FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiThursday, December 18, 2014
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Bonn, Germany

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2014: THE YEAR NIGERIA WOULD NOT FORGET IN A HURRY (15)


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Continued from Part 14

They are not all saints who use holy water (English Proverb)

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy (William Hazlitt)

A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation (Adlai E. Stevenson)

t's unfortunate that the northern elite are fiddling while their region burns. Instead of the northern overlords to join hands with the government, in one way or the other, to stem the tide of insurgency ravaging their region; they are heaping all the blame on President Jonathan's door. No doubt the President has failed so far in the war against insurgency, but, his failure is due to the sabotage on the part of those leading the prosecution of the war against the terrorists. The President is a human being like all us; he can fail, he can make mistake, but, the failure here was deliberately caused by those who failed to carry out his orders to the end, because, it's hard to understand how a person can give more to a cause but achieved too little. So, it's taradiddle to say that the president is not doing anything about the insurgency. The President may be afraid to take the bull by the horn by arresting all those suspected of backing Boko Haram, as that may be like the adding of fuel to this already overheated polity. Anything the president does, would be criticized, and people will always see his actions through an ethnic prism; that may be the reason the president has decided to settle for the lesser evil rather than arresting the northerners behind Boko Haram and the moles who infiltrated his government, those who have succeeded in sabotaging all efforts to rout the terrorists before now. President Jonathan is not the bullying type; that's his nature! Jonathan's foot dragging attitude here can be understood, because, with Obasanjo's continued attack and lack of support, Jonathan will be standing on a sinking sand, if he goes after the powerful northerners behind the Boko Haram sect, because, with the Nigerian military still in firm grip of the northerners (no matter who's the Chief of Army Staff today), those powerful northern elite can influence their own in the military to remove Jonathan as the President through a coup, thereby achieving what they wanted Boko Haram to do for them through another means. Jonathan didn't come from the military establishment, and have no military backing, and as such no political backbone, and must tread softly. That's the problem with Nigeria; if a person wasn't an ex-military general or has no ex-general as a brother or a group of ex-generals as backers, he can't be a strong president of Nigeria. For Jonathan, many factors are responsible for his style of governance: The manner he evolved as the president and the opposition to his candidature right from the start must have humbled him. It's most likely that he will be more forceful and better as president in his second term, assuming he wins in 2015. The Sun of December 17, 2014 wrote: "Those who are not favorably disposed to Jonathan would insist that beyond all is that he has not lived up to expectation in the fight against Boko Haram. Many insist that under his watch, the Boko Haram challenge has become literally insurmountable and leading to a veritable insurgency that has caused the death of thousands of citizens with the government sometimes appearing helpless. As convincing as the arguments in this school of thought appear, there are many who believe that no president could have done better in the same circumstance that Jonathan found himself. The argument among those here is that from inception, right from when Jonathan was acting for late President Umaru Yar�adua, some powers that be did not give him a chance. Many recall that some prominent politicians including his opponent, Gen Buhari voiced it out in 2011 general elections that they would make Nigeria ungovernable if they lost in the poll. There are those who argue that, the Boko Haram phenomenon has toughened Mr. President and has made him more confident as both Christian and Muslim leaders have come out openly to criticize Boko Haram which has attracted global recognition and condemnation. Not a few argue that some elites, who have failed to achieve relevance in the ballot box, are merely exploiting Boko Haram to instigate insecurity in the country. Political observers insist that such people had initially adopted several measures to discourage President Goodluck Jonathan contesting the 2015 election but failed, hence the resort to instigate insecurity in the nation".

