*By Paul Ejime
Foreigners who have lived in Nigeria or interacted with Nigerians at various levels may not only be surprised but ashamed on behalf of Nigerians over what is happening to and in Africa’s most populous nation.
Many are wondering if it is the same country, once called the Giant of Africa, whose citizens are known to be bold, loud, and assertive. The same country that made Africa the centrepiece of its foreign policy and used its oil wealth to fight imperialist regimes, including by nationalising the assets of the powerful British Petroleum (BP), and facilitated the liberation/independence of several other African countries, such as Zimbabwe, Namibia and contributed an estimated USD$61 to anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa.
Is it the same country that deployed its armed forces to support world peacekeeping efforts, especially in Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and also provided Technical Aid support to Black nations on the continent and in the Diaspora in the form of skilled manpower, including judges and teachers?
Is it the same Nigeria that is now unable to safeguard its own independence, relying on a foreign power to deal with its internal security challenges?
What has become of Nigeria’s enormous human capital and natural resources?
Despite its oil revenue, the country has become The Third-Highest Debtor to the World Bank’s International Development Association, with outstanding obligations of USD$18.2bn as of June 30, 2025.
Nigeria has vast arable land, but the latest report by the UN humanitarian agency warns that 35 million Nigerians may face acute hunger from June this year.
Despite the claim by official spin-doctors, the reality is that Nigeria is in dire straits and no longer commands the same international respect as in the past.
This may not be entirely the fault of the present government. However, the troubling observation is that the present crop of Nigerian leaders or the ruling political class does not seem to care. Instead, they are laser-focused on how to acquire or retain political power, or how to win the next election by hook or crook.
A report by Amnesty International said that between May 2023 and 2025, at least 10,217 people were killed ”in attacks by gunmen in Benue, Edo, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara state. Benue state accounts for the highest death toll of 6,896, followed by Plateau state, where 2,630 people were killed.”
According to the SBM Intelligence report, at least 4,722 people were kidnapped across Nigeria between July 2024 and June 2025, with 2.57 billion Naira paid in ransoms against demands totalling 48 billion Naira.
The killings and abductions have not stopped. If anything, there are daily reports of mounting casualties, including in previously untouched states such as Oyo.
What seems to matter most to the political class is election. Human life no longer matters, and the inexcusable incapacity exhibited by the executive and legislative arms of government has normalised the state of abnormality.
Governance now thrives on denial, with many acclaimed representatives of the citizens being killed and kidnapped, only remembering their constituencies for their votes during elections.
If the ruling party can be accused of trying to wipe out the opposition, opposition parties themselves are also guilty of a failure to put up a united front.
Yes, the government loathes opposition and criticism, and whoever offers an alternative view is dealt with or labelled an enemy of the state, forgetting that governments come and go, while the nation remains.
A self-defeating approach, fear or failure to act can never produce admirable changes or transformation.
The citizens or electorate have not covered themselves in glory. While politicians are playing their selfish, self-serving, fraudulent, and deceitful game – defecting from one political group to another without principle or ideology – the citizens have made themselves dispensable, trading their votes or conscience for a portion of rice or a few Naira notes in an envelope.
It is in this context that the latest Communique by the Patriots, a group of concerned Nigerians led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Commonwealth Secretary-General (1990-2000), should be acknowledged.
After their meeting in Lagos on 21st May, the group expressed “serious concern over the unabated killings, kidnapping and the sacking by bandits of communities from their homes and ancestral lands in many parts of the country, including especially in the North East, North West, and North Central and most recently in the South West zones.”
The “non-partisan group of experienced Nigerians who are committed to the entrenchment of one country that is governed by its democratic people’s constitution,” noted “with anguish that the numbers of people being driven into the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been growing and that more and more farmers are unable to go to their farms thereby increasing the threat of serious food insecurity in the country.”
It therefore urged Nigeria’s Federal Government to “treat insecurity as a national protection, governance and economic survival crisis deserving the setting up of a special committee to advise it on measures to be taken to deal with the different ramifications of the crisis.”
While “acknowledging that the Federal Government has introduced reforms which are stabilizing the economy and improving the macroeconomic prospects of the country,” the Patriots “also expressed their concern at the fact that the level of poverty affecting the masses, especially in the rural areas, remains unacceptably high, with, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, about 63% of the population being multidimensionally poor.”
The group reaffirmed their view of July 2025 “that the myriad challenges facing Nigeria can only be effectively addressed by replacing the country’s present governing system derived from the 1999 constitution, which was imposed on the country by the military regime, with a governance system to be derived from a new democratic people’s constitution produced by an assembly of representatives specifically elected on non-party basis to do so by the citizens of Nigeria.”
In the latest Communique, the Patriots also “expressed concern and worries about the high cost of seeking public offices and electoral participation to the point of excluding a large section of Credible Nigerians from political leadership of the country.”
The group “therefore called on political parties to be more value-driven rather than engage in money politics to the detriment of democracy in Nigeria.”
”With the approaching 2027 national elections, the Patriots decried the absence of ideologically based politics among the country’s political parties, resulting in constant defections of elected representatives from their own to other political parties, thereby confirming the untoward belief that political parties are no more than platforms for seeking power and beneficial public offices,” the Communique said.
The group “urged all the contending political parties to conduct their campaigns on the basis of issues rather than personal vitriolic attacks.”
It also “called on the Nigerian electorate to vote in 2027 for the candidates of the political parties whose manifestoes contain a clear commitment to the restructuring of the country’s present governance system.”
Furthermore, the Communique said the “Federal Government, Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and all concerned at the State and Local Government levels should know that the international community will be watching to pass a judgment on the entire conduct of the 2027 national elections.”
At a time when many Nigerians, individuals or groups, including civil society organisations, and the media have chosen silence, either out of fear, complicity, or total resignation, the Patriots deserve encouragement for at least speaking up or speaking out.
The onus is now on the government, the political class, and the citizens themselves to rescue and reposition Nigeria.
*Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communication*
