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Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live (Oscar Wilde)

It is not power itself, but the legitimation of the lust for power, which corrupts absolutely (Bertrand Russell)

The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion (Cornelius Tacitus)

Their insatiable lust for power is only equaled by their incurable impotence in exercising it (Winston Churchill)

Continued from Part 1

emember that in the preceding part of this article, this writer wrote that " the problems are: There's a lack of collaboration among the various security agencies; some military personnel are giving out information about the troops movement to the terrorists; some northern political elites are the sponsors of the terrorists and the unseen faces behind their operations; some northern Islamic religious leaders, through their fiery preaching, have helped in swelling the numbers of willing converts for Boko Haram; some northern children and women are used as spies and informants for the terrorists. When one sums up all these moves aimed at sabotaging the war against the terrorists, then any effort to contain the terrorists becomes inadequate, as the government has been fighting the enemies it really doesn't know who they are or how many they are. Without sabotage, the government forces would have put the terrorists to rout long time ago". This column will examine some of these points from now, starting with:

NORTHERN ELDERS AND LEADERS:

The question here becomes whether the northern leaders have succeeded in making Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan, as they promised they would do, through their support for Boko Haram? Have those with the erroneous believe that they are born to rule Nigeria made Nigeria ungovernable for the president because "he's not one of their own"?

Prominent northern leaders, even former heads of state, have never openly condemned Boko Haram and its heinous acts, so their silence here can be construed as a tacit support for the terrorist sect. Their refusal to condemn the Boko Haram sect and then advice the members to lay down their weapons and embrace peace can be seen as an approval of the sect's philosophy. Or has the deadly terrorist sect frightened those northern leaders into acquiescence? IBB has never said anything against the sect; he only condemned the insecurity that's trying to dismember Nigeria, and not the Boko Haram group itself. Buhari seems to be the sect's best apologist, meaning that what's rumoured that he's one of its sponsors may be true, although there has been no concrete evidence to substantiate this allegation other than his utterances.

The Vanguard wrote that "perhaps out of political passion, some northern leaders few years ago made dire threats against the peace of the nation in the event President Goodluck Jonathan made a success of his election bid. Now two years down the line and the country in a practical state of war, the question as to whether the jingoists have had their way is an issue. It was a year ago, that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari made the famous baboon and blood threat against election riggers. Receiving partisans of his Congress for Progressive Change, CPC from Niger State in his Kaduna residence on a courtesy call, Buhari had said: "God willing, by 2015, something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way. If what happened in 2011 (alleged rigging) should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood." Buhari who spoke in Hausa was supposedly giving dire threats against election riggers, but it was not difficult for his political enemies to take it up as one other indication of the violent streak on the part of the former head of state. While Buhari's assertions were essentially directed against election riggers, declarations by some other northern irredentists have, however, been more forceful. None perhaps as vindictive as Alhaji Lawal Kaita who said back in 2011 that Nigeria would be made ungovernable should President Goodluck Jonathan be elected into Aso Rock. Two years down the line and the country practically in a state of war, many are now bringing back to memory the assertions made by Kaita in the heat of the political jostling that preceded the presidential nomination convention of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Mallam Adamu Ciroma who led the northern agitation for power shift gave a largely ominous sign of what would happen by his unusual reticence. Since the failed move by the Ciroma led Northern Leaders Political Forum, NPLF, to take the presidential ticket from Jonathan through political means failed, he has remained in the background and out of political contact with the mainstream in his party"

Buhari's aggressive stance may have given him away as a supporter or sponsor of Boko Haram. It's condemnable that he (Buhari) never sees peaceful means useful in solving any problem. He advocates aggression always as a way to sort out the problems in the polity. It's unfortunate that his desperation to rule Nigeria again, for whatever reasons, has made him so hawkish. The Vanguard of May 15, 2013, wrote that "Buhari had warned his supporters, at a campaign rally in Kaduna on March 2, 2011, to resist rigging. "You should never leave polling centres until votes are counted and the winner declared and you should lynch anybody that tries to tinker with the votes." Buhari had said in an assertion that easily dovetailed into suggestions that he instigated the crisis that followed the presidential elections in the north in 2011".

