, even admitted by his famous men in their biographies. In an army where a general can get away with virtually anything what do you expect?

General George S. Patton, one of the heroes of World War II was removed from the Command of Seventh United States Army during WW II in 1943 because he slapped two soldiers in anger which was considered unprofessional for an officer and a gentleman.
Ariel Sharon, much decorated Israeli general was reprimanded because he walked out on his own Minister of Defense in a justifiable outrage.

But come to Nigeria what do you have?

General Obasanjo himself admitted that his first day commanding in the front against Biafra he lost 1400 (?) soldiers! Think of that. 1500 soldiers lost through your own tactical blunders, operational mismanagement and mismaneuver. And did he suffer any repercussions for this? Nothing. He was instead rewarded with promotion to the general status and also becoming a Head of State.
Murtala Muhammad wasted more soldiers at Asaba in his heady and ill- advised tactical misadventure of invading Biafra through Onitsha. I thought it is elementary logic that you don’t invade a land where is is strongest but weakest. Several thousands were lost in that blundering misadventure. Did Muhammad suffer any repercussions for this blunder? Nothing. Instead he was rewarded with promotion to the general corps and he ended up as a Head of State. Because in Nigeria the reward for incompetence is promotion and greater responsibility.

Resolute and confident in their culture of impunity the two would go ahead unadvisedly with the same cocky and arrogant military style to embark on a misdirected Purge that would destroy Nigeria’s Civil Service till today. Dr. Phillip Asiodu is still alive, he would tell you how two destroyed the Civil Service and thus, unwittingly – by Law of Unintended Consequences – created the raging corruption in Nigeria today.
Impunity has consequences. If Nigeria had been a land of accountability none of the two would have even moved closer to leadership to wreck havoc.

Now consider another jurisdiction and see another Army and see how impunity is punished.
General Shmuel Gonen and General David Elazar were both dismissed from the Israeli Army plus the Chief of Intelligence and a number of high- ranking officers were dismissed from Israeli Army on the recommendation of the Agranat Commission because of wrong decisions taken at the Yom Kippur War on 1973 that led several young Israeli soldiers to their needless deaths. [ See Ariel Sharon, _Warrior: An Autobiography_ , New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. p.344]

Collectively Israel lost almost 3000 in that War and they still considered it a disaster even though they faced two nations backed by a superpower, defunct Soviet Union. Still some generals and several officers had to lose their commission. How many civilians, soldiers and children have we lost in this war? How many have lost their commisisons or received even a query?

Do you see the difference?
How about that? In one army, generals were dismissed for wrong decisions that cost hundreds of lives; in another army, officers were promoted who caused thousands of casualties!

That is the difference between Israeli Army and NIgerian Army, and between Israel and Nigeria; between a Land of Accountability and a Land of Impunity.

Whenever you see Nigeria holding a man or woman accountable for his crimes then know he belongs to the other Nigeria. Here in this other Nigeria justice is fast and furious. No frivolous injunctions, no delay, no nonsense. You saw how easy it was for Nigeria Government to bring Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya through devious means, the same Government that did not know where the Islamic terrorists tormenting Nigeria are. Kanu belongs to the other Nigeria, he should have known.
You saw how hundreds of soldiers and police and Intelligence agents stormed Ibadan to eliminate Sunday Igboho that night but for God. You saw how Gana, the militant leader of Gboko, Benue was extra-judicially eliminated by the same Army of impunity on his way to Government- sponsored Amnesty program. But the same Army cannot arrest Ado Aliero, Bello Turji, Sadiku etc., from the other side. It does not know where they are even when they collect chieftaincy titles and attend peace deals.

You won’t understand this phenomenon until you understand the two Nigerias. There are two Nigerias, in the same nation or better still, two nations in one visible Nigeria – one corporate entity, two realities, experiences, two peoples, separate and unequal.
Like old Tyre of ancient times there was the physical corporate entity called Tyre known in ancient times as a center of business. There was also another Tyre over and above the popular one known to all, which is known to a few. There was a Prince of Tyre who was human and ruled over the nation; but there was a King of Tyre who was not human who ruled over the invisible Tyre sitting above the popular one and this was no one else but Lucifer, son of the morning himself. You will find that story in Ezekiel 28. Two nations can subsist within the same space – two nations separate and unequal.
Have you ever wondered why you have so many officers in government with forged certificates; with so many representatives of ruling party with only School Certificate in a nation suffused with graduates? Have you also wondered why some people never afraid of consequences for their actions no matter how evil they are? Because they know they belong to the other Nigeria where no consequence exist and where nothing can happen to them – the Land of Impunity.
When you grasp this then you will understand the dynastic and aristocratic nature of political appointments in Nigeria and the cyclical character of Nigerian ruling classes – the same people, the same style, and their children and neophytes.
It is a sad reflection and conclusion but every passing day the conviction deepens and strengthens within me that the NIgerian problem cannot be fully resolved without a Revolution or Blood. But nothing is impossible for God.

*Memorial*

To Biodun Jeyifo, writer, author and scholar, teacher of teachers, Courier of the Nigerian Talakawa Liberation who passed away penultimate week, leaving Nigeria worse than he met it. The struggle still continues, nonetheless.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Follow me:

Facebook: Moses Oludele Idowu

WhatsApp: 08034697670

X: @ MosesOludele

Channel: MOI AND FRIENDS UNLIMITED channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb66fowLikg9wnH4rc29

© Moses Oludele Idowu
February 21, 2026
All Rights Reserved