Reminding Colonel Dangiwa Umar

Then Major Umar along with Majors Abdulmuminu Aminu and Lawan Gwadabe were posted to very sensitive states of Kaduna as it was, Borno and Niger. All the three were seen as very active and competent junior military officers who in fact administered those states with some measure of successes especially when placed against the backdrop […]

Then Major Umar along with Majors Abdulmuminu Aminu and Lawan Gwadabe were posted to very sensitive states of Kaduna as it was, Borno and Niger. All the three were seen as very active and competent junior military officers who in fact administered those states with some measure of successes especially when placed against the backdrop that their appointments was seen by many as not in tandem with the established tradition already put in place by the military itself.
Before his appointment as the military governor of the old Kaduna State, Major Umar as he was then called served under the Buhari administration as the General Manager of the Federal Housing Authority and he was often remembered for a long time by his very proactive and radical postures on issues that affected the nation and one of those comments was the famous ‘too many mosques and churches’ in the country.
I thoroughly agreed and still agree with the view that Nigerians more than anything else romanticize religion and treat it as merely an exhibitionism as against a moral and spiritual guide to service of God and humanity. This problem is more endemic today than it has ever been and hopefully would ever be.
In a nutshell, the period within which Col Umar served as the Governor of old Kaduna State in my judgment was marked with reasonable breakthroughs especially on matters relating to the conduct of government business. To remember also was the fact that Col. Umar left Kaduna Government House straight to school which by all intents and purposes marked him out as one Nigerian who could surrender the perquisites of office and leave when the ovation is loud.
I am not aware that since his retirement from the military he was involved in partisan politics what I do remember however is that intermittently he commented on critical issues at critical moments in the nation’s life. I am not also aware that Col. Umar has declared for the PDP, a right which if he choses to exercise I will have no qualms with.
I am however worried at the new posture that this man that I hold in very high regards is taking on personality issues affecting the president. Colonel Umar has of late unfortunately assumed the role of a vanguard for President Goodluck Jonathan at a time when the incapacity of the president and the failures of his government are so colossal to the extent that most Nigerians don’t go to sleep with their two eyes closed.
Ordinarily I will have no problems with the Colonel defending the government or the persons of its operators especially given the fact that he was Vice President Namadi Sambo’s boss while he was the governor of Kaduna state, but I am in total disagreement with his point of view and response to allegations raised by Governor MurtalaNyako in his letter to Northern Governors.
It is already becoming too obvious that Nigerians especially those of us from the North are smelling rats in this unending war in the North East region. If Governor Nyako accuses the government of possible complicity, I expect those who work for the central government to respond not Col. Umar.
Who says that Nigeria is united? Who says there is peace in the country? What crises is Col Umar accusing Governor Nyako of possibly fomenting? Does the Colonel actually know the rating of this government in the minds of millions of us? I think it is erroneous to think that either Northerners or Southerners are happy with the way the government is running their affairs.
Does failure corroborate the creed of a leader? I am of the view that even AsariDokubo and the rest of them who are threatening the rest of us and the nation as to the effect that President Jonathan must re contest and be reelected otherwise the nation will not know peace, are of the know that this government is faulty.
How could such a man of records descend so low at this critical threshold of his life to become a cheap propagandist of a failing government? I am worried and I think Colonel Umar should be careful so that he retains his respect and credibility intact.
I am sure it is not a matter of materialism. I do believe that not at this critical stage. What DoyinOkupe and Rueben Abati are doing is enough. It will amount to integrity suicide for Colonel AbubakarDangiwa Umar to disappoint me and several others who think like me.
In the past, Colonel Umar stood for what was right. He epitomized that wise saying that ‘the man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny’. I am of the view that it will be appropriate if he remains focused and stays away from the vagaries of contemporary Nigerian politics.
Nobody can say that things are right with Nigeria and we all know that the problem is squarely at the doorstep of leadership. I am arguing that Obasanjo was indeed a great leader because under him Nigeria did not witness this traces of disintegration.
When the United States Intelligence service leaked its hypothesis over a decade a go that Nigeria may as well end in 2015, those in positions of authority didn’t treat it as a piece of useful information. When Ambassador Campbell wrote in his book that President Jonathan might as well be the last President of a united Nigeria, those in positions of authority did not treat the information with the required seriousness; instead, it was reign of abuses and insults.
We all are now facing the crises at hand and a very serious senior statesman is making a statement and all we are doing is singing from both sides of our mouths instead of deploying our strategic thinking caps to explore the claim and agitation with a view to underpinning its reliability or otherwise.
We must face the crises with necessary seriousness if we want to get out of it. I am in pains that we are bequeathing to our children a legacy of death and destruction, poverty and illiteracy in a nation where most people in my generation and those before got things for free.
We will fail if we are unable to collectively wage war against death and destruction, ignorance and poverty among several other national calamities. We must investigate all allegations if we are to stop the war in several parts of the country and just as keep saying. Nobody is safe in Nigeria today.