Even if Buhari is not one of the sponsors of Boko Haram, his utterances and bellicose tendencies have marked him out as being sympathetic to the Boko Haram cause. And once the terrorists know that a big shot like Buhari has soft spot for them, they tend to be more motivated in their campaign of calumny and their belligerence against the state and its people. This writer understands where those calling for Buhari's arrest are coming from. Nigeria has tolerated his provocative and aggressive utterances for long, and if an elder statesman like him can't tone down the rhetoric and embrace peace as the only lasting solution to all problems inherent in the system, then nobody should blame the government if and when it orders his arrest. As the man who overthrew an elected government, he should have been hauled to court for the distortion of democracy, afterall, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan left office so many years ago, but, he is in court in 2013 for suspending the constitution of Pakistan and for overthrowing an elected government about eight years ago. Pervez Musharraf is now banned from standing in Pakistani elections in what political analysts see as a blow to his hopes of political comeback. Buhari should have suffered the same fate as Musharraf, if Nigeria is a land where the rule of law holds sway.

The same Buhari, a former head of State and leader of a party, Congress for Progressive Change, condemned the emergency rule in parts of the north, because, according to him, innocent civilians are being killed in those states. Buhari was quoted by The Rainbow as having said that Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished unlike the "special treatment" given to the Niger Delta militants by the Federal Government. Nobody knows what Buhari wants or where he stands; he that condemned the emergency rule, according to The Rainbow, also blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for his inability to tackle the security problems in the country. Such unclear stance on certain issues is encouraging the terrorists in their deadly campaigns. Remember that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) are also against the banning of Boko Haram and Ansaru sects.

Some northerners have even condemned the attitudes of the northern leaders: Shehu Sani, a civil rights activist, noted that the northern elite use religion to manipulate people. On the other hand, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) called for Buhari's arrest for his many incendiary comments on the Nigerian polity. In a report by Huhuonline posted on June 4, 2013, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said that it's unfortunate that while the rest of the country is praying for the successful of the military action against terrorists in the North, Buhari has been indulging in make careless pronouncements without consideration for victims of families of the sect's acts of terrorism. CAN noted that Buhari recently questioned the 'special treatment' given to the Niger-Delta militants by the Federal Government while the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses destroyed by government. In Buhari's words: "They, (the Niger-Delta militants), were trained in some skills and were given employment, but the ones in the North were being killed and their houses were being demolished. They are different issues. What brought this? It is injustice."

The President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, then said "Buhari, having on various occasions justified the action of the sect, strongly suggests that he is their leader, therefore, he stands a big security threat to the country's corporate existence". Oritsejafor stated that he could not wish away the outburst of harshly critical statements, especially as some of them are directly related to the defence of the Boko Haram sect whose members have continued to kill, maim Christians and burn Churches. In his words: " It is shocking that at a time [when] well-meaning Nigerians are praying for the success of our soldiers, Buhari, rather than reflect the mood of the nation in his statements and conducts, is indulging in careless statements without regards for victims of the sect's violence who are mostly Christians. I have, several times, been vindicated that Boko Haram is not inspired by pecuniary motives, the latest of which is the statement by Robert Fowler, the released former United Nation's envoy to Niger Republic who said in a BBC programme, Hard Talk, aired on Tuesday, 4th June, 2013, that his captors never talked of poverty, but Islamisation of Africa. Spent and defeated politicians with outburst of temper and elders like Buhari who take delight in inflaming religious and ethnic passions should, therefore, be arrested and made to explain some of the issues raised by them. It is laughable that Buhari, an ex-Head of State, a General in the Nigerian Army who has served this country in different capacities, would support Islamists who are confronting those in his constituency who are fighting to keep the nation from dismemberment. For Buhari who has led a Brigade of troops in 1982 to repel invading Chadian troops from the same north-eastern borders of Nigeria, the first major foreign invasion, to oppose a state of emergency when some parts of Borno and Yobe States had been occupied and the Nigerian flag replaced with theirs, burnt Churches, schools, government institutions, killed innocent Christians, attacked traditional rulers and others not sympathetic to their cause, speaks volume. The retired general's sad commentary has not portrayed him as a national leader. As a retired General, he should have known that fights against terrorists are not mere child's play. They are much more difficult than conventional war which he fought in 1982. If Buhari is a national leader, he should have been more concerned about the killings of innocent ones by the sect members and the success of the troops and not that of terrorists as he has been doing."

