When
an elder statesman speaks from two sides of his mouth on state matter it goes
beyond attempting to create more confusion in the already fragile system to include
discrediting those in authority. The double standard talk is intended to
undermine President Jonathan’s administration and set him against the people. It
is as diversionary as it is ill conceived. By asking President Goodluck
Jonathan to blow hot and cold at the same time Baba is setting the stage for
his eventual dislodgement come 2015. Either
way, the conflicting advice is designed to open up avenues for more criticisms;
condemnations and possible rejection come 2015.
Then
the former President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who called on the Federal
Government to exploit the option of dialogue with members of the insurgent
group Boko Haram in order to arrest the prevailing drift in the nation’s security.
He
pointed out that the use of force has failed to address the insecurity
propagated in the country by Boko Haram and advised that “We must put hands together to find a more rewarding and meaningful end
to this security concern”. To the retired army general, “Dialogue is my number one preference in
this regard”.
But,
unlike a resolute army general of the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps and former President
that we know him to be, he went further to instruct a sitting President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to use bedroom voice (or is it language of weakness) when
talking on issues concerning the Boko Haram sect and to advice his aides to do
the same. In his words, “Language of force will not help us in our strong
determination to address this insecurity problem” (emphasis mine). He maintained that President Goodluck
Jonathan and his able lieutenants must learn how to talk to the Boko Haram
terrorists with “respect”. Haba,
Baba! We all aware of frantic efforts that President Jonathan have made to make
Boko Haram insurgents and their sponsors to pull their mask and come to reason
with the Federal Government but they turn down all advances and are so bent on
causing havoc in the land, destroying lives and properties. What Boko Haram is
doing in northern Nigeria is sinister; it is evil and should be condemned by
all in totality.
As
Festus Eriye rightly said, “Anyone investigating the short history of failed
dialogue between the government and the insurgents will find that Jonathan and
his administration have been anything but hawkish over the matter. Even in the
face of the worst outrages the president was always advocating talks – much
more to the chagrin of many”.
Adopting
a motion titled “Urgent Need for the Federal Government to Open Avenues for
Dialogue as a Means of Addressing Security Challenges in the Country” moved by
Muhammed Bashir Galadanchi representing Gwale Federal Constituency, Kano Sate,
members of the House of Representatives at a plenary session endorsed the use
of dialogue as a means of addressing security challenges posed by Boko Haram. To
Galadanchi and his colleagues in the Lower House military action, random
arrests and imprisonments are not only ineffective but also escalated trends of
insecurity. Lamenting on the direction of the ill wind called Boko Haram,
Galadanchi said further, “If this approach is not reversed and more long-term
solutions deployed, the incessant incidents will pose serious threat to our
security, to our democracy, the rights and freedom of our innocent citizens and
ultimately destabilize the nation’s fragile stability and unity”.
The
law makers’ called on the Federal Government to initiate programmes that will
promote rule of law, strengthened civil institutions and address the underlying
factors that fuel insecurity and violent extremism is right on course.
What
I cannot agree with the law makers is to tell President Goodluck Jonathan to
dialogue with shadows or faceless band of criminals who has refused to see
reason and down their weapons. Besides, on what basis are we talking dialogue
with Boko Haram? Dialogue does not just happen. It is usually propelled into
action or initiated by the perceived losing side to secure a safe landing
ground. In other words, fighters only
come to a negotiating table when they realize that their cause cannot be
achieved by force of arms. Has Boko Haram come to this realization? Until Boko
Haram and their sponsors come to this realization the Federal Government should
not be pushed around.
No legitimate government will just hurry into
talks with every illegal or pseudo group that challenges its authority. Besides,
Boko Haram has scattered like a pack of card with criminal elements in the
north cashing in to benefit from the crisis. With the fragmentation of Boko
Haram into many factions, which do we begin to negotiate with? If we hack a
deal with one group will the other factions abide by such agreement?
Although
Nigeria has no clear cut procedure for dealing with terrorists’ groups, the
global best practice is not to dialogue with them. It is disservice to Nigeria to attempt to
politicize Boko Haram and of a more disservice to advice a President who is in
total control of all parts of the country to abandon State matters and go
begging terrorists to come to a negotiating table.
Is
President Jonathan’s tough talk already generating ripples between the faceless
sponsors of Boko Haram and their puppets of destruction? Those suggesting
dialogue should bold enough to tell us only two things:
1. What
Boko Haram insurgents actually want from Nigeria?
2. Who
they are?
The
answer to these questions will enable President Jonathan to know beforehand
what is expected of him and how to go about finding appropriate solutions to
them.
While
I am not totally against dialogue, I am of the view that dialogue with Boko
Haram will be reasonable and effective only when the sect come to its senses,
put down their arms and come to the government with clear cut demands. Because,
if the issues they continue to parade or to be addressed centered around the following,
the Federal Government should be wary of the push into dialogue since most of
the voice we are hearing is that of Jacob but the hand is that of Esau. Is the
dialogue all about:
1. Replacing
western education with Islamic education in Nigeria in this 21st century?
