The excitement surrounding the potential appointment of Gen. Musa as Minister of Defense suggests that many Nigerians underestimate the depth of the institutional decay that has pushed our country to the brink of becoming a failed state.

For clarity, President Tinubu’s administration, in a recent report, claimed that over 13,000 insurgents and 17,000 bandits have been killed or arrested since 2023. These staggering figures reveal the enormous security crisis we face and the collapse of the social and economic structures that should have prevented it.

This crisis cannot be reversed by appointing one defence chief. It demands a comprehensive strategy to fix our failing educational system, expand meaningful economic opportunities, and elect leaders with clear, convincing, well-thought-out solutions, not those who learn on the job or lack the foresight of a philosopher-king to make decisions that advance our collective future.

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Until we are bold enough to make the right choices and commit to the selfless sacrifice of building a nation, no appointment, no matter how promising, can halt our drift toward the chaos that has become the unfortunate identity of our nation.

I must state clearly that I do not envy the potential appointment of Gen. Musa as defense chief at this critical time of national distress, but I sincerely wish him well in his new role. However, we must be courageous enough to support and elect leaders with well-articulated plans to reform our nation on all fronts and reverse the decline that now permeates every sphere of our national life.

-Francis Onyema, 2027 presidential aspirant