Oritsejafor maintained that "Buhari should know that no injustice can justify the wanton destruction of Churches and the widespread massacre of innocent Christians. Why are Christians more of the victims of this orgy of terror unleashed by the Boko Haram sect? Buhari and others of that ilk should, rather than exacerbating the problem at hand, aim to convince the sect members of the wrongfulness of their Islamisation plot. If the retired general is now crying out that the Boko Haram members are being killed, it can only mean that the boys he intended to use to spill the blood of monkeys and baboons on the land are being decimated by the gallant Special Forces. For now, Buhari should be told that the time to grandstand for 2015 is not now. I, therefore, call on him and his fellow travellers to remember that we are all Nigerians, our religion and regional leanings notwithstanding".

This writer hates to hear that injustice or poverty is the major reason for the Boko Haram security threat. Afterall, there was injustice and poverty before Jonathan became the president. Jonathan didn't create injustice and poverty; they were there before he became president, Nigeria only hired him to fix the problems. Come to think of it; it was the northerners, who have ruled Nigeria all these while, who created poverty and injustice in Nigeria. If Boko Haram and other Islamic terror sects are serious, they should have dealt with their northern leaders who misruled Nigeria for all of us. Why didn't the sects pick up arms against the state before the tenure of Jonathan then?

Minabere Ibelema wrote in Punch: "For about three years now, Boko Haram has backed up its threat of making Nigeria ungovernable with a wave of bloody attacks. Yet, the group's cause has varied in its articulation and hence the possibility of a solution. At some point or another, Boko Haram (or at least one of its spokesmen) has demanded that all of Nigeria become Islamic, that Sharia be adopted nationwide, and that all western values be expunged from our national life.
Specifically - it has been reported - the group's leader issued an ultimatum to President Jonathan to either convert to Islam or resign.
Casting aside Boko Haram's religious fervour, some secular interpreters (northern, southern and foreign) have attributed their violence to the frustrations of the North's poverty.
But given that the violence became pronounced in tandem with the Jonathan's presidency, that begs the question of whether the poverty emanated therein. That the group's primary targets have been Christians also undercuts the poverty argument.
And that has left politics as the most plausible primary explanation. Northern leaders have incrementally made it known that Boko Haram is about the Jonathan presidency.
Of particular vexation are the terms of settlement of the Niger Delta militancy, which they see as overly generous. The call for a comparable amnesty for Boko Haram is an attempt to equalise what they see as an inequitable playing field. Problem is that Boko Haram does not formally present their grievance in economic and political terms. And there is no way of settling with a group that wants to force its religion on others.
Moreover, there is little parallel between the Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram's violence. The cause of the Niger Delta militants was a long-running and undeniable injustice. Nowhere in the world do a people willingly allow resources from their land to be used to benefit others so much and themselves so little. For Northerners to begrudge the reasonable redress of the grievance is to be averse to justice".

SABOTEURS IN THE MILTARY AND OTHER SECURITY FORCES:

One thing leading to another; Boko Haram planted moles inside the security forces fighting it, and that has sabotaged the efforts aimed at routing the deadly sect. Without the help of some retired northern Generals, Admirals, Air Marshals, IGPs, Comptrollers of Customs, Immigration etc, Boko Haram and other deadly terror sects couldn't have infiltrated the military and para-military forces, as they have done. This issue tends to confirm the fact that those behind the terrorist sect (Boko Haram) are some of the northern big shots, and that's why the sect has an aura of invincibility despite the forces marshalled against it, and despite the fact that the governmental forces have diminished the operating space. Even with the declared state of emergency, the sect continues to kill innocent citizens in some of the northern states. Sabotage has made mincemeat of the government efforts to rout the sect, as those behind the sect "dine with the government during the day, and then go to the terrorists for rendezvous and to give the "boys" instructions during the night". This government thinks that some of those advising it on security matters have the interest or the peace and security of Nigeria at heart. They are only sponsors and moles for the terrorist sect they created to make Nigeria ungovernable for the president. Unfortunately, this president gets carried away easily, while they ruin his tenure. The question should be why some of those appointed to serve in the Boko Haram amnesty committee rejected the offer? Although few rejected the offer for fear of reprisal attack on them and their family by the sect, but, many of them refused to serve in the committee because they don't want peace to reign during Jonathan's tenure, and it would be high on foolishness for them to stop the insecurity they set in motion through Boko Haram. There's a saying in this writer's hometown (Aba) that says "if you bend down, you will see Aba", so Mr. President, "if you bend down, you will see Aba", meaning, if you look well, you will know those sabotaging your efforts here!

To be continued!

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh_UQ6dY1FI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaOVKy_Vhe0

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 1