2. Establishing
Sharia or the Islamic legal system in the whole of Nigeria, the direction OBJ
wanted Nigeria go when he approved Sharia law in some States in the country in
1999?
3. Or
Islamizing Nigeria as planned by IBB when he smuggled Nigeria into the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the G8 Islamic Countries in 1986,
4. Or,
to negotiate political takeover of the nation by the north come 2015 an issue
that is already tearing PDP apart?
However,
if the dialogue is to center around the problems of unemployment,
underdevelopment, social decay, rights abuse, separation of power and the rule
of law, and true federalism etc. it make sense and these are attainable demands
of citizens in any true democracy.
Perhaps
the apostles of dialogue are seeing the “carrot” as some juicy contracts for
the Hausa/Fulani Boko Haram sect. Possibly
they are of the opinion that since the Niger Delta militants are now pipeline
security contractors earning over half a billion Naira, the Federal Government should
contract out our northern borders’ security to Boko Haram at a cost double that
amount?
Next,
the Yoruba OPC will eventually take up arms to destabilize the west, and then
we will respond with “carrots” by
means of contracting them to secure our western coasts? Do you not think that in
this arrangement, the Igbo MASSOB will eventually lose out because they will have
nothing to hold in order to pull Nigeria to their angle? Except MASSOB will
embark on arms struggle and front commerce and ingenuity as instruments of
negotiation; and because it concerns the Igbos we will at that time pullout
armoured cars and tanks to massacre them?
Although
the 30 months civil war have contributed to check arms bearing in eastern
Nigeria, the ongoing events in Nigeria is enough to change a people’s
perception of peace, gentleness and loyalty. This endless circle of dialogue
and negotiation with tribal based outlaw or pseudo groups for the soul of
Nigeria and share of the national cake should stop. We should always remember
that Nigeria is not comprised of the four major groups alone namely:
Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, Ibo and Ijaw. What of the minority groups that cannot
bear arms or engage in senseless killing of fellow humans and destruction of
valuable properties? Or how will the carrots of arms struggle get to the
minority of minority groups that cannot afford a catapult?
By
systematically institutionalizing dialogue with terrorists’ groups will are
legalizing terrorism, through our utterances, actions and inactions? If Boko
Haram is not qualified for a terrorist group by Nigeria standard, then Al Qaeda
can pass the test for a freedom-fighters’ group or Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO).
The
OPC, we can testify were very careful in their selection of targets and attacks
in the west. The Niger Delta militants demonstrated caution and maturity in
their operations in the Niger Delta region. What we are seeing of Boko Haram is
a manifestation of madness. It is condemned even by Islam which they profess to
protect.
If
the Boko Haram sponsors are afraid to show their faces so as not to obliterate
their political career, let the Boko Haram leaders themselves be bold enough to
step forward for dialogue with the Federal Government.
Let
us keep ethnic sentiments and political masquerading out of this and call a
spade a spade! The Federal Government has the right to know who to dialogue
with, on what conditions, and for what purposes.
Nigeria
cannot be Islamized. Nobody should think along that line. I dreamt of a
Confederation of Muslim States. Even then, those behind it parading Boko Haram
as the hand of Esau while speaking with the voice of Jacob should as a matter
of priority reconsider their plot.
Which
of the states do they want to drag in to this ill conceived Confederation? Is it
the entire Federal Republic of Nigeria or just the northern Nigeria? Whichever
it is, they only want to break up Nigeria which is practically impossible. They
cannot for instance drag the eastern states along because the Ibos have a very
negligible percentage of Muslims, and the Ibos will be right to opt out of the sinister
group. It cannot successfully drag the western states without sufficient
resistance to render the whole operation bloody and expensive to contain. The ratio
of Muslims to Christians in western Nigeria is now about 40 to 60 which show
that the Christians are in the majority making it difficult for them to be
dragged into government run purely on religious basis. In any case, the people,
Muslims and Christians, are so wedded together even within the same family that
it is impossible to split them.
Those
sponsoring Boko Haram may therefore be thinking of cutting the North away from
the rest of the federation. But then, this truth must be told too: that the
majority of the people in the north are not Muslims. It is a known fact that
the majorities of the people in the Middle Belt States are not Muslims and
therefore cannot be dragged into a pure Muslim State. Here too, it would require
a bloody operation to get the people of the Middle Belt into this primitive arrangement.
Those agitating for
Islamic nation will therefore be left with the far north and even then, the
minority Christian population there will resist and definitely help must come
their way! If they choose to do nothing, then good luck because, the rest of Nigeria
would have succeeded to rid itself of the main danger to democracy in this
country. We need peace in Nigeria not war and massacre of innocent citizens and
destruction of valuable properties
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