By Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN

Constitutional Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Mike Ozekhome has reacted to President Buhari independence day celebration speech.

According to him there was nothing cheering about the independence day celebration

While reacting to the assertion on Friday, Ozekhome said it was not possible for the middlemen to hoard food that was unavailable, adding that the farmers had been were raped, maimed, killed and driven away from their farms and ancestral homes by terrorists.

“How can middle men hoard non available food, when the farmers that produce the foodstuff are daily raped, maimed, killed, and driven away from their farms and ancestral homes by the same terrorists that he has refused to tame or proscribe?”, He asked.

Ozekhome also urged the President to declare bandits as terrorists like he did to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB in 2017, name their alleged sponsors those of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Yoruba freedom fight, Sunday Igboho.

Recall that Buhari in his speech to mark the 61st Independence anniversary of Nigeria said that the government has identified sponsors of the secessionist groups and their leaders among whom was a member of the National Assembly.

“The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly”, Buhari had said.

According to Ozekhome there was nothing cheering about the independence day celebration.

He stated further that all was still not well with the country, noting that “it is a miracle that we are still together as one whole”.

Ozekhome stated “Well, Buhari is right to say no government since 1999 has done what he has done. I fully agree with him. But, his unmatched performance has been in the negative. No government has, more than the Buhari government, has destroyed Nigeria and divided it with insecurity, poverty, ethnocencism, religious bigotry, sectionalism, prebendalism, cronyism and corruption.

“How can middle men hoard non available food, when the farmers that produce the foodstuff are daily raped, maimed, killed, and driven away from their farms and ancestral homes by the same terrorists that he has refused to tame or proscribe?

“Let him name to Nigerians, the alleged sponsors of IPOB, Igboho and Kanu. We have heard about this threat from officials of his government for years. Let him boldly proclaim deadly bandits as terrorists, as he promptly did for an even non- violent IPOB in 2017.

“My simple take on Nigeria’s 61st Independence anniversary is that there is nothing to celebrate at all. To me, we should merely mark our flag independence in a very solemn, mournful mood. Nigerians are dying by the thousands through hunger, poverty, sqalour, bad governance, kidnapping, armed banditry, boko haram, terrorism, corruption, etc. Nigeria has become a sprawling grissly gruesome field of blood (fresh and caked), from daily slaughters.

“Nigeria is now the poverty capital of the world, having beaten India to it. She is the 149 out of 183 most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International, on its Corruption Perception Index.

“The deaf hear the pains, pangs, frustration, anger, disillusionment, hopelessness and haplessness. The blind see them. The dumb speak them. The numb feel them. The leadership is inept, weak, deceptive, devisive, directionless and brazenly impervious to the groans and yearnings of a beleaguered people.

“The civil society is greatly compromised, with otherwise leading lights falling for cheap crumbs that fall from their masters’ tables. The opposition is in disarray, unable to put their acts together to challenge a failed government.

“The Naira is badly battered, exchanging for about 600 naira to the dollar. Inflation is on all-high. Prices of foods and consumables have increased geometrically, out of the reach of the common man and woman.

“Even on the side of democracy, our cherished civil liberties have become greatly circumscribed and rubbished.

“Rule of law is in retreat, giving a free reign to rule of the thumb. Court orders are disobeyed with reckless abandon. The situation is so sad and pathetic.

“It is a miracle that we are still together as one whole. All thanks to the fact that God Almighty has preferentially shown Himself to be a Nigerian. There is nothing to celebrate at all, other than that God Almighty has generously and mercifully allowed us to breath His freely donated fresh oxygen. Nigeria, we hail thee.”