The northern overlords are not sincere; they are hypocrites, and their action here was best described by Abraham Lincoln (1809 - April 15, 1865) as: "Hypocrite: the man who murdered both his parents... pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan". This writer advises the northern overlords to be more determined than ever not to get snookered into foofaraw about the President's ability as the commander-in-chief; afterall it was their support for Boko Haram that bloomed the insurgency. The northern overlords should be happy that Goodluck Jonathan, a man of dignified mien, is the president, otherwise many of them would have been on self imposed exile by now, or in jail, while many northern cities and villages taken over by the terrorists, would have been leveled down without any consideration to the attendant collateral damages (lives of innocent citizens and destruction of peoples' property). This writer is also telling the northern overlords that best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others. What they (northern overlords) should have done was to call their Boko Haram boys to order just as the Elders of the Niger Delta did when the Niger Delta militants were causing their own havoc in their region. That call to order from the Niger Delta Elders made the Niger Delta militants to embrace the amnesty and peace. Also, when kidnappers were rampaging in the South-East, no person from that zone was clapping for them, rather, everybody there were praying for the defeat of the menace. So, the northern lords should look for a way to call the monster they bred to order, assuming it didn't consume most of them before then.

These kinds of words below are divisive and should be unacceptable in a democratic setting. How can the northern overlords make careless statements when they claimed they want peace? Their statements and peace are incompatible, and Aldous Huxley (1894 -1963) noted that point, when he wrote " Almost all of us long for peace and freedom; but very few of us have much enthusiasm for the thoughts, feelings, and actions that make for peace and freedom":

In October 2014, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) passed a vote of no confidence on all governors of the northern states of the federation, saying the loss of confidence is because they have become "sell-outs". The Forum accused the governors of betraying their zone with an alleged agreement with President Goodluck Jonathan to seek re-election instead of forcing him to relinquish power to the north. The Forum's Secretary, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said some of the Northern governors secretly made a deal with Jonathan in 2011 because of self-interest while keeping their people in the dark. He urged the Northern Governors to be bold enough to tell Jonathan that he has no right to contest election based on their earlier power rotation agreement reached between the Northern and Southern parts of the country under the auspices of the PDP. He warned Nigerians not to vote for Jonathan in 2015, stressing that anyone who votes for him would be taken as conniving with the PDP to sell the rights of Northern Nigerian people.

Also, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Chairman's unilateral endorsement of Buhari as the northern candidate shows the thinking of some of the northern overlords (overt desperation). Retired IGP Coomasie, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Chairman, said that the northern body had adopted the APC's presidential candidate as the northern candidate against President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, but, it turned out to be a lie as other ACF members have refuted the phantom endorsement, saying that the body is yet to meet to decide on whom to support. Even the former Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, just debunked insinuations that the body is against the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying officials were only canvassing personal opinion.

How can Nigeria win the war against insurgency when there is no unified front against the menace? Guardian of Sunday, November 16, 2014 rightly pointed it out that there was no united front in the fight against insurgency; so now is time to shed the undue acrimony. To successfully prosecute the war against Boko Haram, the country's political leadership must shed its ineptitude, corruption and the political acrimony over succession. Indeed, the president and all governors should suspend their interest in politics, and mobilize fully to repel Boko Haram before the scheduled election. There is no point in feuding over the rulership of a threatened entity. It is doubtful, for instance, if election can hold in the occupied areas. Yet, failure to conduct election in any part of the country will call the credibility of the election and its result to question. Furthermore, the logistics of waging a successful military crusade or war, under the present circumstances, are daunting. The country is at the crossroads, which nevertheless provides opportunity for government to affirm its audacity. While pursuing the military option, there is need to mobilize religious leaders, particularly in the north, to explore a way out. Other non-confrontational options should not be ruled out; but the nation must never again be taken for a ride as it happened following the declared ceasefire that was later denied by Boko Haram. The worst is already happening, and the Federal Government cannot continue to treat the crisis flippantly. The level of politics being played with such a serious problem is unfortunate, as it provided advantage for the insurgents. This must stop if the country is to achieve the desired result. A fact remains that the bulk of the people in the northeast do not support Boko Haram. But they need to be liberated from the group's clutches. Politicians should realize that unless and until the Boko Haram is effectively checked, there may be no country for them to rule.

Those sabotaging this war against the terrorists, and at the same time are those occupying the leadership positions in the security agencies are mostly northerners, so the northern overlords should channel their criticisms of how the war has been prosecuted so far to their fellow northerners whose responsibilities are to rout the terrorists, but, have failed because of the economic and political gain accruing to them from the insurgency. That a local sect formed in2009, now has the chutzpa to do anything it likes should be blamed on the north and not on the President. The northern overlords, criticizing the president should sit down and take stock of the havoc their hitherto support for Boko Haram has wrecked in their region.

