What started like a harmless threat in 2008 has ballooned out of control, threatening the foundation of our collective heritage. It was in 2008 that the Islamic Sect, Boko Haram issued a threat to avenge the gruesome killing of its leader, Yusuf Mohammed, by security men. They vowed to make life hellish for the government if nothing was done to assuage death of Yusuf.
I do not know what really happened and why government could not mediate an amicable settlement of the imbroglio before the whole thing became messy. Not sure of what the intention of government was the sect took up arms, and today the matter has gone out of hand. Lives and property of innocent citizens are being wantonly destroyed. In less than 6 years of the crisis over 4,000 Nigerians have been dispatched to their early graves.
The attacks were initially targeted at places of worship – both Christian and Muslim. They were as systematic as they were brutal. The Northeast and North Central geopolitical zones were the worst hit. It got to a stage that worshipping in churches was the easiest way to die, as the sect could strike with the speed of light at any given time. Even seminaries were not spared. There was an eerie account of how the students of a seminary in one of the states in the northeast were evacuated when information reached the school authorities that Boko Haram had concluded plans to invade the seminary and kill every person in sight. According to the account the students took cover in a nearby bush, while the sect ransacked and burnt down their hostels.
There were numerous other cases of the sect’s brutalities across the north, ranging from suicide bombings to abductions. I listed in this column last week the various bombings committed by the sect in Abuja alone, yet it seems not to be ending. The more they come, the deadlier they become. The Nyanya bombing a fortnight ago exposed the inadequacies of our security agents and placed all of us at a very vulnerable corner. Nobody knows which direction the pendulum will swing next.
I am worried that the sect has found its way into the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. And if it could do so with less stress, then it means all of us are doomed. Are we going to wait until we are all dead before we step in individually and collectively to restore order?
As I pressed the sent-button on my laptop to dispatch the article for last week’s publication the news came that Boko Haram had abducted over 200 female students of a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. And up till the time of writing this article, nothing positive had been heard about the abducted girls. All we have heard were claims and counter-claims from the Army about their whereabouts.
Why should the abductors go this length to express their grievances? Did they consider the delicate nature of the girls and the trauma of their travail? Who put the idea into their heads to throw caution to the dogs to abduct the girls? What actually was their motive for such a debased act? Even in state of war children and their mothers are usually immune from attacks. So, why should anybody be in league to abduct 200 innocent and harmless girls? God, why?
As I wrote two weeks ago, I am worried that Abuja should come under the attack of Boko Haram. I feel this way because Abuja is the centre of our unity – our national pride. Why should any rational person work to destroy it? Since the Abuja bombing over 20 countries had issued an order to their citizens not to visit Nigeria. The warning came in the wake of the Nyanya bombing and the abduction of the 200 schoolgirls.
The irony of the whole impasse is that none of the gladiators can offer any cogent reason for taking up arms against his fatherland. The reason given by the sect for its action might be cogent, but it is not enough to destroy the entire country. If they destroy Abuja and the entire northeast will that be enough to bring Yusuf back to life? The answer is ‘no’. As much as we are all pained by the gruesome manner Yusuf was killed, we cannot say the same thing of the operations of the sect.
I recall expressing deep sympathy over the collateral human lives lost since the State of Emergency was declared in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. And now it is over six months since it came into effect, yet normalcy is still elusive.
The truth is that the Federal Government is right (if the matter is viewed strictly and Boko Haram is as well right if we take into account the way and manner Yusuf was killed). Now let me ask, “Do two wrongs make a right? Can Boko Haram be right and wrong at the same time?
I do not think Boko Haram is not amenable to reason. Are they not human beings with flesh and blood? Do you think they do not feel any pang of guilt for the precious blood of innocent citizens they spill on a daily basis? Or does anybody think we the citizens of this country do not feel any pain for the families of the militants who are killed in the various security operations going on all across the country? From whatever angle one looks at the whole scenario it is a no-win situation. If government forces succeed in crushing the insurgents, nobody has gained anything, because those killed are still Nigerians – our fellow compatriots. If Boko Haram succeeds in its plot to wipe out all of us, what do they stand is gain? So, what the occasion demands are restraint, caution and dialogue. All the parties to the conflict must, as a matter of national call, accept dialogue and end the hostilities.
I am sure that most of those who fight for the sect did not witness the Nigerian Civil War. In fact, many of them were not born at the time and, therefore, do not understand what war truly means. Nevertheless, many of them must have watched films on wars, such as the Vietnamese War, Burmese War, Indian/Pakistani War, Somalia War, Liberian War, Congolese War, Rwanda/Burundi Genocide, Serbian War, etc. All these wars recorded huge casualties in human lives and properties. The curious thing about some of these wars was what actually caused them. Some of them were caused by the selfish ambitions of their leaders, some by greed and others by territorial expansionism. The bottom-line, in fact, is that these wars were just products of self-centredness.
