Nigeria Showing Signs of Failed State, Ozekhome Laments

Says no need for fresh national dialogue

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome, yesterday stated that Nigeria is showing all signs of a failed state.

Ozekhome also faulted the call by 17 southern governors for a constitutional conference, saying the call for a new conference was unnecessary, especially considering that the recommendation of the one held in 2014 had not been implemented.

He said: “I was at the 2014 National Conference headed by late Justice Idris Kutigi, and the over 200 recommendations we made at that conference was yet to be touched.

“The conference consisted of 492 Nigerians drawn from all strata, and the report has never been touched by this government, even with a 10 foot pole. So, when I heard the 17 southern governors talking about another conference... I knew they mean well for the country, but we do not need another dialogue.”

He was the keynote speaker at the 25th law week of the Awka branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Anambra State, where he spoke on the topic: ‘Legal profession in a lawless society: Rediscovering law as a tool for social change’.

The senior lawyer, who decried the near state of anarchy in the country, lamented that there are already signs that Nigeria was sliding into a failed state, regretting that President Muhammadu Buhari was nowhere to be found in all the troubles in the country.

The legal expert said: “Let me tell you, one of the ingredients of a failed state is when nonstate actors like bandits and kidnappers challenge the state security. With bandits just two hours away from Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), that is the greatest ingredient of a failed state, and that is where we are today.