Because of Boko Haram:

According to BBC: More than 4,000 civilians have been killed in more than 192 attacks since May 2013 in the north-eastern part of Nigeria and in the capital, Abuja, and, at least 2,053 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in the first half of 2014.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Boko Haram forces abducted women and girls to go to the front line to help fight the military and that the group has taken more than 500 women and girls hostage since it began its insurgency in 2009.

It's such a situation in the BAY (Borno Adamawa, Yobe) states of the North East region that majority of the citizens have abandoned their homes, businesses and farmlands and resorted to living in camps and depending on relatives in other neighboring state. The situation is worse as such that many of the displaced Boko Haram victims eat grass just to survive.

Because of Boko Haram:

NYSC members posted to Gombe State do their orientation and passing out ceremony respective in another state! The governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, has just confirmed what many people have been thinking, that it will take the entire north-eastern states another 20 years to recover from the damage done to the economic lives of those parts of the country because of the activities of the Boko Haram sect. The Governor stated further that the activities of the Boko Haram sect have completely destroyed both the economic and social lives of the state. The governor pointed out that generations yet to be born may have to struggle to be able to overcome the devastation that the Boko Haram has done to the people of the state. The threat of Boko Haram made NYSC members posted to Gombe State to do their orientation and passing out ceremony in Minna, Niger State, because of the security challenge in the troubled state. It was during the closing ceremony in Minna that the embattled state governor made the assertions that the state government had to relocate the over 3,000 Corps members posted to Gombe State to Niger State for their orientation due to the security situation in the region, stressing that Corps members posted to Gombe State will continue to observe their orientation in Niger State, until the security challenges improve.

Because of Boko Haram:

Over 100,000 voters may be disenfranchised as The Nation wrote that no fewer than 100,000 eligible voters are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Gujba and Gulani local government areas of Yobe State. The distribution of cards has been suspended, following the invasion of the two councils by members of the Boko Haram sect. The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Sadiq Abubakar, told reporters in Damaturu, the state capital, that the exercise was suspended because of insecurity. He said INEC officials will resume the distribution, when the security situation improves. Here, we are talking of only Yobe State. Who knows how many more were disenfranchised in Borno and Adamawa States respectively because of Boko Haram. The 2015 election may not hold or may be inconclusive unless the terrorists are defeated right now and the elusive peace returns to the land immediately, making it possible for the citizens in the north-east of Nigeria to exercise their constitutional right of voting for candidates of their choice at all levels in February 2015.

Because of Boko Haram:

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: About 1.5 million Nigerians have been displaced! What's the effect and fate of displaced persons: Wherever the insurgents overran, they assured the people that they will not attack them, but, people are running away for their lives, as they think that having subdued the soldiers, the insurgents will turn their weapons on them. The United States through its Assistant Secretary of State, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Thursday September 4 expressed its concern about the more than 700,000 internally displaced persons and reports that those numbers continue to increase. In his words, Thomas-Greenfield said: "We are deeply troubled by the risks to their personal security and their economic livelihoods, as well as the implications on food security. We are concerned about their ability as citizens to exercise their rights to vote in the upcoming elections".

In November, 2014, Christian leaders in Adamawa State called for the suspension of political activities till security situation improves. Due to the heightened activities of the Boko Haram insurgency, which led to the annexation of several local government areas of Adamawa State, the Christian leaders called for the suspension of all political activities in Nigeria, to allow the Federal Government face the Boko Haram insurgents. The communiqu� was issued and signed by Most Reverend Dr Stephen Dami Mamza, Catholic Bishop of Yola, Most Reverend (Dr) Nemuel Babba, LCCN Archbishop, Reverend (Dr) Samuel Dali Danti, EYN President and Bishop Amos Yakubu LCCN Bishop.

