By Roland Ike
Anyim Pius Anyim and Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso are two of a kind: astute, suave and patriotic. Both men typify leadership qualities Nigerians presently yearn for.
Insecurity has become a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the nation’s life. It seems to defy all solutions proffered to curtail it. The marauding goons who have held innocent citizens of the country by the jugular have grown in size and sophistication, seizing the forests, thick bushes and perhaps, our peace of mind.
The menace has turned into a lucrative venture with hapless citizens coughing out millions on daily basis despite the excruciating pains of the economic hardship; to secure their loved ones stuck in the goons vast, forest-enclave. They block the roads at will, shooting directly at citizens traveling to make ends meet, killing and maiming at will and taking those who survive the onslaughts as captives inside the bushes. The authorities seem helpless.
The question remains: how was it before we found ourselves in this situation ?.
Prince Nwaeze Onu, Deputy National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) provides an insight. According to him, When Kwakwanso was the Defence Minister between 2003–2007, there was relative peace across the country. The menace of banditry, kidnapping, insurgency secessionist agitations were simply, not there.
“On losing his gubernatorial re-election bid in 2003, then President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Kwakwanso as the Defence Minister, knowing fully well that he was puting a square peg in a square hole.
“He held the position till the end of that administration in 2007 and Nigerians could attest that the security challenges can be described in pocket terms when compared to what has been obtained since then”.
Nwaeze noted that just as Kwakwanso opined during his.presidential campaign for the 2023 general elections, the Nigeria army deserves special care to be able to surmount these security challenges.
“He had pledged to boost the rank of the army with mass recruitment and training to sharpen the combat readiness and capabilities of the army. As a defence minister, Kwakwanso prioritised the welfare of the military with enhanced packages and provision of modern sophisticated weaponry to fight insecurity.
“He is a grass-rooter who is at home with the people. The Kwakwasiya movement attests to this fact. A movement of the grassroot, by the grassroot and for the grassroot. You need the locals to secure an area nay a state and country. When the leader is of the people, security challenges or threats would be detected and nipped swiftly and there might possibly be no place for the goons.
His Excellency, Sen. Pius Anyim in like manner, cuts a Kwakwanso picture. Suave, Resourceful, Goal-oriented and peaceful, the former Senate President contributed immensely to the security the country enjoyed during the Obasanjo period.
Ascending the throne as the Senate President after the flamboyant late Chuba Okadigbo was impeached, Anyim restored sanity to discordant Senate which made the ‘banana peel, a trap for its Senate President.
Continuing, Nwaeze said that Anyim ensured “security” at the Senate by ensuring that the gale of impeachments which preceded his emergence, was nipped in the bud. Enwerem, Wabara and Okadigbo before him had fallen within years but Anyim emerged and completed his tenure in 2003, thus becoming the first Senate President to do so in the present fourth republic.
“The foundation of the leadership stability of the Senate being witnessed till today was laid by Anyim. He used diplomatic mien to curb the warring intrigue between the executive and legislative arms of government at the centre. Harmony reigned that even after he choose not to seek re-election in 2003, the house or structure of stability in the Senate leadership had stood.”
“During the reign of harmony and peace, Nigeria was at peace considerably. With Kwakwanso calling the shots as Defence Minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo, legislations on enhancing the lots of the military were effectively implemented. The army’s bravado and dexterity shone and Nigerians could sleep with their two eyes closed. Budgetary provisions to the Defence sector were duly appropriated, monitored and implemented. The goons were no where to be found and if exists, were not felt.
Nwaeze recalls that Anyim also ensured the safety of the present political dispensation being experienced. In January, 2010, he led a delegation of 41 eminent Nigerians to prevail on an apparently indisposed President Umaru Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the Senate to secure the nation’s democracy.
“That move ensured what then Senate President, David Mark called doctrine of necessity, which made then Vice President, Good luck Jonathan the Acting President.
“When Jonathan later became president in May, 2011, he appointed the dexteritious Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and his story in that office, can tell itself.
“It is hoped that these duo would re-unite in the service of the nation, so that their past which we revel presently, can re-echo,”