I saw all that transpired during the Nigerian Civil War and cannot wish that to the worst of my enemies. Indeed, it was beyond a normal war. Women and their children were massacred through air-raids and starvation. It is needless recounting all that happened during the war, because it would make many weep endlessly. It was simply genocide! Thank God today we still live as one united people, sweeping under the carpet those things that separate us.
I wish to state without any equivocation, that the insurgencies across the country, including the Niger Delta crisis, were products of a disjointed and debased social system, skewed to benefit a particular people or peoples. Lack of justice has been identified as the bane of democratic advancement in many African countries. The heterogeneous nature of our country makes it vulnerable to occasional conflicts. The scope of the conflicts is dictated by the political pressure in the country at each point. The 2011 elections, coupled with the death of Musa Yar’Adua, contributed to the exacerbation of the Boko Haram impasse. They, indeed, saw the lacuna created by the elections as an opportunity to unleash terror on the land.
I must not fail to observe at this juncture that government has not been docile since the crisis started. In fact, government has made concerted efforts to broker peace, which the sect rebuffed. The recent one being the committee set up to mediate between the sect and the government. If the plan had pulled through, probably by now we should have been consolidating on the gains already achieved. But see where we are today: still grappling with incessant suicide bombings, killings, maiming, kidnapping and arson. These atrocities are too many for a young and progressive nation as ours.
We may not know the harm we have done to this country by the internal conflicts that beset her. Imagine what burden we have placed on the fragile shoulders of our country by our actions of omission or commission! Boko Harma is just a percentage of the burden that this nation bears for all of us. What about corruption? Corruption accounts for 50 per cent of all of our problems. War is worse than diverting what belongs to the people to the private accounts of individuals? War is worse than not providing the necessities of life to the citizens when the nation makes all the money needed to provide these necessities? What war can be worse than lopsided distribution of national wealth or political offices?
I have asked these questions to agitate our minds about the harm we individually and collectively inflict on the Nigerian nation. It is not only when we take up arms against one another that we destroy the nation. By our utterances and other reckless actions we destroy the foundation on which the sovereignty of our nation was built.
If a soothsayer had told me 10 years ago that Nigeria would someday be rated internationally as a terrorist enclave I would not have believed him. Now see how we have turned a once-beautiful nation into a jungle for the survival of the fittest.
Injustice in our social system has also been fingered as one of the causes of the conflicts afflicting our nation. Now, what is actually just or unjust? What some see as justice can really mean injustice. So, the word ‘injustice’ or ‘justice’ is relative. But the barefaced truth is injustice has permeated the fabric of our nation, threatening its very existence.
Yes, there is too much injustice in Nigeria. It was injustice that caused the Nigerian Civil War. And the injustice that led to the unfortunate war is yet to be fully addressed. Niger Delta insurgency was caused by injustice. The militants took to the creeks to protest the devastation of their land and water by the activities of oil exploration companies. They could not understand why they should suffer any deprivation whatsoever when they are the geese that lay the golden eggs. And they were right.
Before the abolition of regionalism in Nigeria each region controlled its own resources, paying just a percentage of what they earned to the Federal Government. Power was concentrated on the regions, making the centre not too attractive. Today the opposite is what we have. The centre has become so powerful that every tribal block would want to have a taste of the presidency. This is what is responsible for the recurring aggravated political tension in the country.
The ongoing National Conference must, as a matter of urgency and importance, address the issues raised above in order to engender a saner nation and avoid the impending cataclysm. The threats of cataclysm are real. The threats of disintegration are also real. What we should not allow to happen is to make all these negative prophecies about Nigeria come true.
We have what it takes to move Nigeria forward. What we probably lack are the decorum and will power to do so. Six years from now we will be expected to give a scorecard on our performance on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We will be prepared to offer such an account? Smaller countries in Africa have reached the 75 per cent target and will hit the threshold before 2020. Why can’t we re-channel our energy to achieving the MDGs target instead of killing and maiming one another?
Nigeria is a country God has blessed in so many ways, but what have we done to sustain this divine grace? All our politicians are interested in for now is 2015 – they have sacrificed governance on the altar of self-aggrandizement, leaving the people groaning under the weight of poverty and instability.
I use this opportunity to appeal to all those aggrieved one way or another to sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue. They gain nothing killing innocent people and destroying properties. We have shed so much blood in this country that we need to atone for our atrocities, not aggravate them. Since the end of hostilities in 1970 Nigeria has never known peace: It has been one case of internal upheaval or another. Why can’t we do some introspection and see that we have collectively as a people done so much harm to Nigeria by our actions and inactions.
For all I care, no matter how much we are aggrieved or hate one another, the truth remains that two wrongs cannot make a right. The earlier we appreciate this fact and begin to work for true reconciliation and nationalism the better for our nation and all of us.
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