Boko Haram is causing major havoc and is living to its name, as its onslaught have led to closure of schools in the areas it had overrun. The insurgents forced the Adamawa State Government to shut the state university in Mubi, when they, the insurgents, overran Uba, a town five kilometres from Mubi, in order to prevent an attack on students of the institution. The university directed the students to return home, as the university was closed indefinitely for security reasons.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy & Honorable Minister of Finance said at The Atlantic Council on October 8, 2014: "the security challenge we presently face, particularly the Boko Haram insurgency, which reached a crescendo when over 200 schools girls of the government secondary school in Chibok, were abducted from their dormitories last April. This terrorist sect's key objective is to destroy formal or western education in Nigeria. This year alone, we know that Boko Haram has murdered over 170 teachers in Borno State, and an estimated 300 educational facilities have been destroyed in the three most affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, including 80 primary schools in Borno State alone. Over a thousand Nigerians have lost their lives to these insurgents this year".

Because of Boko Haram:

The governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, narrated the additional hardships caused by the Islamic insurgency as: tens of thousands of farmers driven from their land, many children, including new orphans, out of school and the need for additional medical services. He said his government has bought thousands of bags of food for free distribution, is starting scholarships for all children orphaned by the insurgency, and has instructed the state health ministry to introduce mobile clinics to attend to victims of the emergency. Shettima also urged Nigeria's federal government to redouble its efforts to contain the insurgency. The Borno State Government also said that government's presence and administration remained minimal or non-existent across many parts of the state, with economic, commercial and social services totally subdued as schools and clinics remain closed. Most settlements in the affected areas in the state have either been deserted or access to them practically impossible.

Because of Boko Haram:

The dream of drilling oil in the north-east has been killed: The oil the north craves, as if it is the air it breathes, will not be explored for a long time to come. Places in the north-eastern, where oil was discovered and where drilling activities has commenced, has been abandoned as a result of the Boko Haram attacks. The AFP of September 28, 2014 wrote that social and economic development has long been touted as the way to revive the fortunes of Nigeria's impoverished north and prevent legions of disaffected young men turning to radical Islam. But that Boko Haram violence has scuppered progress, particularly from one potentially lucrative source of revenue, the oil found under the Lake Chad Basin in the country's far northeast. According to AFP: "Nigeria struck black gold in the Kukawa area of Borno state in 2012, with estimates that 100 billion cubic metres of deposits lie beneath the lake and its arid hinterland. The discovery raised hopes not just because of its potential to transform the region economically but to also help boost Nigeria's oil reserves by three billion barrels to 40 billion barrels. But the former head of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, said in March that plans to start production had been put on hold because of the conflict. Geologists, engineers and other technical staff quit while the country's main oil unions warned workers to stay away, putting paid to extraction and further exploration".

Some of those blaming the government for not doing enough to rout the terrorists, or some of those asking the government to declare a total war against the terrorists, or some of those telling the citizens in the north to grid their loins and be ready to defend themselves against the terrorists, are guilty of playing politics at the expense of the lives of Nigerians, as they had earlier compounded the crisis and gave Boko Haram a leeway, by their support for the sect or by their opposition against the declaration of a state of emergency in the zone, even in the face of no other viable alternative strategy. Now, Shekau has threatened to deal with the Emir of Kano for called on people to defend themselves against attacks by the Boko Haram militant Islamist group. Remember that the Australian, Dr. Davis, who negotiated with Boko Haram on behalf of the federal government at one time, alleged, few months ago, that one of the financiers of Boko Haram was a senior personnel at CBN, and that was the time the current Emir was the Governor of Central Bank. So, money from the Central Bank went to Boko Haram when Sanusi was the governor of the bank, but, now the sect wants his head. Who is to be blamed?

Read more about Boko Haram's threat to The Emir of Kano:

https://thecitizenng.com/headline-2/boko-haram-shekau-threatens-emir-of-kano-in-new-video/

https://247ureports.com/boko-haram-conspiracy-over-bauchi-bombing-former-sgf-yayale-fingered/ (Be warned for its goriness)

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce_rLBRssWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKTVI71NERU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLdtVB9ITW4

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 14

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IMAGES IN THE NEWS